ACC earns six spots in AP Top 25 Poll

The AP Top 25 Poll released their rankings on Monday afternoon. Currently, eight conferences are represented in the Top 25 rankings. Once again, the No. 1 Villanova Wildcats were voted as the No. 1 team out of the Big East. They earned 56 first-place votes. More importantly, the Wildcats survived a tremendous effort against the No. 21 Notre Dame Fighting Irish on Saturday.

The ACC led the way with six teams in the AP Top 25 Poll. The No. 5 Duke Blue Devils are the highest rated team in the conference. The Blue Devils remained in the same spot after thrashing the UNLV Rebels by 49 points. They are joined by the No. 7 North Carolina Tar Heels in the Top 10. In similar fashion to Duke, the Tar Heels have one defeat this season. 

Meanwhile, the No. 11 Louisville Cardinals and No. 13 Virginia Cavaliers have been steady in the top 15. The Cavaliers moved up one spot from last week. Their only loss came to the No. 12 West Virginia Mountaineers. The final ACC team to earn a Top 25 spot are the No. 23 Florida State Seminoles. Quietly, the Noles have raced out to a (10-1) record. Their five point win over the Florida Gators came Sunday night. 

In addition to Villanova and Duke, the No. 2 UCLA Bruins, No. 3 Kansas Jayhawks, and No. 4 Baylor Bears round out the top 5. The Bruins and Bears remain undefeated, while the Jayhawks still have one loss. The rest of the Top 10 features No. 6 Kentucky, No. 8 Gonzaga, No. 9 Indiana, and No. 10 Creighton. 

Overall, there are seven undefeated teams in the AP Top 25 Poll. The No. 24 USC Trojans joined the rankings for the first time this season. They currently sit at (9-0) with wins over Texas A&M and BYU. 

Here is the AP Top 25 Poll. 

1. Villanova Wildcats (56 first-place votes)

2. UCLA Bruins (3 first-place votes)

3. Kansas Jayhawks

4. Baylor Bears (6 first-place votes)

5. Duke Blue Devils

6. Kentucky Wildcats

7. North Carolina Tar Heels

8. Gonzaga Bulldogs

9. Indiana Hoosiers

10. Creighton Blue Jays

11. Louisville Cardinals

12. West Virginia Mountaineers

13. Virginia Cavaliers

14. Wisconsin Badgers 

15. Purdue Boilermakers

16. South Carolina Gamecocks

17. Xavier Musketeers

18. Butler Bulldogs

19. Arizona Wildcats

20. Saint Mary's Gaels

21. Notre Dame Fighting Irish

22. Oregon Ducks

23. Florida State Seminoles

24. USC Trojans

25. Cincinnati Bearcats

Top 25 Conference Breakdown

ACC (6): Duke, North Carolina, Louisville, Virginia, Notre Dame, Florida State

Big East (4): Villanova, Creighton, Xavier, Butler

PAC-12 (4): UCLA, Arizona, Oregon, USC

Big 12 (3): Kansas, Baylor, West Virginia

Big Ten (3): Indiana, Wisconsin, Purdue

SEC (2): Kentucky, South Carolina

WCC (2): Gonzaga, Saint Mary's

AAC (1): Cincinnati