Purdue leapt past Virginia, Texas and Houston to claim the No. 1 spot in the Coaches Poll on Monday after it improved to 10-0 on the season with wins over Hofstra and Nebraska last week. The Boilermakers received nine of a possible 29 first-place votes to move from No. 4 to No. 1, its highest ranking of the season after also earning the No. 1 spot in the AP Top 25 poll.
Virginia received the most first-place votes this week with 12 but moved up only one spot to No. 2 after it fell just shy of garnering the most total points in the poll. UConn, ranked No. 3, received seven first-place votes. Kansas, ranked No. 6 again this week received the final first-place vote.
The top of the Coaches Poll in order with Purdue, Virginia and UConn is comprised of three of the seven undefeated teams in college basketball whose records are a combined 29-0. The only other undefeated team to be ranked this week is Mississippi State, which came in at No. 20, its first time all season to be ranked in the poll.
Purdue is the third team to earn the No. 1 ranking in the Coaches Poll this season after North Carolina and Houston both earned the spot for brief stints. Houston held the spot for just two weeks before its loss on Saturday to Alabama prompted voters to move them down to No. 4 — still one spot ahead of Alabama. Alabama’s win, though, earned them a five-spot bump after ranking No. 10 last week.
Coaches Poll
The top 25 teams in the USA Today college basketball Coaches Poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through Sunday, total points based on 25 points for a first-place vote through one point for a 25th-place vote and last week’s ranking:
Also receiving votes: Marquette 46; Iowa State 46; Iowa 46; West Virginia 32; Memphis 29; Charleston 24; Creighton 20; Saint Mary’s 15; Xavier 14; UNLV 13; New Mexico 9; San Diego State 8; Kansas State 6; Utah State 4; Texas Tech 4; Arizona State 3; Rutgers 2; North Carolina 1; Michigan State 1.
Dropped out: No. 20 Iowa State; No. 21 Creighton; No. 22 San Diego State; No. 24 Iowa.