After a particularly contentious week for Top 25 teams, the Oklahoma Sooners have risen to the top of the Associated Press college basketball poll for the first time in nearly 26 years.
According to The Associated Press, the last time the Sooners were ranked first overall for men's basketball was the closing weeks of the 1989-1990 season. Additionally, the Sooners received all 65 first-place votes.
Oklahoma edged Oklahoma State and West Virginia (6) by a single field goal each in a week where ranked teams lost a combined 16 games. Taking advantage of the chaos was North Carolina (2), as the Tar Heels rose three places to come within one of their preseason position.
Rough week to be at the top. There were 16 losses by Top 25 teams this week.
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Kansas (3) fell from the top spot after losing to West Virginia, followed by Villanova (4) and Xavier (5), Maryland (7), SMU (8), Iowa (9), and Texas A&M (10) to round out the Top 10. Oklahoma now becomes the fifth different number-one team this season, joining North Carolina, Kentucky, Michigan State, and Kansas.
"It's great," OU head coach Lon Kruger said in a news release. "It's not something our guys focus on necessarily every day or think about or even have a lot of conversation about, but they're fans... we all are, and it's great. But, it's all about getting better tomorrow. The leadership of this group, the senior group, know that what it is today is okay, but it's nothing compared to what we have to keep doing in Big 12 play in terms of getting better and to keep challenging the opposition that lies ahead. Our guys think it's great, but they understand that it's not the most important thing."
