UVA men’s basketball ranked #5 in AP Poll after wins over #7 Baylor and #16 Illinois

After getting two huge wins over the weekend and becoming the Continental Tire Main Event Champions out in Las Vegas, the Virginia Cavaliers jumped a whopping eleven spots in the AP Top-25 poll from #16 to #5. With Baylor ranked seventh and Illinois taking UVA’s spot at #16, clearly the voters saw serious value in the Wahoos’ pair of victories. That’s probably partially due to each of those squads beating new #19 UCLA.

Believe it or not, UVA also received one first place vote and, while that pales in comparison to the 47 that #1 North Carolina got, it’s at least worth noting that the Cavaliers are in that conversation to some extent. Especially considering that Virginia arguably has the best pair of wins in the country, they could keep making a push to be ranked higher.

Ahead of the ‘Hoos in the poll are the aforementioned North Carolina Tar Heels ranked first, the Houston Cougars (who UVA tips off against on December 17th) ranked second, the Kansas Jayhawks ranked third, and the Texas Longhorns ranked fourth. Texas is the other big riser after upsetting formerly #2 and currently #6 Gonzaga by nineteen points this past Wednesday.

The new poll also has three ACC teams in the top-eight with the Duke Blue Devils falling one spot down to #8 after losing to Kansas by five on Tuesday. Unfortunately, there are no other ACC teams ranked with only Miami and Virginia Tech receiving votes.

As for UVA’s other opponents this season, Michigan dropped out of the top-25 after getting blown out by 25-points to Arizona State. The Wolverines are still receiving votes.

Full poll:

1. North Carolina

2. Houston

3. Kansas

4. Texas

5. Virginia

6. Gonzaga

7. Baylor

8. Duke

9. Arkansas

10. Creighton

11. Indiana

12. Michigan State

13. Auburn

14. Arizona

15. Kentucky

16. Illinois

17. San Diego State

18. Alabama

19. UCLA

20. UConn

21. Texas Tech

22. Tennessee

23. Maryland

24. Purdue

25. Iowa

Others receiving votes: TCU 82, Saint Mary’s 59, Ohio State 56, Michigan 24, Xavier 22, Charleston 17, Toledo 16, Miami (FL) 10, Dayton 9, Villanova 7, Arizona State 5, Virginia Tech 5, Saint Louis 5, UNLV 5, Oregon 4, West Virginia 3, Texas A&M 2, Utah State 1, Penn State 1, Mississippi State 1.