Arizona holds No. 1 spot for 9th week in AP Top 25; Houston rises to No. 3, Kentucky returns at 25th

Arizona remained firmly atop The Associated Press Top 25 men's college basketball poll for a ninth consecutive week Monday, while Houston jumped back into the top 5 and Kentucky returned to the rankings for the first time since December.

Tommy Lloyd's Wildcats (23-0) claimed all 59 first-place votes in the latest poll, making them the unanimous choice for a fourth consecutive week. That comes after Arizona — one of two unbeaten teams left in Division I — won at rival Arizona State, then returned home to beat Oklahoma State by 37 points.

Michigan (22-1) remained at No. 2, marking the sixth time in Arizona's current reign that the Wolverines sat right behind the Wildcats.

There's been little question as to those two teams being regarded as the nation's best, though the major analytics data sites have preferred a reverse order. KenPom, Evan Miyakawa and Bart Torvik all rank Michigan ahead of Arizona.

The top tier

Houston (21-2) moved up five spots to No. 3 after wins against UCF and at BYU, returning Kelvin Sampson's Cougars inside the top 5 after a November stint that included a week at No. 1.

Duke held its position at No. 4 for a third consecutive week despite losing at rival North Carolina on Seth Trimble's last-second 3-pointer.

Rising

St. John's jumped five spots to No. 17 to match Houston for the week's biggest jump after the UConn win, which pushed the Red Storm's winning streak to nine games entering this week.

No. 11 UNC, No. 14 Florida and No. 15 Virginia all climbed three spots.

In all, nine teams moved up from last week's position.

Sliding

No. 19 Vanderbilt fell four spots after a home loss to Oklahoma, which dropped the Commodores to 3-4 since a 16-0 start.

Seven teams fell from their position last week while remaining in the poll.

Status quo

Eight teams held their position from last week, including No. 20 Clemson, No. 21 Arkansas, No. 23 Miami (Ohio ) — the nation's other unbeaten team — and No. 24 Louisville.

Comings and goings

The Wildcats have won eight of nine, with Saturday's home win against Tennessee knocking the Volunteers out of the poll (from No. 25).

Conference watch

The Big 12 has a national-best six ranked teams, followed by the Big Ten and the Atlantic Coast Conference with five each. Of those leagues, the Big 12 and Big Ten each have four teams inside the top 10.

The Southeastern Conference is next with four ranked teams, followed by the Big East with two. The West Coast Conference, Atlantic-10 and Mid-American Conference each have one.

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