MSU No. 1 in poll; Jayhawks vault to No. 2

Kansas University’s men’s basketball team moved from fifth to second in the Associated Press basketball poll Monday.

Michigan State, which beat No. 1 Kentucky last week, is No. 1 for the first time in 13 years. MSU took the No. 1 spot by a wide margin, receiving 51 first-place votes from the 65-member national media panel.

Louisville is third, Kentucky fourth and Arizona fifth.

“How did we move ahead of Louisville? That doesn’t make any sense to me,” KU coach Bill Self said. “I like it. I mean, you might as well be able to learn how to operate under a little duress or stress that’s either self-imposed or from outside influence. That’ll prepare you for later on down the road, so that doesn’t bother me at all.”

Of being No. 1, MSU coach Tom Izzo said: “I think it’s a privilege. If we handle it well, we’ll see how long we can hang on. And if we don’t, we’ll learn something from that. We don’t get a banner or a ring for this, but it’s good for our program. It’s also good for the guys on this team to add to their collection of accomplishments.”

Kansas, which beat Duke in the nightcap of Tuesday’s Champions Classic at the United Center, moved from fifth to second and received seven first-place votes. Louisville stayed third and drew the other seven first-place votes.

Duke is sixth, followed by Oklahoma State, Ohio State, Syracuse and VCU. Wisconsin, which beat then-No. 11 Florida and Green Bay to improve to 3-0, had the biggest jump this week, moving from No. 20 to No. 12. The Gators fell to No. 16. The biggest drop was by North Carolina, which fell from No. 12 to No. 24 after beating Holy Cross but losing to Belmont, the Tar Heels’ first nonconference home defeat in eight years.

No. 21 Iowa State and No. 23 Creighton made their first appearances in the poll this season.