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For the first time in its history, the Villanova men's basketball team is the No. 1 team in the nation, according to the Associated Press Top 25 released on Monday.

The Wildcats earned the top spot with 32 of 65 first-place votes, with the other 33 top selections getting split among five teams — Maryland (13), Iowa (11), Oklahoma (7), Kansas (1), Virginia (1).

I was one of those 33 voters who didn't pick Villanova at No. 1. Instead, I had the Wildcats at No. 2.

Below is this week's AP Top 25 along with my ballot. I had 1 pick in the same spot as the poll, which has to be an all-time low for me. You can also view the poll here.





The question on most people's minds is likely, "Why did you pick Oklahoma over Villanova? Don't you know the Sooners lost this week at Kansas State?"

I'm well aware.

As impressive as Villanova's run through the Big East has been so far, though, I still believe Oklahoma's overall body of work is better. The Sooners were decidedly more impressive in the non-conference portion of their schedule — including beating the Wildcats by 23 on a neutral court — and their losses in the Big 12 have not been terrible by any means (at Kansas in triple OT, at Iowa State and at Kansas State). Kansas State may be in the bottom four in the Big 12, but it's certainly not a bad team, especially on its home floor.

After Villanova's generally uninspiring non-conference run that included double-digit losses to the best two teams it played (Oklahoma and Virginia), the Wildcats have powered through the Big East. Their only loss came at home in overtime against Providence.

The overall résumés of Villanova and Oklahoma are very similar. As I've said in the past, I usually default to head-to-head when applicable in a coin-flip scenario. That kept the Sooners on the top of my ballot, at least for this week.

It will be interesting to see how the poll looks next week. Villanova gets a pair of games against the worst teams in the Big East — DePaul and St. John's — while Oklahoma gets home games against No. 24 Texas and No. 6 Kansas.

I was confident about the rest of my top 15. The overall lack of upsets outside of North Carolina and Texas A&M losing twice made it pretty easy for me to keep teams in the same general order as last week. If you want some insight on why I'm lower on Maryland and higher on Michigan State, check out last week's post.

Pick Nos. 16-25, though, were a challenge. There are legitimately 20 teams that I looked at to fill those spots. It's just a jumbled mess down there, really, and the logjam of teams with a handful of losses and a few good wins doesn't look to be sorting itself out anytime soon.

I tried to make my best stab at finding order in the madness starting with choosing where to move teams based on my picks last week. Here's a rundown of my Nos. 16-25 and my brief thoughts on each team.

No. 16 USC — I liked the Trojans last week and a 19-point win over UCLA only strengthened my case.

No. 17 Purdue — Losing at Maryland isn't the end of the world, just ask Iowa.

No. 18 Texas — Here come the Longhorns. They've played the 7th-toughest schedule per KenPom.com, have maybe one bad loss (at TCU by one) and have beaten UNC, Iowa State, West Virginia and Baylor among others. 7-1 in their past eight with the loss coming at Kansas where (virtually) no one wins.

No. 19 Baylor — The Bears have beaten the bottom of the Big 12 and Iowa State. Got body of work, but plenty left to prove.

No. 20 SMU — Two recent losses on the road at Temple and Houston. Best win was over Colorado. Just not much there to get excited about.

No. 21 Dayton — I had Dayton at No. 22 last week. Regardless of teams above losing, it's hard to move a team up too far up following wins over La Salle and George Mason. To the Flyers' credit, they didn't let those teams hang close.

No. 22 Arizona — The Pac-12 hasn't done the Wildcats too many favors in terms of giving them chances to collect strong wins. Arizona can raise its stock this week, though, as it hosts UCLA and USC.

No. 23 Seton Hall — The Pirates are proving themselves during Big East play and stand alone at third place in the conference. Their victory over Wichita State, which had a healthy Fred VanVleet for the matchup, is among the reason I had Seton Hall in and the Shockers out.

No. 24 Indiana — This spot came down to Indiana, Duke, Kentucky, Wichita State, South Carolina, Notre Dame, San Diego State, Utah, UConn, Gonzaga and some others (in no particular order). With all those teams in the mix, it honestly came down to a gut decision. I'm hoping this week brings some clarity because I'm ready and willing to be swayed.

No. 25 Providence — I'm not sure how good Providence is. I know how good Kris Dunn and Ben Bentil are — very — but how good are the Friars? We'll see Wednesday night at the BMO Harris Bradley Center.