clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

NCAA Basketball Rankings: Virginia moves up to #4 in AP and Coaches Polls

Virginia Cavaliers players react to the team's #4 AP Poll ranking
Virginia Cavaliers players react to the team's #4 AP Poll ranking
Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports

The Virginia Cavaliers moved up one spot from #5 to #4 in the AP Poll and USA Today Coaches Poll, jumping Michigan State after the Spartans' loss to Iowa.

Oklahoma tops the Coaches Poll, while Kansas is #1 in the AP Poll. The two will square off tonight at Allen Fieldhouse. Maryland is ranked third.

Taking a closer look at the AP Poll:

  • After UVA, Michigan State, UNC, Arizona, Providence, Kentucky, and Xavier round out the top 10.
  • North Carolina is the highest-ranked two-loss team. Both of their losses came to KenPom top-100 teams on the road, but they have only one top-50 win, at home against Maryland.
  • Six total ACC teams are ranked. After UVA and UNC come #12 Miami, #14 Duke, #16 Louisville, and #24 Pitt.
  • UVA out-of-conference opponents Villanova (#11) and West Virginia (#17) are also ranked, while Cal and GW were two of the first four teams outside of the top 25.
  • The biggest discrepancy between the top 15 of the two polls: Duke is #10 in the Coaches Poll and #14 in the AP.

Other Rankings:

KenPom: #3 (#1 Offense, #17 Defense)
Sagarin: #5
BPI: #2
RPI: #5

Two noticeable disparities between the pollsters and the "smart" (non-RPI) computers: Maryland is third in the polls, but around #15 in the computers. Purdue is 20thin the AP Poll, but 6th or 7th in the computers.

Here are the full polls:

AP Poll

RK TEAM RECORD PTS
1 Kansas Jayhawks (44) 12-1 1,598
2 Oklahoma Sooners (21) 12-0 1,574
3 Maryland Terrapins 13-1 1,459
4 Virginia Cavaliers 12-1 1,409
5 Michigan State Spartans 14-1 1,400
6 North Carolina Tar Heels 13-2 1,275
7 Arizona Wildcats 13-1 1,126
8 Providence Friars 14-1 1,108
9 Kentucky Wildcats 11-2 1,039
10 Xavier Musketeers 13-1 1,001
11 Villanova Wildcats 12-2 979
12 Miami-Florida Hurricanes 12-1 921
13 Iowa State Cyclones 11-2 844
14 Duke Blue Devils 12-2 830
15 SMU Mustangs 13-0 731
16 Louisville Cardinals 12-2 568
17 West Virginia Mountaineers 12-1 558
18 Butler Bulldogs 11-3 516
19 Iowa Hawkeyes 11-3 456
20 Purdue Boilermakers 13-2 450
21 Texas A&M Aggies 11-2 420
22 South Carolina Gamecocks 13-0 286
23 Connecticut Huskies 10-3 107
24 Pittsburgh Panthers 12-1 103
25 Dayton Flyers 11-2 100
Others receiving votes: Gonzaga 61, California 54, Texas Tech 40, George Washington 38, Saint Mary's 23, Baylor 22, Oregon State 4, Colorado 4, Seton Hall 4, Saint Joseph's 3, Wichita St 3, Utah 3, Cincinnati 2, Indiana 2, Michigan 2, Akron 1, Oregon 1


USA Today Coaches Poll

RANK TEAM RECORD PTS PREV
1 Oklahoma (20) 12-0 781 2
2 Kansas (11) 12-1 769 3
3 Maryland 13-1 732 4
4 Virginia 12-1 698 5
5 Michigan St (1) 14-1 676 1
6 Arizona 13-1 618 7
7 North Carolina 13-2 592 8
8 Kentucky 11-2 526 11
9 Providence 14-1 509 13
10 Duke 12-2 487 12
11 Miami-Florida 12-1 444 15
12 Xavier 13-1 442 6
13 Villanova 12-2 434 16
14 Iowa St. 11-2 402 9
15 West Virginia 12-1 350 17
16 Louisville 12-2 282 18
17 Texas A&M 11-2 265 19
18 Purdue 13-2 248 14
19 Butler 11-3 238 10
20 South Carolina 13-0 232 20
21 Pittsburgh 12-1 121 25
22 Gonzaga 12-3 112 24
23 Iowa 11-3 110 NR
24 Connecticut 10-3 81 26
25 Baylor 10-3 61 21
Others Receiving Votes: California 52; Dayton 28; George Washington 23; Cincinnati 19; Saint Mary's 18; Texas Tech 17; Vanderbilt 6; Oregon 6; Utah 5; Indiana 5; Colorado 4; Oregon State 3; Southern California 2; Houston 2.