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There’s a new top team in the land of college basketball. Its name is the Villanova Wildcats.
The Wildcats are the consensus No. 1, standing at the top of both the AP Top 25 and USA TODAY Coaches Poll this week. Villanova is 10-0 on the year following their wins over the Gonzaga Bulldogs and La Salle Explorers this week. Given the shakeup at the top, it only made sense that the team without a blip rose to the top.
‘Nova received 41 first-place votes in the AP Poll and 22 in the Coaches Poll. The Michigan State Spartans amassed 19 and 10 first-place votes in the respective polls as well. And the Arizona State Sun Devils, who knocked off the Kansas Jayhawks on Sunday, garnered five first-place votes in the AP Top 25.
Villanova isn’t the only Top 10 team from the Big East this week, though. The Xavier Musketeers have climbed in from the teens. Xavier ranks 10th in the AP Top 25 and 9th in the USA TODAY Poll. The Muskies have certainly put together an impressive resume to this point. Their only loss is to aforementioned ASU, and there’s definitely no shame in that anymore. With any luck, Xavier will only continue to climb up, and could be Top 5 by the time conference play begins.
Speaking of climbing up, the Seton Hall Pirates continue to ascend up the ladder. The Pirates are the consensus No. 15 team in the polls this week. It’s their highest ranking in either poll since the 2000-01 season. It’s been a long time coming, but Desi Rodriguez, Khadeen Carrington, Angel Delgado and the rest of the bunch in South Orange are playing their tails off. Seton Hall’s resume is no doubt impressive, and they too could be in the Top 10 by the time Big East play starts in a few weeks.
In the AP Top 25, the Creighton Bluejays were the only other Big East team to receive votes. The Jays stayed inside the Top 25 in the Coaches Poll, ranking 25th, just ahead of the Cincinnati Bearcats.
The mighty, undefeated powerhouse known as the Georgetown Hoyas grabbed two votes in the USA TODAY Coaches Poll.
AP Top 25
| Team | Points | Last Week |
|---|---|---|
| Team | Points | Last Week |
| Villanova (41) | 1,598 | 4 |
| Michigan St. (19) | 1,561 | 3 |
| Wichita St. | 1,402 | 6 |
| Duke | 1,362 | 1 |
| Arizona St. (5) | 1,316 | 16 |
| Miami | 1,272 | 10 |
| North Carolina | 1,237 | 11 |
| Kentucky | 1,227 | 8 |
| Texas A&M | 1,072 | 7 |
| Xavier | 1,044 | 13 |
| West Virginia | 972 | 18 |
| Gonzaga | 805 | 12 |
| Kansas | 760 | 2 |
| TCU | 718 | 20 |
| Seton Hall | 704 | 19 |
| Virginia | 690 | 15 |
| Purdue | 568 | 21 |
| Notre Dame | 564 | 9 |
| Florida St. | 452 | -- |
| Tennessee | 342 | 24 |
| Baylor | 281 | 23 |
| Florida | 261 | 5 |
| Arizona | 252 | - |
| Texas Tech | 191 | - |
| Cincinnati | 145 | 17 |
USA TODAY Coaches Poll
| Team | Points | Last Week |
|---|---|---|
| Team | Points | Last Week |
| Villanova (22) | 790 | 4 |
| Michigan St. (10) | 768 | 3 |
| Wichita St. | 675 | 6 |
| Duke | 667 | 1 |
| Kentucky | 609 | 7 |
| Arizona St. | 604 | 17 |
| North Carolina | 593 | 10 |
| Miami | 569 | 11 |
| Xavier | 529 | 14 |
| Texas A&M | 495 | 9 |
| West Virginia | 477 | 16 |
| Kansas | 378 | 2 |
| Gonzaga | 374 | 13 |
| TCU | 373 | 20 |
| Seton Hall | 360 | 19 |
| Virginia | 355 | 12 |
| Purdue | 303 | 21 |
| Notre Dame | 247 | 8 |
| Florida St. | 209 | 36 |
| Tennessee | 153 | 29 |
| Baylor | 150 | 22 |
| Florida | 111 | 5 |
| Arizona | 106 | 30 |
| Oklahoma | 86 | 31 |
| Creighton | 75 | 28 |