College Basketball Rankings: Houston Cougars Rise to No. 8 in the AP Top 25 at 2-0
The first in-season AP Top 25 men's basketball poll is out, and Houston moved up two spots to No. 8 — 2-0, with wins over La Salle and Cal, and the longest active win streak against unranked opponents in Division I, now 49 games.
The college basketball rankings have their first in-season edition, and Houston is climbing. The Associated Press Top 25 released Monday puts the Cougars at No. 8, up two spots from their preseason ranking of No. 10, at 2-0 on the young season.
Houston's two wins came over La Salle and Cal — the La Salle game was the 94-55 season-opening rout at Fertitta Center this station covered last week. TSN's breakdown of the poll notes the streak underneath the record: Houston owns the longest active win streak against unranked opponents in Division I, now at 49 victories. It is the kind of number that explains why poll voters keep the Cougars in the top ten even before the schedule stiffens.
The top of the poll is Florida at No. 1, followed by Duke, Illinois, UConn and Michigan State. Virginia, 3-0 after beating then-No. 12 Arkansas 91-72 on Sunday, rose to No. 6. Texas holds No. 7 at 2-0 — one spot ahead of Houston — and the week's biggest jump belongs to UCLA, which leaped 13 spots to No. 9 after its season-opening 84-75 win over then-No. 5 Arizona, which fell to No. 12.
What is next for Houston is a Wednesday home date with Jacksonville State, listed for 8 p.m. Eastern on ESPN+. A win there keeps the unranked-opponent streak — and the top-ten standing — intact for another week. The ranking is a snapshot, not a verdict, but two games in, the snapshot says what Houston expected of itself: a top-ten team, again.
