For the fifth straight week, Kentucky is the unanimous No. 1 team in the AP Top 25.
The Wildcats (13-0) got all 64 first-place votes cast Monday after having the week off, and have been atop the rankings all season. Kentucky hasn’t played since beating Louisville on Dec. 27 and returns Tuesday against Mississippi.
The top five remained unchanged, with Duke, Virginia, Wisconsin and Louisville behind Kentucky.
Seton Hall, VCU, Arkansas and Old Dominion were new arrivals to the Top 25, with the No. 19 Pirates (12-2) the highest of that group after upsetting then-unbeaten Villanova over the weekend. For the No. 25 Monarchs (12-1), it marked their first appearance in program history.
Washington, Colorado State, Northern Iowa and Georgetown dropped out of the poll.
The top 25 teams in The Associated Press’ college basketball poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through Jan. 4, 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. Kentucky (64) | 13-0 | 1,600 | 1 |
| 2. Duke | 13-0 | 1,535 | 2 |
| 3. Virginia | 13-0 | 1,446 | 3 |
| 4. Wisconsin | 14-1 | 1,397 | 4 |
| 5. Louisville | 13-1 | 1,322 | 5 |
| 6. Gonzaga | 14-1 | 1,275 | 7 |
| 7. Arizona | 13-1 | 1,260 | 8 |
| 8. Villanova | 13-1 | 1,089 | 6 |
| 9. Utah | 12-2 | 1,059 | 10 |
| 10. Texas | 12-2 | 976 | 11 |
| 11. Maryland | 14-1 | 966 | 12 |
| 12. Kansas | 11-2 | 884 | 13 |
| 13. Notre Dame | 14-1 | 775 | 14 |
| 14. West Virginia | 13-1 | 712 | 17 |
| 15. Wichita St. | 12-2 | 686 | 16 |
| 16. Oklahoma | 10-3 | 674 | 18 |
| 17. Iowa St. | 10-2 | 663 | 9 |
| 18. North Carolina | 11-3 | 591 | 19 |
| 19. Seton Hall | 12-2 | 448 | — |
| 20. VCU | 11-3 | 311 | — |
| 21. Baylor | 11-2 | 186 | 22 |
| 22. Ohio St. | 12-3 | 184 | 20 |
| 23. Arkansas | 11-2 | 103 | — |
| 24. St. John’s | 11-3 | 92 | 15 |
| 25. Old Dominion | 12-1 | 80 | — |
Others receiving votes: N. Iowa 72, Iowa 63, Butler 53, LSU 50, George Washington 39, TCU 33, Temple 33, Colorado St. 31, Stanford 29, South Carolina 16, Washington 13, Wyoming 11, Indiana 9, Oklahoma St. 9, Georgetown 7, Cincinnati 6, Dayton 5, BYU 3, Xavier 2, Davidson 1, Hofstra 1.