Men's College Basketball season AP Poll rankings: South Florida cracks top 25 for the first time

Houston became the fifth school ranked No. 1 overall this season after wins over top-15 teams Iowa State and Baylor last week propelled the Cougars to the top spot, and South Florida is ranked for the first time in school history.

Coach Kelvin Sampson's Houston Cougars squad, +750 to win the Championship, has won five straight and leads the Iowa State Cyclones by one game in the Big 12 with an 11-3 conference record. This is the second straight season Houston has reached No. 1.

The Cougars' ascent ends a six-week stretch at No. 1 for UConn. The Huskies' 14-game win streak came to an end at the hands of then-No. 15 Creighton in an 85-66 thrashing on Tuesday. UConn is now No. 3, just behind Purdue, which has won 11 of its last 12 games and has all but sewn up the Big Ten regular season title.

The top 10 remained the same as last week, albeit in a different order, and the biggest jumps within the overall rankings were minimal as Auburn and Creighton each rose three spots to No. 12 and No. 13, respectively. Baylor, which lost to BYU and Houston, fell four spots to No. 15, while Dayton, which lost at George Mason, dropped five spots to No. 19.

Colorado State, Texas Tech and BYU all dropped out of the Top 25. Utah State is back in after spending five straight weeks in the rankings earlier in the season and Gonzaga also returns after spending six weeks unranked. And South Florida comes in at No. 25, the first time the Bulls have been ranked in program history.

Read more: Men's College Basketball odds

Top seeds shaken up

Most schools have only three or four games left in the regular season before their respective conference tournaments, while the smaller conferences are just a week away from their own tourneys.

Houston, as well as Purdue and UConn who are +700 and +500 to win the Championship, respectively, are all in prime spots to secure a top seed in next month's Men's College Basketball Tournament. Despite their loss this week, the Huskies lead No. 5 Marquette in the Big East by 2.5 games and should join Purdue as regular season conference champs.

In the ACC, No. 9 North Carolina holds a tenuous one-game advantage over eighth-ranked Duke, while Arizona holds just a half-game lead in the Pac-12 over Washington State, which swept the Wildcats this season.

No. 4 Tennessee and No. 14 Alabama are tied for the lead in a crowded SEC, with No. 11 Auburn and No. 18 South Carolina just one game back and No. 16 Kentucky and No. 24 Florida two games behind. The Volunteers are contenders for a No. 1 seed as well, along with North Carolina, Marquette, and Kansas.

Gonzaga will not go without a fight

It had been a while. Gonzaga had not been unranked since the 2015/16 season, but a 77-76 loss at Santa Clara on January 11th left the Bulldogs at 11-5.

Coach Mark Few's team spent the next six weeks on the outside looking in. They also went on a tear, winning 11 of 12 games, including an 89-85 thriller at Rupp Arena against Kentucky.

Now, Gonzaga is 22-6 and 12-2 in the West Coast Conference and back in the top 25 at No. 23. The team is also on the NCAA tournament bubble for the first time in years.

They'll have a chance to move the needle in their favor this week as they close the regular season at San Francisco, which sits one game behind the Zags in the WCC, and at No. 17 Saint Mary's. The Gaels are 14-0 in conference play and defeated the Zags by two points in Spokane earlier this month, and Gonzaga needs to win both and hope for some help elsewhere to guarantee itself a tournament bid.

Abdur-Raheem working magic again in Tampa

Amir Abdur-Raheem took over Kennesaw State ahead of the 2019/20 season. The Owls promptly went 1-28 that season and won just 19 games in the first three seasons under Abdur-Raheem's leadership.

Last year, however, Kennesaw State jumped to 26-9, winning both the regular season and conference tournament championships in the Atlantic Sun and securing their first NCAA tournament berth.

Now, after being hired away to South Florida, Abdur-Raheem is doing the same thing, leading the Bulls to a 21-5 record and their first top 25 ranking in school history this week at No. 25. South Florida has won 13 straight and is now 14-1 in the American Athletic Conference, three games ahead of Charlotte and last year's NCAA Tournament darlings, Florida Atlantic. The USF Bulls knocked Florida Atlantic from the top 25 earlier this month with a 90-86 victory at home.

Selton Miguel (15 ppg) and Chris Youngblood (14.9 ppg) lead the Bulls in scoring while Kasean Pryor is adding 12 points and a team-leading 7.4 rebounds a game.

AP Top 25 Rankings

Ranking	Team	Record	Points
1	Houston	24-3	1540
2	Purdue	25-3	1460
3	UConn	25-3	1459
4	Tennessee	21-6	1338
5	Marquette	21-6	1243
6	Arizona	21-6	1188
7	Kansas	21-6	1156
8	Iowa State	21-6	1155
9	North Carolina	21-6	1130
10	Duke	21-6	976
11	Auburn	21-6	862
12	Creighton	20-8	738
13	Illinois	20-7	726
14	Alabama	19-8	695
15	Baylor	19-8	689
16	Kentucky	19-8	649
17	Saint Mary's	23-6	646
18	South Carolina	22-5	471
19	Washington State	21-7	361
20	San Diego State	21-7	305
21	Dayton	21-5	261
22	Utah State	22-5	207
23	Gonzaga	22-6	184
24	Florida	19-8	140
25	South Florida	21-5	127

Odds mentioned in this article were correct at the time of writing and are subject to change.