The Associated Press released its first regular-season men’s college basketball poll on Monday, Nov. 9, 2026, with Florida retaining the No. 1 ranking. The Gators received 53 of 60 first-place votes from a national media panel after opening the season with wins over Miami and Jacksonville. Duke received the remaining seven first-place votes to stay at No. 2, followed by Illinois at No. 3 and UConn at No. 4.
UCLA recorded the largest movement in the poll, climbing 13 spots to No. 9 following an 84-75 victory over Arizona in Las Vegas. The Bruins' rise to the top 10 is their highest ranking since the conclusion of the 2022-23 season. Arizona dropped seven spots to No. 12 after the loss, despite 38 points from Ivan Kharchenkov. Michigan State moved up one spot to No. 5, replacing Arizona.
Virginia moved up three spots to No. 6 after three wins last week, while Iowa State fell from No. 18 completely out of the Top 25 following a loss to Memphis. Nebraska entered the rankings at No. 25 after starting 2-0 with wins over Le Moyne and Providence. Kentucky, ranked No. 24, is one week away from reaching 1,000 total weeks ranked in the history of the AP poll.
The Southeastern Conference leads with seven teams in the Top 25, while the Big Ten follows with six ranked teams. For Kentucky, maintaining a spot in the poll for one more week will make it the first program in the nearly 78-year history of the AP poll to reach 1,000 weeks ranked.
Several ranked matchups are scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 10: No. 5 Michigan State faces No. 2 Duke, No. 3 Illinois travels to No. 16 Texas Tech, and No. 15 Kansas meets No. 24 Kentucky. The top-ranked Gators travel to Florida State on Tuesday night.