St. John's ranked in the AP top 25 poll for the first time in five years

St. John's is back in the Associated Press men's basketball top 25 poll for the first time since 2019.

The Red Storm jumped into this week's poll at No. 22 after season-opening wins over Fordham and Quinnipiac. 

It's St. John's highest ranking since the Red Storm were No. 15 on Dec. 29, 2014. St. John's last top 25 ranking came in January 2019, when the Red Storm were No. 24. 

It's also a return to the top 25 for St. John's coach Rick Pitino. His last team to appear in the top 25 was Louisville in the final poll of the 2016-17 season.

The Big East has four teams in this week's poll, led by UConn at No. 3, Creighton at No. 14 and Marquette at No. 15.

Kansas remained atop the first AP top 25 poll of the regular season. The Jayhawks received 44 of 62 first-place votes after a home win against North Carolina, a game that saw Kansas blow a 20-point lead but hold on for a 92-89 win. That kept them ahead of Alabama and two-time reigning national champion UConn in an unchanged 1-2-3 lineup in the poll, with the Crimson Tide getting six first-place votes and the Huskies getting seven.

Gonzaga moved up two spots to No. 4 after blowing out then-No. 8 Baylor to open the season, then pushing past Arizona State. Auburn jumped six spots to No. 5 for the week's biggest leap after beating then-No. 4 Houston. The Zags and Tigers earned the remaining five first-place votes.

Auburn was the only new arrival in a largely reshuffled top 10, with Duke rising one spot to No. 6 to lead the next group. Iowa State was seventh, followed by Houston, Arizona and North Carolina.