Duke Is No. 1 In 1st Regular-Season AP Top 25, MSU Is No. 2
DALLAS (AP) - Duke is No. 1 in The Associated Press' first regular-season poll of 2017-18.
The Blue Devils were No. 1 in the preseason poll and received 34 of 65 first-place votes from a national media panel in the AP Top 25 released Monday after winning their first two games.
No. 2 Michigan State received 13 first-place votes, No. 3 Arizona got 16 and No. 4 Kansas had 2. Duke had 33 first-place votes in the preseason poll.
Villanova moved up one spot to No. 5, with Wichita State, Kentucky, Florida, North Carolina and Southern California rounding out the top 10.
Duke was the preseason No. 1 for the second straight season and ninth time overall, matching North Carolina for the most of all time. The Blue Devils opened the season with convincing wins over Elon and Utah Valley, giving coach Mike Krzyzewski 1,000 victories with the program. He became the first Division I coach to reach 1,000 wins overall in 2015.
"It's pretty awesome to be a part of two pretty historic moments for Coach," said senior Grayson Allen, a freshman on that Duke team three years ago. "This one being in Cameron, felt a lot more love for Coach and I think this one was the coolest just because of the fan support and being at home."
Arizona (2-0) lost two first-place votes despite opening its season with convincing wins over Northern Arizona and Maryland-Baltimore County.
Kansas (2-0) picked up a first-place vote after routing Tennessee State 92-56.
Kentucky (2-0) dropped out of the top 5 after trailing Utah Valley by 12 in a season-opening win and holding off Vermont 73-69 in a pair of home games.
"You cannot play Popcorn State and learn anything," Wildcats coach John Calipari said. "You've got to play good teams. I didn't realize how good (Vermont) was until I watched the tape. Then I was like: 'Who scheduled this game? This is ridiculous.' They just do an unbelievable job."
CHANGES COMING
This week didn't offer many changes from the preseason poll, but expect some movement next week.
Two games in Chicago on Tuesday will lead to changes, with Duke facing Michigan State and Kansas facing Kentucky in the Champions Classic.
No other Top-25 teams play ranked opponents this week.
IN AND OUT
The top 25 teams from the preseason poll remained ranked, with no teams moving in or out.
RISING FAST
Texas A&M (1-0) had the biggest jump of the week, moving up nine spots to No. 16 after beating then-No. 11 West Virginia 88-65.
LONGEST SLIDE
The Mountaineers (0-1), the only team in the Top 25 to lose, had the biggest drop after losing to the Aggies, falling 13 spots to No. 24. No other teams moved more than two spots, up or down.