Tomorrow’s Top 25 Today: Duke, Kentucky to move up in first weekly update of AP college basketball rankings
There’s going to be some movement in the AP Top 25 among several notable teams just a week into the 2025-26 season
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Nov 9, 2025 at 6:53 pm ET • 6 min read
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Just four teams ranked in the preseason AP Top 25 poll in men’s basketball suffered losses in the opening week of the college basketball season. But those four results, all losses to ranked opponents – No. 15 Alabama’s 103-96 win over No. 5 [St. John’…
Tomorrow’s Top 25 Today: Duke, Kentucky to move up in first weekly update of AP college basketball rankings
There’s going to be some movement in the AP Top 25 among several notable teams just a week into the 2025-26 season
By
Nov 9, 2025 at 6:53 pm ET • 6 min read
CBS Sports graphic
Just four teams ranked in the preseason AP Top 25 poll in men’s basketball suffered losses in the opening week of the college basketball season. But those four results, all losses to ranked opponents – No. 15 Alabama’s 103-96 win over No. 5 St. John’s, No. 25 North Carolina’s 87-74 win over No. 19 Kansas, No. 22 Michigan State’s 69-66 win over No. 14 Arkansas and No. 13 Arizona’s 93-87 win over No. 3 Florida – were more than enough to set up a reshuffling of the first AP Top 25 poll of the 2025-26 season which drops Monday.
My stab at predicting how voters react to those results and the rest of the first week of action in the season is below.
The biggest changes will likely be a fall for the four ranked teams that suffered losses and, predictably, corresponding moves up the board for the teams who dealt them defeats. But there could also be some minor shuffling elsewhere in this week’s poll as a result of how voters reconfigure their ballots.
Below is how I project the AP Top 25 poll to shake out Monday.
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No. 1 Purdue should remain No. 1 come Monday. It is 2-0 on the season with double-digit wins over Evansville and Oakland under its belt to start the season. Last week: No. 1 2
Houston opened its season with 18- and 17-point wins over Lehigh and Towson, respectively. It will remain No. 2 Monday, and it could even earn a few more first-place votes after garnering 16 of them in the preseason. Last week: No. 2 3
What UConn did to UMass Lowell on Friday night is illegal in all 50 states. I’m forbidden to say more. Just know the result was, uh, not close. This UConn team is 2-0 having not broken a sweat yet. Last week: No. 4 4
Florida and St. John’s suffering losses in the first week should open the door up for Duke to crash the top five. It had an impressive 15-point win over Texas to open the season and then followed that up Saturday with an expected, but nonetheless thorough, drubbing of Western Carolina. Last week: No. 6 5
Michigan into the top five seems a foregone conclusion because of Florida and St. John’s losses. No. 5 would give the Wolverines their highest ranking under coach Dusty May and give them a top-five ranking for the first time as a program since 2021-22. Last week: No. 7 6
The most anticipated season in BYU basketball history is off to a hot start for the Cougars after a big week that started with a 71-66 season-opening victory vs. Villanova and culminated with a 98-53 win over Holy Cross at home on Saturday. They’ll be moving up. Monday. Last week: No. 8 7
How high AP voters move Kentucky up Monday is a big question. I’ve got voters moving them from No. 9 to No. 7 – but it should be noted the Wildcats are currently No. 1 at KenPom with a net rating of 29.32. Last week: No. 9 8
A 93-87 neutral site win over Florida gave Arizona an opening-night win in style over the defending national champs. Arizona looked good – real, real good – and it has a potential superstar in Koa Peat. I’d put Arizona at No. 8 in my rankings and I suspect voters will get them into the top-10 after this week. Last week: No. 13 9
Texas Tech has yet to face a real opponent yet after cushy wins over Lindenwood and Sam Houston State. It faces its first real test Tuesday in a true road game vs. Illinois. Last week: No. 10 10
Florida will be a tough one to rank for voters Monday: On the one hand, it is the reigning national champion. But on the other, it lost to a team outside the top-10 of the preseason poll. The Gators should be a few spots below Arizona but could still hang around in the top 10. Last week: No. 3 11
I have Louisville projected to remain steady at No. 11 this week but with so much shuffling we might see the Cardinals sneak into the top 10 to set up a top 10-showdown this week vs. Kentucky. Either way, a big game in the Bluegrass State is set for Tuesday. Last week: No. 11 12
Alabama went on the road Saturday and hung 103 points on coach Rick Pitino’s St. John’s club – a team that last season had among the most fearsome defensive units in college hoops. The Tide look tantalizing through one week with their tremendous backcourt. Last week: No. 15 13
UCLA is 2-0 *buuuuuuuuuuuuut *I can’t imagine voters glossing entirely over six- and nine-point wins over Eastern Washington and Pepperdine, respectively. The Bruins were favored in both games by 30. Not the most convincing start! Last week: No. 12 14
St. John’s could drop to the back end of the top 10 or to the early teens come Monday and neither result would surprise me. There are some deserving teams who had great weeks to start the season and the Johnnies’ 1-1 record – even to a good Alabama team – will necessitate a pretty big drop because of the small sample size we have so far on the season. *Last week: No. 5 * 15
A head-to-head battle between two Hall of Fame coaches Saturday ended with Tom Izzo getting the better of John Calipari in the Breslin Center. That 69-66 win for Sparty over Arkansas should move them up a good chunk. Last week: No. 22 16
Wins over FDU and Grambling State won’t move the needle for voters on Iowa State. There’s opportunity to make big moves this month, though, with scheduled matchups vs. Mississippi State, St. John’s and Creighton. Last week: No. 16. 17
Confidence-boosters vs. Jackson State and FGCU gave Illinois two lopsided wins as it preps to face Texas Tech on Tuesday. Last week: No. 16 18
There is a good chance UNC moves into the top 20 after opening the season at No. 25 in the preseason AP poll. Its 87-74 win over Kansas on Friday should have the Tar Heels somewhere in the mid to late teens. Last week: No. * 25.* 19
A 2-0 record with easy wins over Mercer and Northern Kentucky should keep the Vols comfortably in the same range as it was to open the season. Last week: No. 18 20
Gonzaga on Saturday quietly dealt a very talented Oklahoma team an 83-68 loss. Perhaps that doesn’t change much in the rankings, but I have the Bulldogs climbing one spot to No. 20. Last week: No. 21 21
Wins are wins and Auburn, admittedly, is 2-0. But it had to go to overtime in its season-opener vs. Bethune Cookman – a team that ranks 226th at KenPom. Not encouraging! Last week: No. 20 22
We’ll know more about Creighton this week as it faces Gonzaga in Spokane on Tuesday. It’s hard to feel confident one way or another about this team after a 92-76 season-opening win over South Dakota. Last week: No.23 23
Two games at home, two wins at home for Wisconsin so far in the season. The duo of Nick Boyd and John Blackwell have combined for 92 total points in two games. Last week: No. 24 24
Kansas could be in jeopardy of falling out of the AP Top 25 poll Monday after a dispiriting 13-point road loss to UNC. I have them just barely staying in the rankings at No. 24. Last week: No. 19 25
Go through the 15-25 range of last week’s AP poll and it’s hard to find a perfect slot for Arkansas, which is 1-1 with a road loss to Michigan State and was No. 14 in the preseason. The Razorbacks are likely to fall somewhere in the 20-25 range. Last week: No. 14