UConn slides to No. 25 in AP men's basketball poll; Kansas No. 1 - ESPN

Kansas held off Auburn for the No. 1 ranking in the Associated Press Top 25 men's college basketball poll Monday as Southeastern Conference teams grabbed three of the top four spots and two-time reigning national champion UConn nearly fell out entirely after an 0-3 week at the Maui Invitational.

The Jayhawks earned 35 of 61 first-place votes in the poll, while the Tigers got the remaining 26 and climbed two spots to No. 2 after winning the Maui title. The Huskies fell all the way to No. 25, barely avoiding becoming only the second team to go from No. 2 to unranked in a week in nearly four decades.

First-place votes in parentheses.

It was part of a turbulent week with holiday week tournaments, leading to six new teams entering the rankings.

Kansas (7-0), which beat Duke last week, had increased its margin on the No. 2-ranked team each week since the preseason poll and had a 107-point margin on the Huskies last week. But with the Tigers — ranked No. 1 in KenPom's metrics — beating ranked Iowa State and North Carolina teams in the Maui title run, that margin is just nine points this week.

Auburn was joined by fellow SEC schools No. 3 Tennessee and No. 4 Kentucky, with each team climbing four spots. Marquette was next at No. 5, followed by Iowa State, Gonzaga, Purdue, Duke and Alabama to round out the top 10.

UConn's slide

The Huskies (5-3) had won 17 straight games entering the Maui Invitational, but things quickly went awry with an opening-round overtime loss to Memphis in a game that had coach Dan Hurley fuming about officiating. UConn lost the next day to Colorado, then lost to Dayton in the seventh-place game to finish last in the prestigious tournament.

It was reminiscent of No. 2 Arizona's 0-3 crash at the Battle 4