The top five in the men’s basketball poll remained stable a week into 2025, with No. 1 Tennessee slightly extending its lead as Division I’s only undefeated team, but several statement victories early in conference play led to more dramatic shifts elsewhere Place in the top 25.

Kentucky moved to the top of that top five, jumping from No. 10 to No. 6 after handing Florida its first loss in a 106-100 thriller in Lexington on the opening day of SEC play. But Illinois was the week’s biggest mover, jumping nine spots to No. 13 after completing a West Coast swing that included Washington and previously top-10 Oregon.

Here is the full poll, along with the ballot from The athlete‘s CJ Moore, plus some thoughts from CJ on the new rankings:

AP Top 25: January 6th

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Tennessee’s resume is approaching Auburn’s

I still rate Auburn ahead of Tennessee on my ballot, but Tennessee’s case for retaining its No. 1 spot in the poll grows stronger every week. One thing that helped the Vols this week: Illinois beat Oregon. The No. 13 Illini are now No. 8 in my rankings and No. 11 in KenPom, and Tennessee’s two-point win in Champaign looks even better than it did back then.

This week, the Vols play road games at Florida and Texas, while Auburn plays at Texas and South Carolina. My argument for keeping Auburn at No. 1 as my pick is that his resume is still the best – the Tigers are 6-1 against the KenPom Top 50 with two top-10 wins. Tennessee is 4-0 against top 50 teams and has zero top-10 wins – and Auburn is No. 1 in all computer rankings, while Tennessee is ranked fourth or fifth. But if the Vols win in Florida this week and the Illini continue to advance, we could be at a point next week where the Vols also have two top-10 wins. I’ll probably still choose Auburn, but it will be the first time I’m tempted to turn around.

In Saturday’s 106-100 loss at Kentucky, Florida strengthened its position as a top-10 team as much as a loss can. Kentucky was playing at full speed in a great environment, but the Gators persevered. In KenPom they only lost one place; Also, I only demoted it one spot in my rankings and was considering not deleting it at all. They have a good chance to improve their resume this week when they host Tennessee on Tuesday and then travel to Arkansas on Saturday.

Oklahoma is a different case. The Sooners fell 107-79 at Alabama, but I left them in the same spot on my ballot because I was already worse than most and they still have three good wins (Arizona, Louisville and Michigan, all on neutral places). ). It’s hard to blame anyone for losing at Alabama. The only reason to think about it was the Sooners’ utter dominance. There was no one outside of Illinois who deserved to overtake the Sooners, and I lost six spots at UCLA because I lost at Nebraska.

Illini’s big rise

Illinois took a big leap this week after wins over Oregon and Washington, including a historic win in Eugene. According to Jared Berson, the Illini’s 109-77 win was their biggest win ever against an AP top-10 team on the road. The Illini looked fantastic in it and they have one of the most talented rosters in the country. They are the least experienced high-major team in college basketball, but star guard Kasparas Jakucionis is playing beyond his years and the pieces fit together so well. You can see that this team is getting better every week.

It’s wild that the Illini are this good after losing all five starters from an Elite Eight team. As I wrote in today’s recap of my Top 25, Brad Underwood would have my vote for National Coach of the Year if the season ended today.

(Photo: Craig Strobeck / Imagn Images)