Associated Press Top 25 men's basketball poll: Jerry Carino's ballot

1. Houston (8-0)

2. Texas (7-0)

3. Virginia (7-0)

4. Purdue (8-0)

5. UConn (9-0)

6. Kansas (8-1)

7. Arkansas (7-1)

8. Alabama (7-1)

9. Tennessee (7-1)

10. Auburn (8-0)

11. Baylor (6-2)

12. Arizona (7-1)

13. Duke (8-2)

14. Gonzaga (6-3)

15. Maryland (8-0)

16. Kentucky (6-2)

17. Illinois (6-2)

18. UCLA (7-2)

19. Indiana (7-1)

20. Creighton (6-3)

21. Iowa State (7-1)

22. Mississippi State (8-0)

23. San Diego State (6-2)

24. Miami (8-1)

25. Iowa (6-1)

Also considered: TCU (6-1).

Dropped out: No. 18 North Carolina (5-4) after losses to Indiana and Virginia Tech; No. 20 Michigan State (5-4) after losses to Notre Dame and Northwestern; No. 25 Ohio State (6-2) after a loss to Duke.

Entered: Mississippi State (Kenpom: 26), which has beaten Marquette and Utah on neutral courts, at No. 22; Miami (Kenpom: 33) which has wins over Providence (neutral) and Rutgers and a lone loss to Maryland, at No. 24; Iowa (Kenpom: 21), which has wins over Seton Hall (road) and Clemson (neutral), at No. 25.

Analysis: The big winner this week is Maryland, which rises seven spots after a well-played victory over Illinois…The big loser is Creighton, which plummets 13 spots after losses to Texas and Nebraska…Yes Gonzaga has three losses, but all to teams ranked higher, and they did beat Kentucky by 16.

By conference: SEC (6), Big Ten (5), Big 12 (4), ACC (3), Big East (2), Pac-12 (2), American (1), West Coast (1), Mountain West (1).

Jerry Carino has covered the New Jersey sports scene since 1996 and the college basketball beat since 2003. He is an Associated Press Top 25 voter. Contact him at jcarino@gannettnj.com.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: AP Top 25 basketball poll