Sports
Duke back to No. 1 in AP men’s basketball poll thanks to Michigan win
Duke’s win against Michigan has propelled the Blue Devils to a familiar perch: No. 1 in The Associated Press men’s college basketball poll.
The Blue Devils climbed two spots to top Monday’s poll, marking the 148th appearance at No. 1 to add to what was already the record for any program.
Duke (25-2) claimed 56 of 61 first-place votes to supplant Michigan (25-2) after Saturday’s 68-63 win against the Wolverines in Washington.
That win came in a matchup of the top two teams in the NCAA men’s selection committee’s preliminary top 16 seeds for March Madness, released hours before the game.
The Blue Devils enter this week with a national-best 12 Quadrant 1 wins, along with nine wins against AP Top 25 teams.
And now the latest such win has pushed the Blue Devils back to a No. 1 ranking for the second straight season under fourth-year coach Jon Scheyer. Last year’s Final Four team sat atop the last two polls entering the NCAA tournament, the first time Duke had reached No. 1 since Scheyer took over for retired Hall of Famer Mike Krzyzewski in 2022.
Arizona rose two spots to No. 2 after beating BYU and winning at Houston and secured the other five first-place votes. Michigan fell to No. 3 as its first appearance at No. 1 since January 2013 turned into a one-week stay, followed by a pair of Big 12 teams in Iowa State and Houston.
The top tier
UConn fell one spot to No. 6 after a week that included a home loss to Creighton, while reigning national champion Florida leaped five spots to No. 7 to return to the top 10 for the first time since late November. The Gators were ranked No. 3 in the preseason and spent a week among the unranked in early January. They have won seven straight and 12 of 13.
Purdue, Gonzaga and Illinois rounded out the top 10.
NCAA selection committee vs. AP Top 25
The selection committee had Michigan, Duke, Arizona and Iowa State as the No. 1 seeds in Saturday’s reveal of the preliminary top 16 seeds. The Cyclones edged UConn and Houston for the fourth 1-seed, with the Huskies’ loss to Creighton and then Iowa State’s head-to-head win against Houston to start last week swinging the vote to T.J. Otzelberger’s squad.
Monday’s poll largely aligns with the committee’s reveal, starting with the same four teams at the top in a shuffled order — with Iowa State moving up two spots even after Saturday’s loss at now-No. 19 BYU.
In addition, the AP Top 25 and committee align on 15 teams being ranked among those top 16 seeds. The outlier is St. John’s at No. 15 in the AP poll, taking a slot that went to Vanderbilt — with the Commodores seeded 15th overall by the committee Saturday but sliding to No. 25 in Monday’s poll.
Rising
Alabama had the week’s biggest jump, rising eight spots to No. 17 after a thrilling double-overtime home win against Arkansas and a victory at LSU pushed the Crimson Tide’s win streak to six games.
Florida had the week’s second-biggest gain, while BYU rose four spots after the Arizona loss and Iowa State win.
In all, 11 teams moved up from last week’s ranking.
Sliding
No. 14 Kansas joined Vanderbilt with the week’s biggest slide of six spots. The Jayhawks are coming off a 16-point home loss to a Cincinnati team that was reeling in early February but has won four straight.
The Commodores lost at Missouri and at home to Tennessee last week, falling to 5-6 since a 16-0 start that carried them to a No. 10 ranking as of mid-January.
Saint Louis tumbled five spots to No. 23 after last week’s loss at Rhode Island ended an 18-game winning streak, while 11 teams fell from last week but remained in the poll.
Status quo
Illinois and No. 20 Arkansas were the only two teams to hold their position from last week.
Coming and going
Tennessee was the lone new addition, at No. 22, with the Volunteers beating Oklahoma and Vanderbilt last week to push their winning streak to four games. This starts a third stint in the poll for Rick Barnes’ Volunteers, who fell out for two weeks in mid-January, returned for a week at No. 25 to start February, then were unranked again for the past two weeks.
The Vols replaced Wisconsin, which fell out from No. 24 after last week’s loss at Ohio State.
Conference watch
The Big 12 led all conferences with six ranked teams, while the Big Ten and Southeastern Conference each had five. The Atlantic Coast Conference was next with four, followed by the Big East with two.
The West Coast Conference, Mid-American Conference and Atlantic 10 each had one ranked team.
The England and Wales Cricket Board and all eight Hundred franchises said on Tuesday that players must not be excluded based on nationality, after reports that Indian-owned teams may avoid signing Pakistan cricketers.
The BBC reported last week that Manchester Super Giants, MI London, Southern Brave and Sunrisers Leeds would not consider signing Pakistan players for the competition amid ongoing tensions between Pakistan and India.
“The Hundred was established to reach new audiences, grow the game of cricket and ensure that everyone — regardless of their ethnicity, gender, faith, nationality or other — can feel they belong in our sport,” they said in a statement.
“Players must not be excluded on the grounds of their nationality. All eight teams commit to selection being based solely on cricketing performance, availability, and the needs of each team.”
The player auction is scheduled for March 11-12 in London, with 67 Pakistan players having registered, including fast bowlers Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf and Naseem Shah, according to the BBC.
Pakistan players have been effectively barred from the Indian Premier League (IPL) since 2009.
The Hundred, the only cricket league in the world that uses the 100-ball format, will be held from July 21 to August 16 and was opened to private investment this year, with four franchises acquired by IPL owners.
Former England international cricketer Michael Atherton has termed Pakistani pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi a very dangerous opponent for any team.
Despite England inflicting a defeat on the Pakistani side in the Super Eights stage of the T20 World Cup 2026 in Kandy, Atherton, who is also a cricket commentator, praised Shaheen for regaining form.
When asked to comment on the fast bowler, he said: “Wickets up top is what he’s all about. His combination of obviously decent pace, and if he can get that ball swinging, he remains a very dangerous opponent.”
England chased down their target of 165 with five balls to spare, despite a late wobble. Captain Harry Brook scored his first T20 international century to take England into the World Cup semi-finals with a nervy two-wicket win.
Atherton recalled that Shaheen — who took four wickets in the match against England — has had a difficult time. “And, you know, he’s one of the kind of iconic figures of Pakistan cricket.”
“So it’s good to see him back, taking wickets at the top of the order. And he got Pakistan right back in the game. They only needed to get Harry Brook out and that was probably Pakistan’s game. But Brook was just too good for them tonight,” he added.
After England restricted Pakistan to 164-9, Brook came in on the second ball of the innings with the score 0-1 after Phil Salt’s golden duck, caught behind off Shaheen.
Wickets tumbled in the power play but Brook stood firm.
He lifted his side from a precarious 35-3 to 155-6 when he was dismissed by Shaheen, having scored the second fastest century in T20 World Cup history and the first by a team captain.
Shaheen hailed Brook’s century as a “world-class knock” and said that this would be the best innings of his life. “Brook played proper cricketing shots, and he deserved a handshake, so I went to him and shook his hand in appreciation,” said the pacer.
THE CHAMPIONS!
We are back this week with some UEFA Champions League matches as the first teams can qualify for the round of 16 via the knockout round playoffs.
In our games kicking off simultaneously, Internazionale were looking to turn around a 3-1 deficit as they hosted Norwegian side Bodø/Glimt at the San Siro. However, the side from the Arctic Circle will leave Italy victorious and with a ticket to the next round after their 2-1 win.
Elsewhere, Newcastle United booked their spot into the round of 16 by eliminating Qarabag and finally, Bayer Leverkusen have also booked their spot in the next round after eliminating Olympiacos.
Enjoy all the updates from Tuesday’s matches.
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