College basketball rankings: Duke drops to No. 7 in updated AP Top 25 poll, North Carolina returns at No. 25

The Tar Heels are back in the AP Top 25 for the first time in nearly four months

By David Cobb

Mar 7, 2022 at 12:18 pm ET • 2 min read

Duke fell three spots to No. 7 in this week's AP Top 25 after its 94-81 loss against North Carolina in coach Mike Krzyzewski's final home game on Saturday. The outcome helped UNC crack the poll for the first time since November, as the Tar Heels came in at No. 25 after concluding the regular season with a 23-8 (15-5 ACC) record.

Gonzaga came in at No. 1 for the fourth straight week, despite being off last week after concluding the regular season with a loss at Saint Mary's on Feb. 26. The Zags begin postseason play Monday night as the No. 1 seed in the WCC Tournament taking on No. 4 seed San Francisco at 9 p.m. ET in a semifinal game. After taking 46 of the possible 61 first-place votes in last week's poll with Duke receiving 11, Gonzaga received 52 first-place votes this week following the Blue Devils' loss.

No. 2 Arizona received six first-place votes after closing the regular season with three straight double-digit victories over USC, Stanford and California. No. 3 Baylor received three first-place votes after ending its regular season on a five-game winning streak and securing a share of the Big 12 regular season title.

Kentucky jumped two spots to No. 5 after closing the regular season with wins over Ole Miss and Florida. The Wildcats are just behind SEC peer Auburn, which climbed one spot to No. 4 after clinching the SEC regular-season title with wins over Mississippi State and South Carolina last week.

Villanova jumped Providence in the poll, rising to No. 8 from No. 11 after completing a regular season sweep of the Friars, which slipped from No. 9 to No. 11. Despite the fact that the Wildcats are ranked higher, the Friars are the Big East champions and No. 1 seed for the Big East Tournament by virtue of their conference winning percentage.

Wisconsin fell just two spots to No. 12 after a home loss to lowly Nebraska on Sunday. The Badgers played the last several minutes without leading scorer and Big Ten Player of the Year candidate Johnny Davis after he left the game due to injury.

Below is the full AP Top 25 (first-place votes in parenthesis).