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College Basketball: Coaches Poll released heading into new year

SimonGibbs_UserImageby:Simon Gibbs•12/27/21•

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Bryan Lynn/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images.

For the first time of the 2021-2022 college basketball season, one program has manned the No. 1 spot in the Coaches Poll for three-straight weeks.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, its the defending national champion Baylor Bears that made it possible on Monday, as the Bears came in as the No. 1 team in the Coaches Poll once again. The Coaches Poll opened up the season with Gonzaga ranked No. 1, and the Bulldogs held that spot for two weeks before being dethroned by Duke. Duke was quickly knocked off and replaced by Purdue, which was unable to even win a game as the No. 1 team, falling via buzzer-beater to Rutgers, and was replaced by the Baylor Bears.

On Monday, the Baylor Bears came in at No. 1 in the Coaches Poll once again. Here’s a look at the rest of the top 25.

College Basketball Coaches Poll released

  1. Baylor (11-0)
  2. Duke (11-1)
  3. Purdue (11-1)
  4. Gonzaga (10-2)
  5. UCLA (8-1)
  6. Kansas (9-1)
  7. Arizona (11-1)
  8. Iowa State (12-0)
  9. USC (12-0)
  10. Michigan State (10-2)
  11. Auburn (11-1)
  12. Ohio State (8-2)
  13. Seton Hall (9-2)
  14. Houston (11-3)
  15. Tennessee (9-2)
  16. LSU (12-0)
  17. Kentucky (9-2)
  18. Texas (9-2)
  19. Alabama (9-3)
  20. Colorado State (10-0)
  21. Providence (12-1)
  22. Villanova (8-4)
  23. Wisconsin (9-2)
  24. Xavier (11-2)
  25. Texas Tech (9-2)

Non-conference upsets continue

The 2021-2022 college basketball season has been full of wild upsets, hard-to-believe endings and intense finishes already, and we’ve not even reached conference play.

That trend continued this past week, when a trio of teams ranked in the top 25 of last week’s Coaches Poll — then-No. 11 Alabama, then-No. 5 Arizona and then-No. 20 Xavier — suffered upsets, shaking up the Coaches Poll once more.

Just over a week after Alabama beat Houston, 83-82, on some late-game heroics from JD Davidson, the Crimson Tide were on the other end of the excitement this time. Instead of emerging as one-point winners, Alabama lost a shocking upset to unranked Davidson, 79-78. Jaden Shackelford poured in 20 points and five rebounds, while Juwan Gary had 15 and eight rebounds, but Alabama still fell at the final buzzer after Jahvon Quinerly was unable to make the game-tying free throw with seconds left on the clock.

Arizona lost a close game as well, falling 77-73 at the hands of the improving Tennessee Volunteers, as John Fulkerson poured in 24 points on eight of 13 from the field and 10 rebounds to upend Arizona. Xavier was no different, falling to Big East conference foe Villanova and falling in the latest Coaches Poll.

As the new year approaches, USA Today has officially released the last Coaches Poll of the 2021 year. Next up, 2022, and with the new year comes conference play.