College basketball rankings: Duke retains its spot atop AP Top 25 poll, while North Carolina drops one spot

Duke retained its spot atop the AP Top 25 college basketball rankings for a second consecutive week after winning handily over Cal and Georgetown, respectively over the last week. The Blue Devils improved to 6-0 on the season and garnered 53 of a possible 65 first-place votes. They come in just ahead of ACC foe Louisville, which also stayed steady at No. 2 after it, too, improved to 6-0 with two wins over the last week. The Cardinals received seven first-place votes -- one fewer than last week.

Rounding out this week's top five is No. 3 Michigan State, No. 4 Kansas and No. 5 Maryland. Maryland is the only newcomer to the top five this week after jumping one spot to leap past North Carolina, which traded spots with the Terps. The Tar Heels are 4-0 on the season but played just one game this past week -- a 75-61 win over Elon. Maryland, meanwhile, won twice this week over Fairfield and George Mason to improve to 5-0 on the season. Its No. 5 ranking is the highest since the 2015-16 season.

The remainder of the top 10 stayed unchanged aside from Maryland and UNC trading spots. Virginia, Gonzaga, Kentucky and Ohio State stayed at the Nos. 7-10 spots.

AP Top 25

Others receiving votes: Florida St. 137, Saint Mary's (Cal) 22, Oklahoma 22, Butler 21, LSU 19, Texas 16, Arkansas 13, Michigan 12, Penn St. 10, Purdue 10, Liberty 6, Wisconsin 4, Missouri 3, Cincinnati 3, Vermont 2, San Diego St. 2, Dayton 1, Mississippi St. 1, Georgetown 1.