For the first time ever, Villanova is No. 1 in the AP Top 25.
Villanova had a productive week, beating Creighton by 25 points last Wednesday and defeating then-No. 11 Providence by 12 on the road on Saturday.
The Wildcats were also helped by losses by the teams ahead of them. Previous No. 1 Oklahoma (19-3, 7-3 Big 12) lost by 11 points at unranked Kansas State on Saturday. And North Carolina, previously No. 2, dropped back-to-back games at Louisville and at Notre Dame. UNC is 19-4, 8-2 in the ACC.
Jay Wright's team received 32 first-place votes, 19 more than No. 2 Maryland. Oklahoma is No. 3.
'Nova is also No. 1 in the USA Today coaches poll.
"We’re honored and humbled to have been voted No. 1 by the writers in the Associated Press poll and the coaches in the USA Today Coaches poll," Wright said in a statement. "There’s still a lot of basketball left to be played and handling this will be another challenge for our team. We look forward to it."
Villanova is the 57th different school to be ranked No. 1 in the AP poll. The 'Cats are also the sixth different team to be ranked first this season, just one off the record.
'Nova had been ranked No. 2 seven times in school history. Prior to Monday, only Maryland, Purdue, Dayton and Saint Bonaventure had more appearances than Villanova in the runner-up spot without reaching No. 1.
Villanova is 20-3 overall and 10-1 in the Big East, a game better than Xavier (21-2, 9-2). Villanova beat Xavier by 31 points back on New Year's Eve. No other Big East team has fewer than four conference losses.
All three of Villanova's losses this season have come against ranked teams. The Wildcats lost by 23 points against Oklahoma on a neutral court on Dec. 7, lost by 11 at then-No. 8 Virginia two weeks later, and fell to Providence in overtime in the first meeting at the end of January.
Villanova has two games this week: Tuesday at DePaul and Saturday vs. St John's. Those two teams are at the bottom of the Big East standings with a combined conference record of 2-20.
