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Duke tops men’s hoops poll again

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Duke remained firmly entrenched at No. 1 for a fourth straight week in The Associated Press men’s college basketball poll, which was enough to give its Hall of Fame coach another record.

The Blue Devils led an unchanged top 10 in Monday’s AP Top 25 and spent their sixth week on top this season. That gave coach Mike Krzyzewski his 122nd week at No. 1 in the AP poll, breaking a tie with the late UCLA coach John Wooden for the most in poll history.

Duke had set a program record for most weeks at No. 1 in the AP poll in November, also by passing UCLA.

The Blue Devils stayed at No. 1 after Atlantic Coast Conference road wins at Wake Forest and Florida State, the latter coming on a last-second 3-pointer by freshman Cam Reddish. Duke received 36 of 64 first-place votes entering a week that will see the Blue Devils host No. 4 Virginia in a marquee league matchup between ACC favorites.

THE TOP TIER

Behind Duke, second-ranked and unbeaten Michigan earned nine first-place votes, third-ranked Tennessee had 13 and Virginia — the only other unbeaten team — had the remaining six. That quartet is significantly ahead of the rest of the field, with the gap between the Cavaliers and No. 5 Gonzaga (158 points) being bigger than that between Duke and Virginia (85 points).

Michigan State, Kansas, Texas Tech, Virginia Tech and Nevada rounded out the rest of the top 10 for a second straight week.

RISING

The changes started from there after a week that saw 12 of the 15 teams outside the top 10 lose at least once, with five of those losing twice, and combining for 17 losses.

Five teams rose in the new poll, starting with FSU climbing two spots to No. 11 despite the loss to Duke. No. 12 Kentucky was next, joining No. 15 Marquette as the week’s biggest climbers by rising six spots.

No. 16 Buffalo and No. 20 Oklahoma (which lost to Texas Tech last week) each rose three spots.

SLIDING

Six teams fell in this week’s poll, most notably No. 24 Mississippi State. The Bulldogs lost to South Carolina and Mississippi last week, then fell 10 spots for the biggest slide among ranked teams in this week’s poll.

No. 21 Houston fell four spots after suffering its first loss of the season, which came against Temple. No. 14 Auburn and No. 25 Indiana each fell three spots, No. 17 North Carolina State slid two and No. 13 North Carolina fell one after winning on the road against the Wolfpack, followed by suffering its worst home loss under coach Roy Williams, which came against Louisville.

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AP Top 25

By The Associated Press

The top 25 teams in The Associated Press’ college basketball poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through Jan. 13, total points based on 25 points for a first-place vote through one point for a 25th-place vote and last week’s ranking:

Record Pts Prv

1. Duke (36) 14-1 1558 1

2. Michigan (9) 17-0 1497 2

3. Tennessee (13) 14-1 1482 3

4. Virginia (6) 15-0 1473 4

5. Gonzaga 16-2 1315 5

6. Michigan St. 15-2 1292 6

7. Kansas 14-2 1188 7

8. Texas Tech 15-1 1157 8

9. Virginia Tech 14-1 1091 9

10. Nevada 16-1 1015 10

11. Florida St. 13-3 918 13

12. Kentucky 12-3 790 18

13. North Carolina 12-4 678 12

14. Auburn 12-3 669 11

15. Marquette 14-3 668 21

16. Buffalo 15-1 625 19

17. N.C. State 14-2 586 15

18. Mississippi 13-2 501 —

19. Maryland 14-3 412 —

20. Oklahoma 13-3 394 23

21. Houston 16-1 387 17

22. Villanova 13-4 300 —

23. Iowa 14-3 172 —

24. Mississippi St. 12-3 154 14

25. Indiana 12-4 116 22

Others receiving votes: Louisville 112, Nebraska 36, Ohio St. 34, Wisconsin 31, Iowa St. 20, UCF 17, Purdue 16, Kansas St. 14, St. John’s 12, TCU 12, Murray St. 9, Arizona 8, Washington 8, LSU 7, Seton Hall 6, South Carolina 6

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