Tennessee jumps to No. 1, five SEC teams land in top-10 of latest AP Poll

By SAM LANCE

We are entering week six of the college basketball season and conference play is right around the corner. In the Big 10, it has already started.

It’s official: college basketball is starting to heat up.

On Monday, the latest AP Poll dropped and featured a new team at No. 1. For just the third time in school history, the Tennessee Volunteers sit as best team in the land. The full rankings are below:

1. Tennessee (8-0)
2. Auburn (8-1)
3. Iowa State (7-1)
4. Duke (7-2)
5. Kentucky (8-1)
6. Marquette (9-1)
7. Alabama (7-2)
8. Gonzaga (7-2)
9. Florida (9-0)
10. Kansas (7-2)
11. Purdue (8-2)
12. Oregon (9-1)
13. Oklahoma (9-0)
14. Michigan (8-1)
15. Houston (5-3)
16. Clemson (9-1)
17. Texas A&M (8-2)
18. UConn (7-3)
19. Ole Miss (8-1)
20. Wisconsin (8-2)
21. Michigan State (8-2)
22. Cincinnati (7-1)
23. San Diego State (6-2)
24. UCLA (8-1)
25. Mississippi State (8-1)

The SEC dominated the SEC/ACC challenge this past week and now see nine teams in the top-25, including five in the top-10. The Big 10 has six teams ranked followed by the Big 12 with four, ACC and Big East with two, and the Mountain West and WCC with one apiece.

Notable teams to drop in the rankings include Kansas (from No. 1 to No. 10), Wisconsin (from No. 11 to No. 20) and Cincinnati (from No. 14 to No. 22). Duke, Oklahoma, Texas A&M and UConn are all up five spots or more. North Carolina, the preseason No. 9, is a notable absentee from the poll.

History tells us the week six poll is an important one.

History tells us that one of these 12 teams will win the national championship & cut nets in April.

Every national champion since 2004 was top 12 in the week 6 AP Poll… and here we are pic.twitter.com/tEb63YIIOS

— Ryan Hammer🔨 (@ryanhammer09) December 9, 2024

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