Sports
Men’s AP Top 25 poll reaction: Highlights, what’s next for every team
The seventh in-season edition of the men’s AP Top 25 poll features a notable change at the top.
While Arizona and Michigan retain their positions at No. 1 and 2, respectively, Duke falls from No. 3 to No. 6 after suffering its first loss of the season on Saturday: a 17-point, second-half comeback by Texas Tech. Iowa State, UConn and Purdue each move up a spot as a result, though the top 10 otherwise remains the same week-over-week.
Further down the board, St. John’s and Auburn fall out, while USC and Iowa join the mix.
Let’s run through statistical highlights and the next game for each of the Top 25 teams.
All times Eastern. All stats courtesy of ESPN Research unless otherwise noted.
Previous polls: Preseason | Week 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6
Previous ranking: 1
2025-26 record: 11-0
Stat to know: Arizona has won six straight games by 20 or more points, the longest active streak in Division I. This is the seventh time the Wildcats have opened a season 11-0.
What’s next: Monday vs. Bethune-Cookman, 9 p.m., ESPN+
Previous ranking: 2
2025-26 record: 11-0
Stat to know: Michigan’s six 100-point games are the most in Division I this season. Sunday’s 102-50 win over La Salle was the Wolverines’ fifth victory of 40 or more points, tying 1991-92 Indiana and 1988-89 Michigan for the most in Big Ten history (since 1905-06).
What’s next: Dec. 29 vs. McNeese, 7 p.m., B1G+
Previous ranking: 4
2025-26 record: 12-0
Stat to know: Iowa State’s 91-60 win over Long Beach State on Sunday was the program’s seventh victory by 25 or more points this season, tied for most in Division I and trailing only Michigan.
What’s next: Dec. 29 vs. Houston Christian, 8 p.m., ESPN+
Previous ranking: 5
2025-26 record: 12-1
Stat to know: UConn is off to its best start since 2022-23, when the Huskies opened their national-championship-winning campaign on a 14-0 run. Alex Karaban is making his way up the list of most made 3-pointers in program history, cementing himself at No. 6 with 240 career 3s after Sunday’s 3-for-6 effort against DePaul.
What’s next: Dec. 31 at Xaiver, 5 p.m., Peacock
Previous ranking: 6
2025-26 record: 11-1
Stat to know: Braden Smith leads the Big Ten in point-assist double-doubles after notching his third of the season on Sunday with 11 points and 14 assists in a win over Auburn. He also became the first Purdue player in at least 20 seasons with three straight games of 10-plus assists.
What’s next: Dec. 29 vs. Kent State, 7 p.m., B1G+
Previous ranking: 3
2025-26 record: 11-1
Stat to know: Duke suffered its first loss of the season on Saturday, allowing Texas Tech to mount a 17-point comeback in an 82-81 win at Madison Square Garden. It was the Blue Devils’ largest blown lead since 2007; it snapped their 69-0 win streak when leading by 15-plus points with Jon Scheyer at the helm (since 2022-23).
What’s next: Dec. 31 vs. Georgia Tech, 4 p.m., ACC Network
Previous ranking: 7
2025-26 record: 12-1
Stat to know: Gonzaga is off to its best start since 2020-21, when it started 31-0 before ultimately losing to Baylor in the national championship. This was the Zags’ ninth game of 90-plus points, tying Akron and Alabama for the most in Division I this season.
What’s next: Sunday at Pepperdine, 8 p.m., ESPN+
Previous ranking: 8
2025-26 record: 11-1
Stat to know: With Saturday’s 94-85 win over Arkansas, Houston improves to 37-0 when it scores 90 or more points under Kelvin Sampson (since 2014-15).
What’s next: Dec. 29 vs. Middle Tennessee, 8 p.m., ESPN+
Previous ranking: 9
2025-26 record: 11-1
Stat to know: Jaxon Kohler became the first Michigan State player to record three straight double-doubles since Xavier Tillman in 2019-20 with his 13 points and 13 rebounds in Saturday’s win over Oakland.
What’s next: Dec. 29 vs. Cornell, 7 p.m., FS1
Previous ranking: 10
2025-26 record: 11-1
Stat to know: AJ Dybantsa had a career-high 35 points against Abilene Christian on Friday, the second-most single-game points by a freshman in BYU history. Danny Ainge had 36 points in 1977-78 against Idaho State.
What’s next: Monday vs. Eastern Washington, 9 p.m., ESPN+
Previous ranking: 13
2025-26 record: 12-0
Stat to know: Vanderbilt is on its longest win streak to start a season since opening the 2007-08 campaign on a 16-0 run.
What’s next: Dec. 29 vs. New Haven, 6 p.m.
Previous ranking: 12
2025-26 record: 11-1
Stat to know: North Carolina is off to its best start since 2008-09, when the Tar Heels opened their season 13-0 before eventually winning the national title.
What’s next: Monday vs. East Carolina, 8 p.m., ACC Network
Previous ranking: 15
2025-26 record: 12-0
Stat to know: Nebraska is off to its best start in program history. Its 16-game win streak dating back to last season is also the longest win streak in school history.
What’s next: Dec. 30 vs. New Hampshire, 9 p.m., Big Ten Network
Previous ranking: 16
2025-26 record: 9-3
Stat to know: Alabama recorded its ninth game of 90 or more points with Sunday’s 92-81 win over Kennesaw State, tying Kent State and Gonzaga with the most in Division I this season.
What’s next: Dec. 29 vs. Yale, 8 p.m., SEC Network
Previous ranking: 19
2025-26 record: 9-3
Stat to know: Texas Tech mounted the largest comeback win by any team against an AP top-three team since 2017-18 with Saturday’s 17-point come-from-behind victory over a previously unbeaten Duke.
What’s next: Sunday vs. Winthrop, 2 p.m., TNT
Previous ranking: 11
2025-26 record: 10-2
Stat to know: Louisville improves to 8-0 against unranked opponents with Saturday’s 94-54 win over Montana — the Cardinals’ fourth win by 40 or more points, tied with Michigan and Kentucky for the most in Division I this season.
What’s next: Dec. 30 at Cal, 9 p.m., ACC Network
Previous ranking: 17
2025-26 record: 9-3
Stat to know: Flory Bidunga posted his fifth double-double this season, tied for most in the Big 12, with 18 points and 10 rebounds against Towson last week.
What’s next: Monday vs. Davidson, 8 p.m., ESPN+
Previous ranking: 14
2025-26 record: 9-3
Stat to know: Darius Acuff Jr. became the first Arkansas freshman with three straight 20-point games in at least the past 20 seasons with his career-high 27 points in Saturday’s loss to Houston.
What’s next: Dec. 29 vs. James Madison, 8 p.m., SEC Network
Previous ranking: 20
2025-26 record: 9-3
Stat to know: Tennessee is on a 43-game nonconference home winning streak, tying a program record.
What’s next: Dec. 30 vs. South Carolina State, 8 p.m., SEC Network
Previous ranking: 18
2025-26 record: 8-3
Stat to know: Illinois hasn’t played since suffering its first home loss of the season on Dec. 13 to Nebraska. All three of its losses have come against ranked opponents (Alabama and UConn).
What’s next: Monday at Missouri, 8 p.m., FS1
Previous ranking: 24
2025-26 record: 10-1
Stat to know: Virginia reached 80 points for the 10th time this season with Saturday’s win over Maryland, the most for any Cavaliers team over an entire season since 2007-08 (11) and the most in the program’s first 11 games since joining the ACC in 1953-54.
What’s next: Monday vs. American University, 6 p.m., ACC Network
Previous ranking: 23
2025-26 record: 8-4
Stat to know: Rueben Chinyelu recorded his sixth double-double of the season with Sunday’s 16-point, 12-rebound performance against Colgate — the most among SEC players this season.
What’s next: Dec. 29 vs. Dartmouth, 6 p.m., SEC Network
Previous ranking: 25
2025-26 record: 10-1
Stat to know: Georgia had its fifth 100-point game of the season with last Thursday’s 112-82 win over Western Carolina, tied for the second most in Division I.
What’s next: Monday vs. West Georgia, 2 p.m., SEC Network
Previous ranking: Unranked
2025-26 record: 12-1
Stat to know: Four USC players finished in double-figure scoring en route to Sunday’s win over UC Santa Cruz: Gabe Dynes (16), Ezra Ausar (15), Chad Baker-Mazara (15) and Jacob Cofie (14).
What’s next: Jan. 2 at Michigan, 7 p.m., Peacock
Previous ranking: Unranked
2025-26 record: 10-2
Stat to know: Alvaro Folgueiras came off the bench to score 15 of his 17 points before halftime of Iowa’s 94-39 win over Bucknell on Saturday.
What’s next: Dec. 29 vs. UMass Lowell, 5 p.m., Big Ten Network
ANTALYA, Turkey — Players held small backpacks as Iran‘s national soccer team used a match against Nigeria on Friday to honor the victims of a deadly missile strike on an elementary school.
More than 165 people were killed, most of them children, when a Feb. 28 strike, likely launched by the U.S., hit the school in southern Iran.
– Iran bans sports teams’ travel to ‘hostile’ nations
Neither the United States nor Israel has accepted responsibility for the attack, which has come under staunch criticism from the United Nations and human rights groups. The U.S. military is investigating and has said it would never target civilians.
During the national anthem Friday, the Iranian team honored the memory of the slain children by placing small pink and purple school backpacks in front of them.
Video of the ceremony also showed the players wearing black armbands in remembrance of those killed since the war began.
The match was played in Antalya, southern Turkey.
Nigeria won 2-1 in a game that was a World Cup tuneup for Iran, ahead of the tournament being co-hosted by the United States, Mexico and Canada.
The Islamic Republic’s team is scheduled to play three group-stage matches in June in the U.S. The Iranian ambassador in Mexico City has said the country asked FIFA to move those three games to Mexico after U.S. President Donald Trump discouraged the team from attending, citing safety concerns.
Iranian government and soccer officials have said they do not want to boycott the World Cup but that it is not possible for the national team to go to the U.S. because of military attacks on Iran by Israel and U.S.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino has dampened Iran’s attempts to move its matches, saying global soccer’s governing body wants the tournament “to go ahead as scheduled.”
Separately on Friday, Iran’s judiciary threatened to seize the property of soccer player Sardar Azmoun, two semiofficial news agencies said. The announcement follows threats from Iran’s hard-liner judicial chief that authorities planned to seize the assets of celebrities viewed as critical of the government.
Tiger Woods showed signs of impairment and was arrested Friday at the scene of a car crash in which he struck another vehicle and rolled his Land Rover, authorities said.
Martin County Sheriff John Budensiek said Woods and the person in the other vehicle were not injured. Woods was able to crawl out of the passenger side of his Land Rover.
The crash occurred just after 2 p.m. not far from where Woods lives on Jupiter Island. Budensiek said Woods attempted to pass a pressure cleaner truck while driving on a two-land road. He swerved to avoid a collision as he was passing the truck, but clipped the back end of the truck’s trailer. Woods’ vehicle then rolled onto its driver’s side.
Budensiek said investigators at the scene found Woods to be showing signs of impairment. He did a breathalyzer test, which came out negative, but he refused to take a urine test. Authorities charged him with driving under the influence with property damage and refusal to submit to a lawful test, Budensiek said. Both charges are misdemeanors.
Woods’ manager at Excel Sports did not immediately respond to a text message seeking information.
Woods, 50, had spent the past several months recovering from a ruptured Achilles tendon and another back surgery in October. The 15-time major champion competed for the first time in more than a year during Tuesday’s TGL finals, where his Jupiter Links GC team lost to the Los Angeles Golf Club.
He had been weighing whether to return to the PGA Tour at the Masters at Augusta National Golf Club, the first major of the season, which begins April 9.
Woods last competed on the PGA Tour in July 2024 when he missed the cut at the Open Championship at Royal Troon Golf Club in Scotland. He last played four rounds in a PGA Tour event at the 2024 Masters.
In February 2021, Woods suffered significant leg injuries in a one-car crash outside of Los Angeles, in which his SUV rolled several times and left him trapped in the car. He later had surgery to deal with “open fractures” to his lower right leg, had a rod placed in a tibia and had screws and pins inserted in his foot and ankle during emergency surgery. Woods was hospitalized for three weeks following the surgery.
At the 2021 Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas, Woods said, “I’m lucky to be alive and also have a limb.” He said it was 50-50 as to whether part of his right leg could have been amputated.
He had at least one more surgery related to injuries from the crash in April 2023.
ESPN’s Mark Schlabach and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Morocco got FIFA permission to select Fulham defender Issa Diop and Ajax midfielder Rayane Bounida among seven players recruited this month by the 2022 World Cup semifinalist ahead of the next edition in North America, and 16 in total since last March.
The 29-year-old Diop was a France youth and under-21 international and Bounida is among six players aged 20 or under changing eligibility this month to represent Morocco after playing youth games for Belgium or the Netherlands.
All have direct family ties to Morocco that allow them within FIFA rules to change national eligibility, typically when players have not played a senior competitive game for the first country they represented.
Diop and Bounida are in new coach Mohamed Ouahbi’s squad for World Cup warmup games against Ecuador on Friday in Madrid, and Paraguay on Tuesday in Lens, France.
At the 2026 World Cup Morocco is in a group with Brazil, Scotland and Haiti playing games, respectively, near New York, Boston and in Atlanta.
Morocco gets direct entry to the 2030 tournament as a co-host with Spain and Portugal, plus single games to be played in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay.
The Morocco federation, under the leadership of Fouzi Lekjaa, an increasingly influential figure in soccer politics, has actively recruited players from a diaspora in Europe.
The squad which made World Cup history in Qatar as the first semifinalist from Africa included stars such as Hakim Ziyech and Sofyan Amrabat who had been Netherlands youth internationals.
The eligibility changes FIFA approved in March include Bounida and Genk midfielder Saif Eddien Lazar who had represented Belgium.
Players switching to Morocco from the Netherlands were Benjamin Khaderi and Sami Bouhoudane, both aged 18 from PSV Eindhoven, 20-year-old Utrecht defender Oualid Agougil and 18-year-old Ayoud Ouarghi from Feyenoord.
FIFA also approved nine more players changing eligibility from March to December last year, from France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Norway.
Iran’s soccer team honors victims of elementary school airstrike
Tiger Woods arrested at crash scene on suspicion of DUI, sheriff says
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