AP men's college basketball Top 25 poll breakdown

Feb 23, 2026, 1:20 PM ET

Five AP top-10 teams lost Saturday: Michigan, Houston, Iowa State, Kansas and Illinois. That tied Feb. 1, 2025, for the most such losses on a single day in the past four seasons.

It also meant that Michigan’s reign as no. 1 only lasted a week. Duke is the new no. 1 team in the Week 16 AP Poll.

Arizona rebounded from its losses to move up to No. 2, with Michigan, Iowa State — despite its loss to BYU — and Houston rounding out the top five.

Alabama (eight spots) and Florida (five) had the biggest jumps, while Kansas (six), Vanderbilt (six) and Saint Louis (five) had the biggest drops. Wisconsin dropped out to make way for Tennessee. Only Illinois and Arkansas’ rankings did not change after last week’s results.

Read on for the full top 25 rankings, including what’s next for each team.

All time Eastern. All statistics courtesy of ESPN Research unless otherwise noted.

Previous polls: Week 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15

Previous rankings: 3

2025-26 record: 25-2

Statistics to know: Duke has 11 wins all-time against AP No. 1 teams, the third most in poll history behind North Carolina (14) and UCLA (12). The Blue Devils have 15 wins all-time in AP’s top-three games, breaking a tie with North Carolina for the most in poll history. Duke has 153 all-time wins over AP top-10 opponents, the second most of any program behind North Carolina (175).

What is next: Tuesday at Notre Dame, 7 p.m., ESPN

Previous rankings: 4

2025-26 record: 25-2

Statistics to know: Arizona now has three wins this season against AP top-three opponents, tied for the most by any team in the regular season since the poll began in 1949 (and the first since Kansas also had three in 2011-12).

What is next: Tuesday at Baylor, 9 p.m., ESPN2

Previous rankings: 1

2025-26 record: 25-2

Statistics to know: The loss to Duke was Michigan’s first against an AP-ranked opponent this season. The Wolverines entered Saturday 6-0 in those games, the most such wins without a loss this season.

What is next: Tuesday vs. Minnesota, 8:30 p.m., BTN

Previous rankings: 6

2025-26 record: 23-4

Statistics to know: Iowa State snapped a four-game winning streak against AP-ranked opponents with the loss to BYU on Saturday. As it happens, the Cyclones’ last loss to a ranked opponent was against then-No. 17 BYU (March 13, 2025).

What is next: Tuesday at Utah, 9 p.m., FS1

Previous rankings: 2

2025-26 record: 23-4

Statistics to know: Houston lost back-to-back games for the first time since January 2024, ending an 87-game hitting streak that was the third-longest active streak in Division I and the longest of any major conference team. The Cougars had won 11 straight games after the losses entering Saturday.

What is next: Monday at Kansas, 9 p.m., ESPN

Previous rankings: 5

2025-26 record: 25-3

Statistics to know: UConn is 10-0 in conference games after a loss over the past three seasons. No other Division I team has more than six such wins without a loss in that time.

What is next: Tuesday vs. St. John’s, 7 p.m., Peacock/NBCSN

Previous rankings: 12

2025-26 record: 21-6

Statistics to know: Florida is the second SEC team in the last 50 years to score 85-plus points in six straight games, after Alabama, which did so in nine straight in 2024-25.

What is next: Wednesday at Texas, 7 p.m., ESPN2

Previous rankings: 7

2025-26 record: 22-5

Statistics to know: Purdue beat Indiana by 29 points on Friday, the program’s largest margin of victory since a 44-point victory on March 8, 1969. Friday also marked Purdue’s first time Purdue scored 90-plus points against Indiana since Feb. 10, 1998.

What is next: Thursday vs. Michigan State, 8 p.m., Peacock

Previous rankings: 11

2025-26 record: 27-2

Statistics to know: Gonzaga has now won more than 15 conference games for the 10th time since 2012-13. No other Division I team has done it more than seven seasons during that span.

What is next: Wednesday vs. Portland, 9 p.m., ESPN+

Previous rankings: 10

2025-26 record: 22-6

Statistics to know: Illinois now 3-4 this season when the freshman stars Keaton Wagler shooting below 35% in a game. Wagler was 5-of-15 from the field (33.3%) in the buzzer-beating overtime loss to UCLA on Saturday.

What is next: Friday vs. Michigan, 8 p.m., FOX

Previous rankings: 14

2025-26 record: 24-3

Statistics to know: Virginia is on an eight-game winning streak, matching its longest such streak over the past five seasons (January-February 2024 and November-December 2022).

What is next: Tuesday vs. NC State, 7 p.m., ACCN

Previous rankings: 9

2025-26 record: 23-4

Statistics to know: Nebraska’s 23 wins on the season are tied for second most in program history (the Cornhuskers won 26 games in 1990-91, 23 in 2023-24). The win over Penn State was Nebraska’s eighth 20-point victory this season, tied for its most in a season (with the 1994-95 and 2018-19 teams) over the past 75 years.

What is next: Wednesday vs. Maryland, 7 p.m., BTN

Previous rankings: 15

2025-26 record: 22-5

Statistics to know: The Spartans picked up their sixth win of the season Sunday after trailing Ohio State at halftime, breaking a tie for most such wins in the Big Ten this season.

What is next: Thursday at Purdue, 8 p.m., Peacock

Previous rankings: 8

2025-26 record: 20-7

Statistics to know: Kansas suffered its biggest home loss as an AP-ranked team against an unranked opponent in the AP poll era on Saturday, losing by 16 to Cincinnati. It was the Jayhawks’ first double-digit home loss against an unranked team since Jan. 25, 1993 (against Long Beach State) and ended a streak of 425 consecutive home games without a double-digit loss to unranked opponents (the longest such streak by any team since the AP poll began in 1948-49).

What is next: Monday vs. Houston, 9 p.m., ESPN

Previous rankings: 17

2025-26 record: 22-5

Statistics to know: The Red Storm’s 13-game winning streak is their longest since winning 19 straight in 1984-85.

What is next: Wednesday at UConn, 7 p.m., Peacock/NBCSN

Previous rankings: 13

2025-26 record: 20-7

Statistics to know: Texas Tech has now scored 100 or more points in three games this season, tied with the 2022-23 team for the most such games in a season in the past 30 years.

What is next: Tuesday vs. Cincinnati, 7 p.m., ESPN2

Previous rankings: 25

2025-26 record: 20-7

Statistics to know: Alabama has now scored 90 or more points in 18 games this season, the most such games in DI men’s college basketball. The next closest team is Akron, with 14 games.

What is next: Wednesday vs. Mississippi State, 9 p.m., ESPNU

Previous rankings: 16

2025-26 record: 21-6

Statistics to know: The Tar Heels saw the return of Henri Veesaar from injury and got 19 points from him in the win against Syracuse. With Veesaar on the floor, UNC outshot the Orange 54-41 and shot 60% on field goals. UNC shot just 37% when he was off the court.

What is next: Monday vs. Louisville, 7 p.m., ESPN

Previous rankings: 23

2025-26 record: 20-7

Statistics to know: BYU finally snapped a six-game losing streak against AP top-10 teams when it took down Iowa State on Saturday. It was also the Cougars’ highest win since then-No. 2 Gonzaga on February 22, 2020.

What is next: Tuesday vs. UCF, 11 p.m., ESPN2

Previous rankings: 20

2025-26 record: 20-7

Statistics to know: Arkansas has now scored at least 90 points in 12 games this season, tied for its most such games in the past 30 seasons (2017-18).

What is next: Wednesday vs. Texas A&M, 9 p.m., ESPN2

Previous rankings: 22

2025-26 record: 27-0

Statistics to know: Nine different players had at least one 20-plus point game, tied with 2025-26 Northeastern for the second-most such instances in DI over the past 30 seasons.

What is next: Tuesday at Eastern Michigan, 6:30 p.m., ESPN+

Previous rankings: Unordered

2025-26 record: 20-7

Statistics to know: Tennessee has won 15 of 17 meetings against Vanderbilt over the past nine seasons, including four straight when the Commodores were ranked and the Vols were unranked (which they were last week).

What is next: Tuesday at Missouri, 9 p.m., SEC Network

Previous rankings: 18

2025-26 record: 25-2

Statistics to know: Saint Louis trailed VCU by 14 points in the first half before coming back to win 88-75. It was the Billikens’ second biggest comeback win this season. It was also the 12th time this season that they outscored their opponents by 20-plus points in a half, the second-most such instances in DI behind Michigan (13). It was their 17th time this season scoring 50 or more points in a half (55 in the second), matching Texas A&M for the most in DI.

What is next: Tuesday at Dayton, 7 p.m., ESPN+

Previous rankings: 21

2025-26 record: 20-7

Statistics to know: Louisville has back-to-back 20-win seasons for the first time since recording 18 straight from 2002-03 through 2019-20.

What is next: Monday at North Carolina, 7 p.m., ESPN

Previous rankings: 19

2025-26 record: 21-6

Statistics to know: Vanderbilt began the season on a 16-game winning streak (tied 2007-08 for the best start in program history), but has since gone 5-6 in the past 11 games.

What is next: Wednesday vs. Georgia, 7 p.m., SEC Network