NEWSAR
Multi-perspective news intelligence
SRCAssociated Press (AP)
LANGEN
LEANCenter
WORDS906
ENT3
MON · 2026-02-16 · 18:23 GMTBRIEF NSR-2026-0216-16715
News/Michigan rises to No. 1 in AP Top 25 men’s hoops poll for 1s…
NSR-2026-0216-16715News Report·EN·Human Interest

Michigan rises to No. 1 in AP Top 25 men’s hoops poll for 1st time since January 2013

Michigan has risen to the No. 1 spot in the AP Top 25 men's college basketball poll for the first time since January 2013, ending Arizona's nine-week run at the top.

By  AARON BEARDAssociated Press (AP)Filed 2026-02-16 · 18:23 GMTLean · CenterRead · 4 min
Michigan rises to No. 1 in AP Top 25 men’s hoops poll for 1st time since January 2013
Associated Press (AP)FIG 01
Reading time
4min
Word count
906words
Sources cited
1cited
Entities identified
3entities
Quality score
100%
§ 01

Briefing Summary

AI-generated
NEWSAR · AI

Michigan has risen to the No. 1 spot in the AP Top 25 men's college basketball poll for the first time since January 2013, ending Arizona's nine-week run at the top. The Wolverines, now 24-1, received 60 out of 61 first-place votes in Monday's poll. Arizona, previously undefeated, dropped after losses to Kansas and Texas Tech. Houston moved up to second in the poll and received the remaining first-place vote. Michigan coach Dusty May emphasized the importance of continued improvement despite the No. 1 ranking. The Wolverines are scheduled to play Duke this weekend in a highly anticipated matchup.

Confidence 0.90Sources 1Claims 5Entities 3
§ 02

Article analysis

Model · rule-based
Framing
Human Interest
Tone
Measured
AI-assessed
CalmNeutralAlarmist
Factuality
0.90 / 1.00
Factual
LowHigh
Sources cited
1
Limited
FewMany
§ 03

Key claims

5 extracted
01

“Not much...It means we haven’t drank our own Kool-Aid...we’ve got to continue to improve.”

quotecoach Dusty May
Confidence
1.00
02

Michigan had been ranked No. 2 behind Arizona for six of Arizona’s nine weeks at the top.

factual
Confidence
1.00
03

Arizona dropped three spots to No. 4.

factual
Confidence
1.00
04

The Wolverines (24-1) claimed 60 of 61 first-place votes in Monday’s poll.

statistic
Confidence
1.00
05

Michigan is No. 1 in The Associated Press men’s college basketball poll for the first time in 13 years.

factual
Confidence
1.00
§ 04

Full report

4 min read · 906 words
Michigan rises to No. 1 in AP Top 25 men’s hoops poll for 1st time since January 2013 1 of 2 | Michigan players, from left, Malick Kordel, Aday Mara, Morez Johnson Jr. and Elliot Cadeau celebrate on the bench late in the second half of a win over UCLA in an NCAA college basketball game in Ann Arbor, Mich., Saturday, Feb. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Lon Horwedel) 2 of 2 | Texas Tech guard Jaylen Petty gets pressured by Arizona forward Tobe Awaka (30) and guard Anthony Dell’orso during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game, Saturday, Feb. 14, 2026, in Tucson, Ariz. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri) 1 of 2 Michigan players, from left, Malick Kordel, Aday Mara, Morez Johnson Jr. and Elliot Cadeau celebrate on the bench late in the second half of a win over UCLA in an NCAA college basketball game in Ann Arbor, Mich., Saturday, Feb. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Lon Horwedel) Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. 2 of 2 Texas Tech guard Jaylen Petty gets pressured by Arizona forward Tobe Awaka (30) and guard Anthony Dell’orso during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game, Saturday, Feb. 14, 2026, in Tucson, Ariz. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri) Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Updated [hour]:[minute] [AMPM] [timezone], [monthFull] [day], [year] Michigan is No. 1 in The Associated Press men’s college basketball poll for the first time in 13 years, ending Arizona’s nine-week reign.The Wolverines (24-1) claimed 60 of 61 first-place votes in Monday’s poll to climb one spot and supplant the Wildcats, who were unbeaten entering last week before falling at Kansas and at home to Texas Tech. “Not much,” coach Dusty May said when asked by the AP after Saturday’s rout of UCLA about the significance of potentially topping the poll. “It means we haven’t drank our own Kool-Aid. We’ve put ourselves in a position to be playing the types of games in mid-February that we want to be in, but we’ve got to continue to improve.”Michigan had been ranked No. 2 behind Arizona for six of Arizona’s nine weeks at the top but was No. 1 in analytics rankings by KenPom, Evan Miyakawa and Bart Torvik last week. Now the Wolverines have their first AP No. 1 ranking since January 2013.Houston and Duke each moved up one spot to sit behind Michigan, with the second-ranked Cougars claiming the remaining first-place vote. The Wolverines and Blue Devils are set to meet this weekend in a marquee nonconference matchup in the nation’s capital. Arizona dropped three spots to No. 4. UConn was next at No. 5, followed by Iowa State, Purdue, Kansas, Nebraska and Illinois to round out the top 10. RisingThe seventh-ranked Boilermakers jumped six spots for the week’s biggest leap, coming after an overtime win at Nebraska and a win at Iowa. The preseason No. 1 has won four straight entering Tuesday’s visit from Michigan.No. 13 Texas Tech rose three spots after its home win against Colorado followed by the OT win at Arizona. As did No. 21 Louisville, with freshman Mikel Brown starring with an Atlantic Coast Conference freshman-record 45 points in a win against N.C. State and 29 more in a win against Baylor.In all, 13 teams moved up from last week. SlidingNo. 15 Michigan State and No. 16 North Carolina had the week’s biggest tumbles of five spots. The Spartans lost at Wisconsin on Friday, while the Tar Heels lost at Miami while also learning that star freshman Caleb Wilson is out indefinitely with a fractured bone in his left hand.Seven ranked teams fell from last week’s position. Quick turnaround for BadgersWisconsin returned to the poll, going from receiving no votes last week to No. 24 after back-to-back wins against top-10 opponents Illinois and Michigan State last week. Wisconsin previously had fallen out of the poll after a Nov. 21 loss to BYU as the Badgers struggled through a 7-4 start. Last week’s wins, along with being the only team to take down Michigan, has the Badgers alongside the Red Raiders as the only teams with victories against three top-10 teams this year.“Early in the year we were soft mentally and physically,” coach Greg Gard said after the 92-71 win against the Spartans. “We had to mature, had to grow up collectively and individually. You’re not going to be able to compete in these types of games in the upper echelon of this league if you’re not physically and mentally tough. This group has responded.” No. 25 Alabama joined Wisconsin as the week’s new additions after the Crimson Tide pushed to a four-game winning streak. They replaced Clemson (No. 20) and Kentucky (No. 25) in the poll.The Big 12 and Big Ten dominated the top of the poll while tying with a national-best six ranked teams. Those two leagues combined to have eight spots in the top 10.The ACC and Southeastern Conference were next with four ranked teams each. The Big East had two, while the West Coast Conference, Atlantic 10 and Mid-American Conference each had one.AP Sports Writers Larry Lage in Michigan and Steve Megargee in Wisconsin contributed to this report. Beard covers sports in North Carolina for The Associated Press with an emphasis on college basketball. His coverage includes ACC sports and the NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes.
§ 05

Entities

3 identified
Key playerOppositionContextPositiveNeutralNegative
§ 06

Keywords & salience

9 terms
college basketball
0.90
michigan wolverines
0.80
ap top 25 poll
0.70
no. 1 ranking
0.70
arizona wildcats
0.60
ncaa
0.50
dusty may
0.50
houston cougars
0.40
duke blue devils
0.40
§ 07

Topic connections

Interactive graph
No topic relationship data available yet. This graph will appear once topic relationships have been computed.