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AP College Basketball Poll 2023: Complete Week 3 Men's Rankings Released – Bleacher Report
If the first couple weeks of the 2023-24 college basketball season is any indication, the preseason voters knew what they were talking about.
Kansas remains the nation’s top-ranked team in the latest Associated Press poll after what was a largely quiet week in the Top 25. The Jayhawks remain followed by Purdue, Arizona, Marquette and UConn in an unchanged top five.
Here is a look at how the entire poll played out:
1. Kansas
2. Purdue
3. Arizona
4. Marquette
5. UConn
6. Houston
7. Tennessee
8. Creighton
9. Duke
10. Miami
11. Gonzaga
12. Texas A&M
13. Baylor
14. North Carolina
15. Texas
16. Kentucky
17. Alabama
18. Colorado
19. Florida Atlantic
20. Arkansas
21. Michigan State
22. James Madison
23. USC
24. Virginia
25. Mississippi State
Only one top-10 team—Florida Atlantic—suffered a loss over the last seven days as the remainder of the teams either got the job done against high-profile competition or merely took care of business in tune-up games.
This season’s most-hyped mid-major fell in embarrassing fashion Saturday to Bryant, which entered the game at 1-3 and is already working with an interim coach after Jared Grasso resigned last week. Florida Atlantic shot just 26.2 percent from the field and made only five of 30 threes as the home crowd looked on in total disbelief.
The game marked Bryant’s first win against a ranked opponent in program history.
“Hats off to Bryant,” FAU coach Dusty May told reporters. “They played determined, they played well, they made plays when they needed to make them. It’s a good basketball team that’s faced a lot of adversity and they came together as a group today.”
The result was nothing short of a nightmare for a Florida Atlantic team hoping to prove last season’s run to the national championship game was not a fluke.
FAU was not alone in disappointing results against unranked opponents. No. 14 Arkansas (UNC Greensboro), No. 16 USC (UC Irvine) and Villanova (Penn) also dropped games this week where they came in heavily favored.
Arkansas knocked down just four threes as the Razorbacks failed to overcome a 24-point first half against UNC Greensboro. Keshaun Langley led the way with 23 points for the Spartans.
UC Irvine took advantage of a miserable 28.8 percent shooting performance from USC in a 70-60 victory. Joshua Morgan, who finished 4-of-5 from the field, was the only Trojans player to even make above 40 percent of his shots.
“They played a very good game and made some tough shots. But this is more about us. You can’t expect to shoot 28 percent from the field and expect to be a good team,” USC coach Andy Enfield told reporters.
Villanova allowed Penn to shoot 51.1 percent from the floor and barely made over a third of its shots in a 76-72 loss to the Ivy League school. The win could alter the so-called Big Five in Philadelphia, as Villanova has long dominated the city championship series.
