Oklahoma stays No. 1 in AP poll, North Carolina right behind

Oklahoma guard Buddy Hield (24) and guard Christian James (3) leave the court after their NCAA college basketball game with Baylor, Saturday, Jan. 23, 2016, in Waco, Texas. The Tar Heels did receive 29 first place votes to the Sooners 36 in the poll.

Iowa jumped from ninth to third, the Hawkeyes’ highest ranking since 1987. Villanova, Xavier, Maryland, West Virginia and Providence round out the Top 10.

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Texas A&M’s previous highest ranking was sixth which the Aggies were at for four weeks in 2006-07.

Exhausted of trying to justify why teams such as Pittsburgh, South Carolina, Butler and Purdue are worthy of votes, the AP voters made a decision to take notice of the old friend they had written off after a 2-4 start to the year. They were No. 32 in last week’s poll with eight votes, but people certainly took notice of their come-from-behind victory over the Zags on Thursday night.

CONFERENCE CALLS: Notre Dame joining the Top 25 gives the Atlantic Coast Conference six ranked teams.

With so many upsets amid ranked teams, SMU (13) seemed primed to make a leap toward the top of the poll, but lost to Temple and fell five places instead.

Louisville moved up one spot, from 17 to 16 this week.