Florida Atlantic as much as a program-best No. 7 within the AP males’s basketball ballot, whereas Illinois climbs to No. 11

Florida Atlantic’s run to the Remaining 4 final season was seen as a pleasant story, a small program making a shock run earlier than sliding again into anonymity.

The Owls are displaying this season that was no fluke.

Coming off a double-overtime win over No. 4 Arizona, FAU moved up seven locations to No. 7 in The Related Press males’s faculty basketball ballot launched Monday. It’s this system’s highest rating after being No. 10 within the preseason ballot.

“We needed to play it within the worst approach for lots of causes,” FAU coach Dusty Could mentioned earlier than the 96-95 win over Arizona on Saturday. “Nationwide tv. Our guys needed to be challenged. They love the problem. And we felt our program was at some extent the place we wanted these video games to raise much more than a Remaining 4 run.”

Purdue maintained its high rating for the second straight week, receiving 46 first-place votes from a 60-person media panel after blowing out Jacksonville. No. 2 Kansas had 5 first-place votes and No. 3 Houston obtained 9. Arizona and UConn rounded out the highest 5.

Illinois moved up two spots to No. 11 after blowing out Missouri 97-73 within the annual Braggin’ Rights recreation in St. Louis.

FAU made huge waves final season, incomes this system’s first rating within the AP Prime 25 in the course of the common season earlier than making a magical run within the NCAA Event. The Owls narrowly missed a shot on the nationwide championship recreation when San Diego State’s Lamont Butler beat them with a buzzer-beating jumper.

FAU (10-2) returned almost everybody from that crew and has proven one other deep run may very well be coming.

The Owls suffered an surprising slipup with an early house loss to Bryant and misplaced to then-No. 20 Illinois by seven on Dec. 5 at Madison Sq. Backyard. FAU received the ESPN Occasions Invitational by knocking off then-No. 12 Texas A&M within the semifinals and Virginia Tech within the title recreation.

The Owls confirmed loads of grit Saturday in Las Vegas, going toe to toe with Arizona in among the finest video games of the season to date.

Johnell Davis scored 35 factors and FAU dodged Caleb Love’s 3-point try on the buzzer to win its fifth recreation over a ranked opponent over the past two seasons. The Owls had been 1-19 towards AP Prime 25 groups earlier than final season.

FAU had the largest leap of the week throughout the ballot, and No. 16 Duke climbed 5 locations after beating No. 17 Baylor 78-70. No. 19 Memphis moved up 4 locations after wins over Virginia and Vanderbilt.

No. 22 Creighton had the largest drop of the week, falling 10 locations after shedding to Villanova in extra time. No. 12 Oklahoma fell 5 locations after shedding by 12 to No. 9 North Carolina.

No. 25 Windfall moved into the ballot for the primary time since hitting No. 20 final Feb. 27 after beating No. 10 Marquette and Butler final week.

Virginia’s return to the AP Prime 25 proved to be short-lived. The Cavaliers dropped out this week from No. 22 after the loss to Memphis.

The Large 12 once more had essentially the most ranked groups with six and the Large East had 4. The ACC, Large Ten and SEC every had three.

The American Athletic Convention had two ranked groups, whereas the Pac-12, West Coast, Mountain West and Solar Belt conferences had one every.