Kansas, Oklahoma up to 1-2 in AP poll ahead of Monday showdown

Monday, January 4, 2016

Kansasand Oklahomamoved to the top two spots in The Associated Press' college basketball poll ahead of their Big 12 showdown on Monday night (9 ET, ESPN).

Kansas (12-1) received 44 first-place votes from the 65-member national media panel on Monday while Oklahoma (12-0) got the other 21.

It will be the 40th time the top two teams in the poll have faced each other. The last time it happened was Nov. 12, 2013, when No. 2 Michigan State beat No. 1 Kentucky 78-74.

It will be the 10th time that two teams from the same conference met as Nos. 1 and 2 -- and the second time for Oklahoma and Kansas. The last time was when No. 2 Ohio State beat No. 1 Wisconsin 49-48 in a Big Ten matchup on Feb. 25, 2007.

The Jayhawks are no stranger to the No. 1 spot, although their last visit came in February 2011. This is the 58th time that Kansas has had at least a share of the top spot in the poll, which ranks fifth behind UCLA (134), Duke (127), Kentucky (115) and North Carolina (113).

Kansas is the fourth school to be ranked No. 1 this season, joining North Carolina, Kentucky and Michigan State.

Marylandand Virginiaboth moved up one spot to third and fourth while Michigan State, which was No. 1 for the past four weeks, fell to fifth.

North Carolina, Arizona, Providence, Kentuckyand Xaviercompleted the top 10.

Four schools moved into the Top 25 this week, and three of them are in the poll for the first time this season.

No. 23 Connecticut was ranked in the preseason Top 25 and for the first two weeks of the regular season. The Huskies were then out for two weeks, back in for one and out again for the last two.

Two of the new teams -- No. 19 Iowa and No. 25 Dayton -- were both ranked for one week last season. No. 24 Pittsburgh was ranked for five weeks in 2013-14.

Cincinnati, which was No. 22, and Baylor, which was No. 23, both dropped out following one loss each last week. Utah, which was No. 21, and UCLA, which was No. 25, also dropped out after each lost two games in their opening weekend of Pac-12 play.