Arizona Wildcats move up to No. 18 in AP Poll

Winners of five straight, the Arizona Wildcats continue to move their way up the polls. Arizona has jumped from No. 23 to No. 18 in the latest AP Poll, it was unveiled Monday.

Here is the full poll. The Baylor Bears are also ranked 18th.

1. Villanova (45)

2. Michigan State (15)

3. Arizona State (5)

4. Duke 1,390

5. North Carolina

6. Miami (Fla.)

7. Kentucky

8. Texas A&M

9. Xavier

10. West Virginia

11. Wichita State

12. Gonzaga

13. Virginia

14. Kansas

15. TCU

16. Purdue

17. Oklahoma

18. Baylor

18. Arizona

20. Cincinnati

21. Texas Tech

22. Tennessee

23. Seton Hall

24. Florida State

25. Creighton

Arizona (8-3) will likely continue its climb as it hosts North Dakota State on Monday and then Connecticut on Thursday to wrap on non-conference play.

If Arizona wins both, it will likely open up Pac-12 play in the Top 15, and will host an Arizona State Sun Devils team that will surely be in the Top 5.

ASU (10-0) leapt from No. 5 to No. 3, and received five first-place votes. The Sun Devils host Longwood and Pacific this week, so their chances of losing before the Pac-12 opener are slim.

Interestingly, KenPom pegs Arizona as the No. 17 team in the country and ASU at just No. 31.

But we’ll see who the better team is on Dec. 30 in McKale Center.

Follow Ryan Kelapire on Twitter at @RKelapire