Arizona moved up two spots to No. 2 in the Associated Press Top 25 poll, while the Wildcats appeared to be in firmer position to earn an No. 1 NCAA Tournament entering their game at Baylor on Tuesday.
Duke (25-2) took the top spot in the AP poll after beating former No. 1 Michigan (25-2), while the Wolverines dropped to No. 3. Iowa State (23-4) was fourth and Houston (23-4) was fifth.
Houston guard Kingston Flemings (4) drives to the basket as Arizona forward Ivan Kharchenkov (8) defends in the second half, Saturday, Feb. 21, 2026, in Houston.
The Wildcats (25-2) beat BYU and Houston last week to take over first place in the Big 12 at 12-2, after having broken a string of eight straight appearances at the No. 1 spot when they lost to Kansas and Texas Tech.
While Houston dropped from No. 2 to No. 5 after losing to Arizona on Saturday, BYU (20-7) moved up four spots to No. 19 in Monday's poll.
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Duke, Arizona, Michigan and Iowa State were all named tentative No. 1 NCAA Tournament seeds during the CBS early reveal show on Saturday before the Wildcats beat Houston. However, the Cyclones lost to BYU later Saturday, and ESPN's Joe Lunardi projected UConn as the fourth No. 1 seed on Monday.
Because UConn (25-3) is ranked sixth and Florida (21-7) moved up from No. 12 to No. 7, the Wildcats have now beaten three current top 10 teams, and they'll likely get a crack at another one on March 2 when Iowa State visits McKale Center. The Cyclones are scheduled to play at Utah on Tuesday and host No. 16 Texas Tech on Saturday.
FWIW, I had Arizona at No. 3 on my AP ballot - the Wildcats and Wolverines have very similar resumes but Michigan has played a stronger overall schedule (which is also likely hurting UA slightly in the NET and Kenpom).
Contact sports reporter Bruce Pascoe at bpascoe@tucson.com. On X(Twitter): @brucepascoe
Bruce Pascoe
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