Las Vegas - Syracuse will play the nation’s No. 3 team Monday when it faces Houston in the Players Era Festival.
The latest AP men’s basketball poll is out.
You can it examine it below, then see the ballot I turned in late Sunday night.
Here’s the poll (rank, team, record, total points, number of first-place votes in parentheses):
1) Purdue 6-0 1509 (46)
2) Arizona 5-0 1439 (11)
3) Houston 5-0 1425 (4)
4) Duke 7-0 1319 (0)
5) UConn 5-1 1208 (0)
6) Louisville 5-0 1201 (0)
7) Michigan 4-0 1080 (0)
8) Alabama 3-1 1070 (0)
9) BYU 4-1 1033 (0)
10) Florida 4-1 961 (0)
11) Michigan State 5-0 879 (0)
12) Gonzaga 5-0 863 (0)
13) Illinois 5-1 830 (0)
14) St. John’s 3-1 743 (0)
15) Iowa State 4-0 706 (0)
16) North Carolina 5-0 595 (0)
17) Tennessee 5-0 495 (0)
18) UCLA 5-1 488 (0)
19) Kentucky 4-2 394 (0)
20) Texas Tech 4-2 319 (0)
21) Auburn 4-1 269 (0)
22) Arkansas 5-1 260 (0)
23) North Carolina State 4-0 214 (0)
24) Vanderbilt 5-0 111 (0)
25) Indiana 5-0 100 (0)
Others receiving votes:
Wisconsin 45, Kansas 34, Oregon 31, Georgetown 31, Saint Mary’s 27, Nebraska 27, Ohio St. 26, Missouri 20, Utah St. 16, Baylor 14, Southern Cal 10, Mississippi 10, Iowa 6, Clemson 6, Santa Clara 3, Creighton 3, Oklahoma St. 2, Virginia Tech 2, Buffalo 1.
I was one of the 11 people who voted Arizona No. 1 this week.
The Wildcats, in my opinion, have the best wins of the early college season. Arizona has beaten Florida, UCLA and Connecticut. None of those games were at home.
It’s a long season and nobody knows what this Top 25 poll will look like in late March.
But here’s my Nov. 24 ballot:
1) Arizona
2) Purdue
3) Houston
4) Alabama
5) Louisville
6) Duke
7) UConn
8) BYU
9) Gonzaga
10) Michigan State
11) Iowa State
12) Florida
13) St. John’s
14) Illinois
15) Vanderbilt
16) North Carolina
17) Tennessee
18) NC State
19) Michigan
20) Auburn
21) UCLA
22) St. Mary’s
23) Kentucky
24) Baylor
25) Utah State