Virginia continues slow climb in the AP Poll

The Virginia Cavaliers climbed one spot to No. 16 in the latest AP Poll, despite not having played a game in over two weeks. Virginia had to pause all basketball activities as a result of COVID-19 issues and had games against Michigan State and Villanova canceled. The Hoos will (hopefully) resume play on December 22 against William & Mary in a game that has been moved twice.

After the Tribe, Virginia will square off with No. 1 Gonzaga in Fort Worth on Saturday. This will be the fourth time under Tony Bennett that the Cavaliers play the top team in the country and they are 0-3 in the previous games. The Hoos have fallen short by two points on the road in each of the last two games against No. 1 teams (Villanova in 2017 and Duke in 2019).

Gonzaga retained the top spot again this week after a convincing win over then-No. 3 Iowa. The Zags will host Northwestern State before facing the Hoos.

Baylor stayed at No. 2, with Kansas moving to No. 3, Iowa falling to No. 4, and Villanova rounding out the top-5.

The Big Ten led all leagues with seven ranked teams, followed by the ACC and Big 12 with five teams apiece. A pair of ACC teams dropped out of the rankings this week — Louisville and Clemson — along with SDSU. Virginia Tech climbed back into the rankings at No. 24, and Oregon became the lone Pac-12 team in the poll at No. 25.

Check out the full poll: