Men's Basketball Returns to Top 25

OMAHA, Neb. -- After a one-week absence, Creighton men's basketball team returned to the Top 25 in this week's Associated Press and USA Today Coaches polls. The Bluejays are 22nd in the AP poll and 20th in the Coaches rankings.

Creighton is also No. 14 in the updated version of the NET and No. 24 in the KPI.

CU won both games it played last week, topping Georgetown 77-60 and then-No. 23 Providence 69-60. That improved the Bluejays to 11-4 on the season, and 2-2 in BIG EAST play.

Creighton's best AP ranking in program history is seventh, done five times (Jan. 16, 2017, March 10, 2020, March 18, 2020, Jan. 7, 2021 and Nov. 28, 2022). CU owns 27 weeks in the AP Top 10 in its history, with all but one of those recognitions coming during Greg McDermott's tenure.

Including today's ranking, Creighton has now been ranked by the AP 131 times in program history, with 103 of those under the direction of McDermott. Creighton is 161-67 all-time as a ranked team, including a 127-55 figure under McDermott. Creighton has been ranked at least one week in 10 of McDermott's 14 seasons on The Hilltop after doing it just five different seasons in program history before his 2010 arrival.

Creighton is one of three BIG EAST Conference schools in the top 25, joining No. 4 Connecticut and No. 11 Marquette. Purdue remained atop the poll, just ahead of Houston, Kansas, Connecticut and Tennessee.

Creighton is also one of seven schools in the country with both its men's and women's teams ranked in this week's AP Top 25, joining Baylor, Gonzaga, Marquette, North Carolina, Texas and Connecticut.

The Bluejays have a pair of games this week, visiting DePaul at 8 p.m. Central on Tuesday before hosting St. John's at Noon on Saturday.

Associated Press Top 25
Jan. 8, 2024
Rk   School   W-L    PTS
1   Purdue (54)   14-1   1566
2   Houston (7)   14-0   1486
3   Kansas (2)   13-1   1481
4   Connecticut   13-2   1335
5   Tennessee   11-3   1291
6   Kentucky   11-2   1253
7   North Carolina   11-3   1213
8   Arizona   12-3   1107
9   Oklahoma   13-1   1023
10   Illinois   11-3   924
11   Marquette   11-4   869
   Duke   11-3   869
13   Memphis   13-2   843
14   Baylor   12-2   787
15   Wisconsin   11-3   663
16   Auburn   12-2   559
17   Colorado State   13-2   436
18   BYU   12-2   426
19   San Diego State   13-2   386
20   Utah State   14-1   241
21   Clemson   11-3   219
22   Creighton   11-4   187
23   Gonzaga   11-4   185
24   Florida Atlantic   11-4   165
25   Texas   11-3   148
Others receiving votes: Dayton 126, Mississippi 125, James Madison 98, Cincinnati 79, Nevada 77, Texas Tech 62, Wake Forest 38, Grand Canyon 35, Seton Hall 34, South Carolina 29, Miami (Fla.) 27, St. John's 18, Iowa State 16, Colorado 8, NC State 7, Michigan State 7, Alabama 7, Providence 6, Oregon 4, TCU 3, Northwestern 3, Princeton 2, Utah 2.

USA Today Top 25 Coaches Poll
Jan. 8, 2024
Rk   School   W-L    PTS
1   Purdue (21)   14-1   788
2   Houston (10)   14-0   362
3   Kansas (1)   13-1   754
4   Connecticut   13-2   685
5   Tennessee   11-3   661
6   Kentucky   11-2   628
7   North Carolina   11-3   592
8   Arizona   12-3   556
9   Oklahoma   13-12   490
10   Illinois   11-3   455
11   Duke   11-3   446
12   Marquette   11-4   428
13   Memphis   13-2   410
14   Baylor   12-2   378
15   Wisconsin   11-3   341
16   Auburn   12-2   301
17   BYU   12-2   251
18   Colorado State   13-2   221
19   San Diego State   13-2   198
20   Creighton   11-4   147
21   Gonzaga   11-4   146
22   Clemson   11-3   133
23   Utah State   14-1   77
   Ole Miss   13-1   77
25   Florida Atlantic   11-4   58
Others receiving votes: Texas 55; Nevada 45; Cincinnati 36; Iowa State 33; Dayton 33; James Madison 32; Grand Canyon 30; Miami (Fla.) 24; TCU 23; Wake Forest 21; Texas Tech 18; Ohio State 12; Seton Hall 11; Alabama 9; St. John's 8; Providence 7; Michigan State 7; Indiana State 5; South Carolina 3; Princeton 2; Villanova 1; Northwestern 1; New Mexico 1.

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