Kansas held off Auburn for the No. 1 ranking in The Associated Press Top 25 men’s college basketball poll on Monday as Southeastern Conference teams grabbed three of the top four spots and two-time reigning national champion UConn nearly fell out entirely after an 0-3 week at the Maui Invitational.
The Jayhawks earned 35 of 61 first-place votes in the poll, while the Tigers got the remaining 26 and climbed two spots to No. 2 after wining the Maui title. The Huskies fell all the way to No. 25, barely avoiding becoming only the second team to go from No. 2 to unranked in a week in nearly four decades.
It was part of a turbulent week with holiday-week tournaments, leading to six new teams entering the rankings headlined by No. 12 Oregon and No. 16 Memphis.
Kansas (7-0), which beat Duke last week, had increased its margin on the No. 2-ranked team each week since the preseason poll and had a 107-point margin on …