Five takeaways from AP Top 25 men's basketball poll

This week's Associated Press Top 25 men's college basketball poll, released on Monday, features a new No. 1 team and plenty of movement after another week full of upsets.

Here are five takeaways from the poll.

Tennessee vaults to the top

Receiving 58 first-place votes from the 62-person media panel on Monday, the Tennessee Volunteers (8-0) are the No. 1 team in the country for the first time since the 2018-19 season. The Volunteers moved up from their No. 3 ranking last week.

North Florida transfer Chaz Lanier has been a huge part of Tennessee's best start since 2000-01. His five consecutive games with at least four three-point field goals are the longest streak by a Tennessee player since Chris Lofton went six straight games in 2008.

Tennessee also excels on defense. Per TeamRankings, the Volunteers are second in the country in opponent points per game (56.6 PPG). If Tennessee keeps getting the balance on both ends of the court, it could be hard to slow down the rest of the way.

Rest of top five also sees changes

While Auburn (8-1) remains at No. 2 despite an 84-78 loss to then No. 9 Duke last week, the rest of the top five looks different.

No. 3 Iowa State (7-1) moves up from No. 6 after a massive win over then-No. 5 Marquette (9-1), 81-70. That win marked Iowa State's third straight win at home against an AP top-five opponent.

The Cyclones held Marquette below 40 percent shooting while making 50.8 percent of their shots. If Iowa State's defense continues to slow opponents down, their offense is more than capable of holding up.

Duke (7-2) goes from No. 9 to No. 4 after the huge win over Auburn. Freshman sensation Cooper Flagg was a problem for the Tigers as he became the first freshman with 20 points, 10 rebounds and two steals against an AP top-two opponent since Kevin Durant in 2007 vs. Kansas.

The Blue Devils' three-point shooting (35.4 percent) could still use some improvement.

Kentucky (8-1) bounced back after suffering its first loss of the season to Clemson, 70-66, with a second-half comeback over then-No. 7 Gonzaga, 90-89 in overtime. The Wildcats fall one spot to No. 5.

While Kentucky keeps falling behind against stiffer competition, Mark Pope joins Adolph Rupp as the only Kentucky coach to win their first two games against AP top 10 opponents. 

Something to watch for Kentucky going forward is the health of two of its key players. Lamont Butler, the team's second-leading scorer, missed Saturday's game with an ankle injury, while Kerr Kriisa is out indefinitely with a foot injury.

Kansas drops nine spots to No. 10 after back-to-back losses

After a 7-0 start to the season, Kansas suffered a pair of losses to unranked opponents last week, dropping them from the top spot all the way down to No. 10.

Kansas became the first team since Florida in 2003 and the fifth AP No. 1 team to lose two straight games to unranked teams.

In both losses to Creighton (76-63) and Missouri (76-67), Kansas was held below 40 percent shooting from the floor and committed 22 turnovers against Missouri. Those areas need improvement.

Oklahoma jumps eight spots after staying undefeated while UConn climbs to No. 18

Oklahoma (9-0) moves up to No. 13 after erasing a double-digit first-half deficit against Georgia Tech. The Sooners' two-headed punch of Jalon Moore (18.2 points per game, 6.3 rebounds per game) and Jeremiah Fears (16.7 PPG, 4.7 assists per game) continues to lead the way.

While the Sooners did not shoot well (38.5 percent) against Georgia Tech, they held the Yellow Jackets to 26.3 percent from behind the arc. As it heads into a rivalry game against Oklahoma State (6-2) on Saturday, Oklahoma has shown that you cannot count it out as it approaches its first SEC slate.

After a disastrous week in Maui, UConn (7-3) bounced back with key wins over then-No. 15 Baylor, 76-72, and Texas, 76-65. After struggling to get stops during its three-game losing streak, UConn held Baylor to 35.3 percent from three-point range while Texas only shot 42 percent.

That is a positive sign for the two-time defending champion Huskies as they move up seven spots to No. 18 in the poll.

Michigan goes from unranked to top 15 after road win at Wisconsin

The Michigan Wolverines (8-1) dominated on the glass against then-No. 11 Wisconsin last week. The Wolverines, now ranked 14th, had 11 blocked shots in that game, which marked the first game for Michigan with at least 10 blocks since 2022.

The balance on this team is hard to ignore. Roddy Gayle Jr. (12.2 PPG), Tre Donaldson (12.1 PPG), Danny Wolf (12.1 PPG, 10 RPG) and Vladislav Goldin (12 PPG, 5.4 RPG) each give the Wolverines 12 points per game on average. With the production evened out amongst the four, it makes this Michigan team difficult to defend.