Minnesota has returned to The Associated Press basketball rankings for the first time in nearly four years.
The Gophers debuted in the AP poll on Monday at No. 24, their first appearance in the Top 25 under coach Richard Pitino. They were last ranked the week of Feb. 4, 2013. Minnesota improved to 15-2 and 3-1 in the Big Ten by beating Ohio State 78-68 on Sunday night .
Pitino and the Gophers have engineered a turnaround from their 8-23 finish last season. They’ve already topped their conference win total of 2015-16.
Baylor is No. 1 in The Associated Press men’s basketball poll for the first time.
The Bears (15-0) have made a meteoric rise in the poll, going from a team that didn’t receive a vote in the preseason poll to one that received 55 first-place votes from the 65-member national media panel on Monday.
Villanova, which received one first-place vote, had been No. 1 for the last five weeks, but the Wildcats (15-1) dropped to third after losing at Butler last week.
Kansas (14-1), which was No. 1 on eight ballots, moved up from third to second, giving the Big 12 the top two teams in the poll.
UCLA (16-1), which got the other first-place vote, stayed fourth.
Gonzaga (15-0), the only other unbeaten Division I school, and Kentucky remained fifth and sixth, while Duke, Creighton, Florida State and West Virginia rounded out the top 10.
