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

1. Houston (6-0)

2. Texas (5-0)

3. Virginia (5-0)

4. Arizona (6-0)

5. Baylor (5-1)

6. Creighton (6-1)

7. UConn (8-0)

8. Purdue (6-0)

9. Tennessee (5-1)

10. Kansas (6-1)

11. Arkansas (5-1)

12. Alabama (6-1)

13. Indiana (6-0)

14. Auburn (7-0)

15. Gonzaga (5-2)

16. North Carolina (5-2)

17. Michigan State (5-2)

18. Duke (6-2)

19. Kentucky (4-2)

20. Illinois (5-1)

21. UCLA (5-2)

22. Maryland (6-0)

23. San Diego State (4-2)

24. Ohio State (5-1)

25. Iowa State (5-1)

Dropped out: No. 21 Texas Tech (4-2) after losses to Creighton and Ohio State; No. 25 Iowa (5-1) after a loss to TCU.

Entered: Ohio State at No. 24 after a win over No. 21 Texas Tech; Iowa State at No. 25 after a win over No. 1. North Carolina.

Also considered: TCU (5-1).

Analysis: Casting a ballot after Feast Week is always a wild endeavor and this is one of the wilder ones. Six teams in the top 10 lost – that might not happen the rest of the season…The big winners are Purdue (up 16 spots after beating West Virginia, Gonzaga and Duke by a combined 49 points), UConn (up 13 spots after clobbering Alabama and Iowa State), Tennessee (up 13 spots after beating Kansas by 14) and Arizona (up 10 spots after beating San Diego State and Creighton)…The big losers are former No. 1 North Carolina (down 15 spots after losing to Iowa State and Alabama), Duke (down 10 spots after losing to Purdue by 19) and Gonzaga (down 9 spots after losing to Purdue by 18).

By conference: Big Ten (6), SEC (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 men's basketball poll: Jerry Carino's ballot