Virginia stays No. 1 in AP poll as Duke jumps to fifth

Virginia remained No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25 poll for the second straight week while Duke jumped back into the top five.

Coach Tony Bennett’s Cavaliers strengthened their hold at the top, receiving 42 of 65 first-place votes from the national media panel in the latest AP poll released Monday.

Virginia (24-2) climbed to No. 1 last week for the first time since December 1982 — the senior season of 7-foot-4 great Ralph Sampson — when the AP poll only ranked 20 teams. The Cavaliers earned 12 more first-place votes this week.

No. 2 Michigan State (26-3) received 19 first-place votes after rallying from 27 down to beat Northwestern 65-60 on Saturday as the top four teams in the poll remained unchanged. Third-ranked Villanova (24-3) got the other four first-place votes after winning 95-79 at Xavier (24-4), which stayed at No. 4.

Duke (22-5) jumped seven spots to No. 5 after beating Virginia Tech on Wednesday and Clemson on Sunday despite playing without injured top freshman Marvin Bagley III.

Gonzaga (25-4) and Texas Tech (22-5) are tied at No. 6, followed by Kansas (21-6), Purdue (24-5) and North Carolina (21-7) to round out the Top 10.

Middle Tennessee (22-5) is No. 24 to mark its first AP Top 25 appearance in program history.

–Field Level Media