photo by: Nick Krug

Kansas guard Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk gets under UC Santa Barbara defender Michael Bryson on his way to the bucket during the second half on Friday, Nov. 14, 2014 at Allen Fieldhouse.

Kansas, which remained No. 5 in the Associated Press college basketball poll, faces No. 1 Kentucky in the second game of a Champions Classic doubleheader, in Indianapolis. No. 4 Duke faces No. 19 Michigan State in the first game.

The top 25 teams in The Associated Press’ college basketball poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through Nov. 16, total points based on 25 points for a first-place vote through one point for a 25th-place vote and last week’s ranking:

Record Pts Prv

1. Kentucky (49) 2-0 1,574 1
2. Arizona (4) 2-0 1,491 2
3. Wisconsin (7) 2-0 1,475 3
4. Duke (4) 2-0 1,422 4
5. Kansas 1-0 1,306 5
6. North Carolina 2-0 1,254 6
7. Louisville 1-0 1,130 8
8. Florida 1-0 1,127 7
9. Virginia 2-0 1,065 9
10. Texas 2-0 1,061 10
11. Wichita St. 1-0 1,002 11
12. Villanova 1-0 858 12
13. Gonzaga 1-0 841 13
14. Iowa St. 1-0 746 14
15. VCU 1-0 654 15
16. San Diego St. 1-0 564 16
17. UConn 1-0 525 17
18. Oklahoma 1-0 466 19
19. Michigan St. 1-0 443 18
20. Ohio St. 1-0 361 20
21. Nebraska 1-0 298 21
22. SMU 1-0 290 22
23. Syracuse 2-0 190 23
24. Michigan 1-0 177 24
25. Utah 1-0 118 25

Others receiving votes: Stanford 63, Colorado 52, Iowa 48, UCLA 41, Kansas St. 29, Arkansas 23, Memphis 11, Minnesota 11, Notre Dame 10, Pittsburgh 10, Louisiana Tech 9, Dayton 7, Florida St. 6, NC State 6, Oklahoma St. 6, Cincinnati 5, George Washington 5, LSU 5, Illinois 3, Maryland 3, BYU 2, Baylor 2, UTEP 2, Georgetown 1, N. Iowa 1, Stephen F. Austin 1.

My AP top 25 ballot:

1 – Kentucky: If John Calipari could convince all nine McDonald’s All-Americans to return in 2015-16, SMU coach Larry Brown would predict a 75-0 season, instead of 45-0.

2 – Duke: Jahlil Okafor, a 6-11, 270-pound freshman from Chicago, averages 18 points and 7.5 rebounds. He’s made 85 percent of his shots and looks like a guy who really enjoys playing basketball.

3 – Arizona: The Pac-12 school in Tucson is one of seven schools appearing in AP’s top 25 in both basketball and football, joining Duke, Oklahoma and four Big Ten schools (Wisconsin, Michigan State, Ohio State and Nebraska).

4 – Wisconsin: Two games in, underrated sophomore Nigel Hayes from Toledo has 23 rebounds.

5 – Kansas: Which KU player will earn the most money in the NBA over the next 15 years? I’ll say Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk, even though others will get a head start on him. And you say?

6 – Texas: Sophomore point guard Isaiah Taylor made made five three-pointers all of last season, four two games into this season. And 6-foot-11, 240-pound freshman Myles Turner has played 40 minutes, totaling 25 points, 13 rebounds and eight blocked shots. The Longhorns are loaded and shape up as legitimate national-title contenders.

7 – North Carolina: The academic scandal looks worse with every breaking story.

8 – Wichita State: Tekele Cotton has improved significantly every year and if his season debut (17 points, five rebounds, three steals) was an accurate indication, he’s primed for a big senior year.

9 – Louisville: None of the 15 players on the three All-American teams returned this season, so somebody had to be named preseason All-American. Montrezl Harrell, the 6-foot-8, 240-pound junior from Tarboro, North Carolina, seemed as good a choice as any. He certainly played like an All-American in delivering coach Rick Pitino a victory over son Richard. Harrell attempted 12 shots from the field and scored 30 points. He made 3 of 4 three-pointers and 9 of 10 free throws.

10 – Florida: The Gators are in the market for a football coach, which means the basketball team can fly under the radar for a while. Anybody else rooting for Steve Spurrier to return to Gainesville?

11 -Virginia: Big bodies, soft long-range shooting touches and a patient offensive approach combine to frustrate opponents who tend to fall behind and stay behind, getting tighter and tighter as the game clock shows less and less time.

12 – Villanova: Will need to shoot better than it did against Lehigh (8 for 33 from three) to win games in Big East, but did do other things well to compensate. In 77-66 victory, Wildcats limited Lehigh to four offensive rebounds and committed nine turnovers to the Mountain Hawks’ 23.

13 – Iowa State: Georges Niang, a tough guy to guard, is even tougher with improved conditioning, more experience and the team’s need for him to be the go-to guy. He totaled 30 points, nine rebounds and five assists in the Cyclones’ season-opening, 11-point victory against Oakland. And UNLV transfer Bryce Dejean-Jones, a 6-6, 210-pound scorer from Los Angeles, didn’t waste any time fitting in, with 20 points and 11 rebounds in his debut.

14 – Virginia Commonwealth: In scoring a 16-point victory against Tennessee, the Rams didn’t shoot well or take care of the basketball (18 turnovers), but they rebounded an amazing 47 percent of their misses.

15 – Gonzaga: Kyle Wiltjer, a 6-foot-10, 240-pound shooter, read the writing on the wall, which spelled the names of lottery picks galore, and bolted Kentucky, where he had averaged 10.2 points as a freshman. Nothing happened in his Zags debut to make him question that move. He scored 18 points and made 3 of 5 threes in 20 minutes against Sacramento State.

16 – Nebraska: Terran Petteway scored 25 points and made 6 of 9 threes in season-opener. Coming off averaging 18.1 points a year ago for the Cornhuskers, Petteway scored just 3.1 points a game as a freshman at Texas Tech.

17 – San Diego State: Coach Steve Fisher, an easy guy for whom to root, needs two more victories to reach the 500 milestone. His sixth won Michigan a national championship.

18 – SMU: Larry Brown will go down as one of the greatest coaches in basketball history and he wasn’t too shabby as a player. After playing for North Carolina, Brown was one of the original ABA players. In fact, Brown led the ABA in assists in each of the league’s first three seasons. He still sees the floor as well as anybody.

19 – Ohio State: Freshman guard D’Angelo Russell turned down Arizona, Florida, hometown Louisville and North Carolina to join the Buckeyes. He’s exactly what Ohio State needed, having its top three scorers from a team that needed scoring. A 6-5 lefty shooting guard, Russell debuted with a team-high 16 points and six assists.

20 – Oklahoma: TaShawn Thomas, a beast of a scorer and rebounder (15.4, 8.1) at Houston last season, has been granted immediate eligibility, which puts one more hurdle in KU’s way on its quest for an 11th consecutive Big 12 championship. He only had four points in 23 minutes in his Sooners debut, but he’ll be a force in time.

21 – Connecticut: The Huskies’ first title defense battle went better than that of Buster Douglas nearly a century ago, but not a whole lot better. Huskies had to get off the deck from a six-point deficit at the half to defeat Bryant, 66-53.

22 – Michigan: Wolverines opened season against Hillsdale College, a Div. II school in Michigan. The Wolverines shot threes (11 for 19) much better than they defended them (10 for 23).

23 – Notre Dame: Rough, rough ACC baptism for the Fighting Irish a year ago (15-17 overall, 6-12, tied for 11th in ACC), but that could be traced to Jerian Grant’s academic ineligibility for most of the season. He averaged 19 points a game. He and fellow senior Pat Connaughton give the Irish a great tandem at forward and sophomore guard Demetrius Jackson makes the team play at a fast pace.

24 – Michigan State: Putting the Spartans on the ballot is a reflex, but after they snuck by Navy by just eight points it’s worth wondering whether they deserve it, especially considering Notre Dame wasted the 25. Midshipmen by 39 points.

25 – Syracuse: The Washington Generals weren’t available so the Orange opened the season slaughtering Kennesaw State by 47 points and Hampton by 18.