Jim O’Connell
AP Basketball Writer
Kansas is No. 1 for a second time this season — the first school to reach the top for a second stint.
The Jayhawks have been No. 1 for three weeks this season, the first two in January.
Michigan State was No. 1 for four weeks, while Kansas, Oklahoma and Villanova were all there for three weeks. North Carolina and Kentucky both spent two weeks at the top.
The six schools to reach No. 1 is one off the record set in 1982-83.
TIME ON TOP: This is Kansas’ 60th poll as No. 1. The Jayhawks are fifth on the all-time list behind UCLA (134), Duke (127), Kentucky (115) and North Carolina (113).
Sixth on the list is Indiana with 54 weeks.
TOUGH WEEK FOR TOP TEN: The top 10 in last week’s poll lost a total of 10 games from Monday to Sunday, while the bottom 15 lost just six.
BACK AGAIN: California (21-8) returns to the Top 25 on a seven-game winning streak, and only one of those victories was by less than double figures.
The 25th-ranked Bears were 14th in the preseason poll and then were 15th and 14th the first two weeks of the season before dropping out until this week.
OUT AGAIN: Notre Dame (19-9) was the only team to fall from the ranks of the ranked this week. The Fighting Irish were 23rd but split two games last week, beating Wake Forest and losing 77-56 to Florida State. Notre Dame, which was 19th in the preseason poll, was ranked for a total of six weeks, including the last two.
UP AND DOWN: Utah, which beat Arizona State and Arizona last week, made the biggest jump in the poll, moving from 22nd to No. 13. Indiana, which beat Illinois in its only game, rose from No. 18 to 12th.
The biggest drops were Arizona’s fall from No. 9 to 18th after losing to Colorado and Utah, and Iowa’s drop from No. 8 to 16th after dropping games to Wisconsin and Ohio State.
CONFERENCE CALL: The Big 12 is on top by itself again with six ranked teams. It overtook the Atlantic Coast Conference, with Notre Dame dropping out of the Top 25.
The ACC is tied at five with the Big Ten while the Pac-12, with the addition of California this week, has four. The Big East and Southeastern Conference both have two and the American Athletic Conference one.
RANKED WINS: As the regular season winds down there is quite a race for which team will have the most wins over ranked teams this season.
Four schools are tied with six — Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas and Xavier — and four more have five — Iowa, Miami, Virginia and Wisconsin.
Wisconsin is the only one of the eight not currently ranked.
Texas had the most wins over top 10 teams with four — North Carolina, Oklahoma and two over West Virginia.
DOUBLE-RANKED GAMES: No. 1 Kansas, No. 12 Indiana and No. 19 Baylor will all face two ranked opponents this week.
The Jayhawks are at No. 23 Texas on Monday and they host No. 21 Iowa State on Saturday.
The Hoosiers are at No. 16 Iowa on Tuesday and they host No. 14 Maryland on Sunday.
The Bears are at No. 6 Oklahoma on Tuesday and they host No. 10 West Virginia on Saturday.
On Thursday, No. 25 California is at No. 18 Arizona.
The remaining double-ranked games are Saturday, with No. 8 North Carolina at No. 17 Duke and No. 11 Louisville at No. 4 Virginia;
