UNC keeps spot atop AP poll; defending champ Florida back in

Florida is back in the Top 25.

The two-time defending national champions came into this season having lost the top six players from the team that repeated. It took the new group of Gators just two weeks to move into The Associated Press college basketball poll.

The top of the poll remained the same Monday, but there was plenty of change at the bottom.

North Carolina kept the No. 1 spot, although its lead over UCLA did shrink, and the top nine teams were the same as last week.

Syracuse, Virginia, Clemson and Florida all moved into the rankings for the first time this season, replacing Arizona, Arkansas, Stanford and North Carolina State after a week of some early upsets.

Florida (4-0) won its opening four games by an average of 29.2 points with the biggest name of the group being Rutgers, which the Gators beat 88-63 on Saturday.

"To me, any of that stuff is maybe some writers or some people saying you know, 'They're the defending national champions and until somebody beats them, they should be ranked,"' Florida coach Billy Donovan said Monday. "I think that's sometimes how people look at it.

"I think we've done a good job these first four games. Does it warrant us being in the Top 25? I don't think so. I think if we're in the Top 25 a lot of it has to do with what we've done these first four games and a lot of it has to do with what's happened the last couple years out of respect for the team winning the championships."

The Gators lost four starters early to the NBA and two other key players to graduation from the group that won 68 games over the last two seasons. They were the first team to repeat as national champions since Duke in 1992.

North Carolina (2-0) opened the season with a 72-68 victory over Davidson, then beat Iona 107-72 on Sunday. The Tar Heels and UCLA both received 26 first-place votes, but North Carolina had 1,725 points, nine more than the Bruins (3-0), who cruised to 30-plus point victories over Youngstown State and Cal State Bernardino last week.

The Tar Heels had 29 first-place votes, five more than UCLA, and finished 27 points ahead of the Bruins last week.

Memphis (4-0), which beat Oklahoma and Connecticut in winning the 2K Sports College Hoops Classic last week, stayed third with 19 first-place votes and 1,689 points.

Kansas, Georgetown, which received one first-place vote, Louisville, Tennessee, Indiana and Washington State held fourth through ninth. Michigan State jumped up two places to round out the top 10.