Oklahoma basketball: Sooner men jump to No. 19 in Associated Press Top 25
By Chip Rouse
The Oklahoma basketball men are off to their best season start since Buddy Hield’s last season in 2019, and on Monday the Sooners jumped six spots to No. 19 in the Associated Press Top 25.
The Sooners are also ranked in the Coaches Poll this week and occupy the No. 22 spot. Oklahoma was just outside of the Coaches Poll top 25 last week, following their upset victory over then No. 23 USC in the championship game of the Rady Children’s Invitational over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.
The OU men broke into the top 25 in basketball last week — checking in at No. 25 in the AP poll — for the first time since the end of the 2020-21 season.
Oklahoma (7-0) is one of six Big 12 teams that remain undefeated and one of just four of those unbeaten teams that are ranked. TCU and Cincinnati are both 7-0 but are not ranked in either the AP or the Coaches Poll.
Here are how Big 12 teams rank in both polls as of the week of Dec. 4:
AP Top 25 Coaches Poll
2. Kansas 7-1 2. Houston 8-0
3. Houston 8-0 3. Kansas 7-1
6. Baylor 8-0 6. Baylor 8-0
12. Texas 6-1 13T. BYU 7-0
14. BYU 7-0 16. Texas 6-1
19. Oklahoma 7-0 22. Oklahoma 7-0
Arizona is the No. 1-ranked team this week in both the AP Top 25 and in the Coaches Poll, replacing former No, 1 Purdue, which was upset by Northwestern last week. Three teams from the Big 12 are ranked in the top 10 in both polls.
The two biggest movers from last week’s rankings were North Carolina, which jumped upward eight spots to No. 9 in the AP rankings, and Colorado State, which moved from 22 to No. 12 in the Coaches Poll.
Duke suffered the biggest drop after losing in back-to-back games last week. The Blue Devils fell 15 spots to No. 22 in the AP poll and are No. 21 in the Coaches Poll following a tumble of 14 positions.