No. 3 Arizona up 9 spots behind Kansas, Purdue - ESPN

The first Associated Press men's basketball poll of the regular season is typically a jumble of teams swapping positions as preseason expectations meet the reality of playing actual games.

The first poll of the 2023-24 is no different.

Kansas remained at No. 1 and received 51 first-place votes from a 62-person media panel in the poll released Monday, but the rest of the AP Top 25 was filled with teams moving up and down.

First-place votes in parentheses.

No. 2 Purdue moved up a spot with two easy opening wins and received seven first-place votes. No. 3 Arizona took a giant leap from 12 after beating Duke and had three first-place votes.

No. 4 Marquette moved up a spot, as did defending national champion UConn, which received a first-place vote to round out the top five. No. 24 James Madison moved into the poll for the first time ever after taking down Michigan State in overtime.

Arizona's rapid rise stemmed from a successful trip to Cameron Indoor Stadium.

The Wildcats were a bit of an unknown entity in coach Tommy Lloyd's third season. Several new players replaced key losses from a team that lost to Princeton in the first round of the 2023 NCAA tournament.

Arizona answered some of the questions with an impressive road performance, knocking off Duke 78-73 after blowing out Morgan State in its opener. The Blue Devils dropped to No. 9 after the loss.

«I said play with poise, because you're the better team,» Lloyd said. «Trust that you're the better team over the course of 40 minutes. I knew that it would be a small margin, but I feel like that. I love this group of guys and feel like we're going to be as good a ballclub as anybody in the country.»

DESERVING DUKES

James Byington has gradually strengthened James Madison's