Waco, Texas (Associated Press)-Baylor won the national championship last season, but never ranked first in the Associated Press's top 25.

The Bears are there now.

Baylor took the opportunity of Purdue University’s last-second loss to Rutgers last week to become the fourth team ranked first in the past four weeks. On Monday, the Bears won every vote from the 61-member national media panel, and topped the voting list for the first time since the four-week tournament ended on February 17, 2020.

"Every coach tells you that the goal is to be number one by the end of the year," Baylor coach Scott Drew said, "but I will tell you that it always makes sense. What does this mean for your fans . This makes sense for your coach, your players and everyone. It’s a great sign of respect for others before you and the work they put in."

The Bears (9-0) are followed by the former No. 1 Duke University and Purdue University as well as UCLA and Gonzaga University. They were among the top in the polls at the beginning of the season and were Spent the first two weeks there, and then lost to the Blue Devils and Alabama Games in three years.

Baylor won 15 consecutive national leading games, none of which were less than 8 points, including the unforgettable victory over Gonzaga 86-70 in April to win the national championship. The Bears also defeated Stanford University, Arizona State University and Michigan State University before the start of the season, and then choked the first place at the time. 6 Villanova won 57-36 on Sunday.

"That team was great last year," Villanova coach Jay Wright said. "I think this team is really good, and it may be just as good."

Never mind that Baylor lost their outstanding backcourt players Davyn Mitchell, Jared Butler and Marcio Teague and all-around forward Mark Vital. Arizona transfer James Akinjo and freshman guard Kendall Brown scored some points, returning forwards Jonathan Chamuva Chava and Flo Samba to dominate the paint.

"When you lose such a person, people think you are going to rebuild," Akinjo said. "But our coach has done a great job putting this team together, not only in terms of talent, but also in the way we can integrate."

On Monday, Crimson Tide ranked second in the Associated Press poll and climbed three places after beating the number one at the time. Houston on Saturday the 14th. Close behind are Kansas, the undefeated Arizona, Villanova and the undefeated Southern California.

"If we didn't lose, I wouldn't be too frustrated, but there are always things that need to be cleaned up and get better," said Troy coach Andy Enfield. "Our goal is to become an elite defensive team, but we have not yet achieved it. I am very satisfied with the team. We are very happy to lead 10-0."

Iowa State University is another of the remaining seven undefeated Division I leagues. After the Hurricanes crossed over Iowa and avoided losing in the game against Jacksonville State University, it moved up 6 places to 11th. Bit. Followed by Michigan State, Auburn, Houston and Ohio State, Seton Hall, Texas, Tennessee, Louisiana State University and the University of Connecticut entered the top 20.

Kentucky, Xavier, Colorado, Arkansas, and Texas Tech completed the voting.

Michigan State University and Seton Hall made the most progress this week. The Spartans moved up 7 places to 12th after beating Minnesota and Penn State, and Seton Hall defeated on Thursday night. After Texas jumped to 16th place.

The Longhorns dropped 10 places to 17th. After the Wildcats lost to the University of Notre Dame on Saturday, the Kentucky team dropped 11th to 21st.

After the Rams set a record with a 10-0 record for the second time in program history, Xavier ranked 22nd, followed by Colorado State University. The Red Raiders entered the 25th place in the voting after beating Tennessee in overtime.

"(Mississippi) has a vision to participate in the NCAA tournament and compete in the SEC. We also have this vision," Colorado State University coach Nico Medved said after the victory over the Bulldogs. We arranged these games and knew that we had to win some of them. So far, the players have been able to meet the challenge. "

Wisconsin ranked 22nd last week, but lost to Ohio State University and ranked first outside the top 25 votes this week. Also withdrawing are Brigham Young University, which lost to Creighton on Saturday, and the University of Florida, which ranked 20th, and then lost to Maryland and Southern Texas.