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Week 17 AP Top 25/Coaches Poll; Cincinnati Earns Another Vote in AP Top 25

Cincinnati took care of business against East Carolina last week and received an additional, fourth vote in the AP Top 25. Hey, progress is progress.

Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports

Here's where we are in Week 17 of the college basketball season with the AP Top 25 and USA Today Coaches Polls. The revolving door that is the top spot in college basketball this season is now headed by Kansas in both polls, by relatively significant margins. Michigan State is No. 2, ahead of No. 3 Villanova in the AP Poll. The Spartans and Wildcats are flipped in the Coaches Poll. Virginia and Xavier round out the top five in both polls, ranked No. 4 and No. 5, respectively.

Meanwhile, Cincinnati is coming off a week in which they won their only game; a 65-56 win over East Carolina on Saturday. The Bearcats were rewarded with another vote in the AP Top 25 Poll, bringing their current total to four with two games remaining in the regular season. The Bearcats are still being ignored in the Coaches Poll.

These polls really don't mean a whole lot in the grand scheme of things, especially for a team that has much larger aspirations (see: NCAA Tournament) than returning to the top 25 polls. For what it's worth though, Cincinnati has now added a vote each of the last two weeks and still has a chance to possibly crack the rankings before postseason play.

This week, Cincinnati travels to Houston to take on the 21-8 (11-6) Cougars on Thursday and then hosts the currently No. 24 SMU Mustangs who are 24-4 (12-4) on the season on Sunday. Win those games and the Bearcats should at least be sitting on more than four votes come next week.

AP Top 25

RANK TEAM RECORD POINTS
1 Kansas (63) 25-4 1,623
2 Michigan State (2) 24-5 1,510
3 Villanova 25-4 1,479
4 Virginia 22-6 1,405
5 Xavier 25-4 1,356
6 Oklahoma 22-6 1,297
7 Miami (FL) 23-5 1,211
8 North Carolina 23-6 1,205
9 Oregon 23-6 1,065
10 West Virginia 22-7 1,056
11 Louisville 22-7 822
12 Indiana 23-6 819
13 Utah 23-7 751
14 Maryland 23-6 733
15 Purdue 22-7 613
16 Iowa 20-8 572
17 Duke 21-8 495
18 Arizona 22-7 450
19 Baylor 21-8 447
20 Texas A&M 22-7 419
21 Iowa State 20-9 413
22 Kentucky 21-8 405
23 Texas 19-10 338
24 SMU 24-4 196
25 California 21-8 178
Others receiving votes: Wisconsin 93, Seton Hall 60, Wichita St 43, Saint Joseph's 29, Notre Dame 14, Texas Tech 12, Cincinnati 4, Vanderbilt 3, Saint Mary's 3, Arkansas-Little Rock 2, Valparaiso 2, Dayton 1, Stephen F. Austin 1
Dropped out: Notre Dame 23.

USA TODAY Coaches Poll

RANK TEAM RECORD POINTS PREV HI/LOW
1 Kansas (31) 25-4 799 2 1/7
2 Villanova 25-4 734 1 1/17
3 Michigan St (1) 24-5 733 7 1/13
4 Virginia 22-6 673 3 3/13
5 Xavier 25-4 637 5 4/NR
6 Oklahoma 22-6 623 4 1/8
7 Miami-Florida 23-5 607 11 9/NR
8 North Carolina 23-6 584 6 1/11
9 West Virginia 22-7 518 12 7/23
10 Oregon 23-6 510 13 12/NR
11 Indiana 23-6 434 15 14/NR
12 Maryland 23-6 405 9 2/9
13 Purdue 22-7 330 19 8/24
13 Utah 23-7 330 23 16/NR
15 Iowa 20-8 321 8 4/NR
16 Arizona 22-7 307 10 6/20
17 Baylor 21-8 288 16 13/25
18 Texas A&M 22-7 261 21 5/NR
19 Kentucky 21-8 226 14 1/21
20 Iowa St. 20-9 221 17 2/21
21 Duke 21-8 211 18 3/NR
22 Texas 19-10 187 25 25/NR
23 Wichita St. 23-7 68 28 11/NR
24 St. Mary's 24-4 61 27 25/NR
25 California 21-8 58 32 13/NR
Others receiving votes: Wisconsin 52; Notre Dame 42; Seton Hall 39; Texas Tech 36; Providence 28; St. Joseph's 17; Pittsburgh 17; South Carolina 16; Dayton 14; Valparaiso 6; St. Bonaventure 4; Colorado 2; Arkansas-Little Rock 1.
Dropped out: No. 20 Notre Dame, No. 22 Dayton, No. 24 Providence.