AP hoops poll for Jan. 18

The biggest question surrounding this week’s Associated Press men’s basketball poll was if North Carolina and Connecticut would remain in the Top 25.

The Tar Heels (12-6) stayed ranked, barely, coming in at No. 24. UConn (11-6) dropped out of the rankings, however. I dropped both UNC and UConn from my Top 25, replacing them with Northern Iowa and Vanderbilt.

As much as I wanted to include Big 12 reps Baylor and Missouri in this week’s poll, I couldn’t justify it after they lost to Colorado and Oklahoma, which had the league’s two worst non-conference records. Baylor stayed in the AP poll at No. 25, but dropped out of the coaches’ poll. With Texas playing at Kansas State tonight, there could be a new No. 1 in next week’s poll.

Here is how I voted this week: 1. Texas; 2. Kentucky; 3. Kansas; 4. Michigan State; 5. Villanova; 6. Syracuse; 7. Duke; 8. Pittsburgh; 9. Tennessee; 10. Kansas State; 11. Georgetown; 12. Gonzaga; 13. Clemson; 14. West Virginia; 15. BYU; 16. Wisconsin; 17. Georgia Tech; 18. Purdue; 19. Temple; 20. Mississippi State; 21. Mississippi; 22. Northern Iowa; 23. Vanderbilt; 24. Florida State; 25. Rhode Island.