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College basketball rankings: Arizona moves to No. 3 in AP poll

The Arizona basketball team moved up the AP and USA Today Coaches top-25 polls.

Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports

The Arizona Wildcats shoveled themselves out of a hole and once again find themselves sitting quite pretty in the Associated Press and USA Today Coaches polls. Sean Miller's crew is third in both rankings.

The Florida Gators became the new No. 1 thanks to Syracuse's fall, earning 47 first-place votes. Wichita State earned 14 first-place ballots, and Arizona received four. Once again, the Pac-12 cannibalism took a toll, as the Wildcats are once against the only top-25 team in the conference.

This week will prove crucial to the Wildcats' chances at chasing after not only a No. 1 seed, but the top overall seed. Arizona is considered by some as the top overall seed by bracketologist Joe Lunardi, and he's not necessarily going out on a limb with that claim. Between a healthy list of impressive road wins, a defense that's arguably the best in college basketball and the parity in the top-10, UA faces Cal and Stanford at home this week, where it cane assure itself that the regular-season Pac-12 title won't be coughed up to UCLA.

AP Top 25

Rank Team Record Pts Prev
1 Florida Gators (47) 25-2 1,606 2
2 Wichita St. Shockers (14) 23-4 1,549 3
3 Arizona Wildcats (4) 25-2 1,494 4
4 Syracuse Orange 25-2 1,410 1
5 Kansas Jayhawks 21-6 1,310 8
6 Duke Blue Devils 22-6 1,286 5
7 Louisville Cardinals 23-4 1,152 11
8 Villanova Wildcats 24-3 1,113 9
9 Creighton Bluejays 23-4 1,103 11
10 Saint Louis Billikens 25-2 1,047 10
11 Cincinnati Bearcats 24-4 921 7
12 Virginia Cavaliers 23-5 909 14
13 San Diego St. Aztecs 23-3 886 6
14 Wisconsin Badgers 22-5 818 16
15 Iowa St. Cyclones 21-5 709 17
16 Michigan Wolverines 19-7 653 20
17 Kentucky Wildcats 21-6 629 18
18 Michigan St. Spartans 22-6 552 13
19 North Carolina Tar Heels 20-7 440 NR
20 Iowa Hawkeyes 19-7 418 15
21 Memphis Tigers 21-6 288 22
22 Ohio St. Buckeyes 22-6 253 24
23 SMU Mustangs 22-6 155 NR
24 Texas Longhorns 20-7 129 19
25 New Mexico Lobos 21-5 113 NR

USA Today Coaches Poll

Rank Team Record Last week
1 Florida Gators 25-2 2
2 Wichita State Shockers 29-0 3
3 Arizona Wildcats 25-2 4
4 Louisville Cardinals 23-4 5
5 Syracuse Orange 25-2 1
6 Kansas Jayhawks 21-6 8
7 Duke Blue Devils 22-6 6
8 Saint Louis Billikens 25-2 10
9 Villanova Wildcats 24-3 11
10 Creighton Bluejays 23-4 12
11 Virginia Cavaliers 23-5 13
12 Cincinnati Bearcats 24-4 9
13 San Diego State Aztecs 23-3 7
14 Wisconsin Badgers 22-5 18
15 Kentucky Wildcats 21-6 16
16 Michigan Wolverines 19-7 20
17 Iowa State Cyclones 21-5 19
18 Michigan State Spartans 22-6 14
19 Iowa Hawkeyes 19-7 15
20 Ohio State Buckeyes 22-6 23
21 North Carolina Tar Heels 20-7 NR
22 Memphis Tigers 21-6 24
23 Texas Longhorns 20-7 17
24 Southern Methodist Mustangs 22-6 NR
25 Oklahoma Sooners 20-7 NR