College basketball rankings: Duke jumps Florida for No. 2, preseason No. 1 Kansas falls out of AP Top 25 poll

Duke supplanted Florida at No. 2 in the latest AP Top 25 men's college basketball rankings Monday after a statement win Saturday inside Madison Square Garden in which it defeated Illinois, 110-67, to improve to 24-3 on the season. The Gators moved up to No. 2 last week and earned the only first-place vote not cast for Auburn, but dropped one spot this week as voters impressed by the Blue Devils on a big stage moved Florida down and Duke up one spot.

St. John's and Michigan State were also among the big movers in Monday's rankings after both scored big conference wins this weekend over UConn and Michigan, respectively. The Johnnies jumped three spots to No. 7, while the Spartans moved up six spots.

It's the highest standing for St. John's in the AP poll since climbing to No. 7 in 1991 as it moved one step closer to securing its first outright Big East title since 1986. After beginning the season unranked in the AP poll and picked in the preseason media poll to finish fifth in the conference, it now holds a commanding three-game lead in the regular season race following Sunday's 89-75 win over UConn at Madison Square Garden.

Michigan State, meanwhile, is in familiar territory after spending most of January and the early part of February as a top-12 ranked team. It opened the month of February with two losses in its first three outings but has ridden a three-game winning streak to take back control of the Big Ten.

Elsewhere in the latest rankings, voters made no major changes with respect to the top team, Auburn, which once again held at No. 1 and regained its status as the unanimous No. 1 team. It was unanimously voted No. 1 from Weeks 12-14 in the AP poll before a loss to Florida stripped it of unanimous standing last week. The Tigers have won four-straight since falling to the Gators and defeated Arkansas and Georgia this week. They now lead the SEC regular season race by two games.

AP Top 25

Also receiving votes: Creighton 53, Mississippi 28, Kansas 25, New Mexico 23, VCU 20, Oregon 20, UCLA 14, Drake 12, UC San Diego 8, Gonzaga 3, High Point 3, Illinois 3, Vanderbilt 2, Utah St. 1, Yale 1.