AP College Basketball Poll 2025: Complete Week 18 Men's Rankings Released

Auburn remains the No. 1 team in the Associated Press Top 25 poll with one more week left in the 2024-25 regular season.

The Tigers clinched their third SEC regular-season title under head coach Bruce Pearl with their 94-78 victory over Kentucky last Saturday. At 27-2, they're also on pace to register the most wins in program history.

The SEC wasn't the only major conference that was decided last week.

Week 18 AP Top 25

1. Auburn

2. Duke

3. Houston

4. Tennessee

5. Florida

6. St John's

7. Alabama

8. Michigan State

9. Texas Tech

10. Iowa State

11. Clemson

12. Wisconsin

13. Maryland

14. Louisville

15. Missouri

16. Memphis

17. Michigan

18. Purdue

19. Kentucky

20. Marquette

21. Saint Mary's

22. Texas A&M

23. BYU

24. Arizona

25. Mississippi State

Houston hasn't had any trouble adjusting to life in the Big 12. The Cougars have been in the conference for two years and were crowned regular-season champs two years running.

They opened last week by beating No. 10 Texas Tech on the road and took down Cincinnati 73-64 on their home court to guarantee themselves of a first-place finish.

"We lose good players every year in our program," head coach Kelvin Sampson said. "Our culture and the way we do things just doesn’t change a whole lot. I'm really proud of our staff and I’m really proud of these kids. To win this league when there's so many great programs and great coaches is very humbling."

Over in the Big East, St. John's was celebrating like it's 1985. That was the last time the Red Storm were the outright regular-season champions in the conference.

Rick Pitino's résumé speaks for itself. He's a Hall of Fame coach who took Providence, Kentucky and Louisville all to the Final Four. Still, St. John's hadn't been a nationally relevant program for decades and made the NCAA tournament three times after firing Mike Jarvis in December 2003. Reviving the Red Storm was a daunting task, even for a legendary head coach who has won at all of his stops.

What Pitino is doing this year could go down as one of his greatest coaching jobs.

"This is the answer to a prayer," St. John's president, the Rev. Brian Shanley, said. "This is what I hoped when we hired Rick that we would get back where we are right now—contending for a national championship. This is just the beginning in my book."

When it comes to the Big Ten, all roads may lead to East Lansing, Michigan, on Sunday to decide a champion.

Michigan State has a one-game lead in Michigan going into the final week. The Spartans hit the road to play Iowa on Thursday and the Wolverines host Maryland for Senior Night on Wednesday.

The stage is potentially set for the two rivals to face off in the final game of the regular season with a conference title and the No. 1 seed in the Big Ten tourney on the line.

It doesn't get much more dramatic than that.