Associated Press Top 25 men's basketball poll: Jerry Carino's ballot

1. North Carolina (2-0)

2. Gonzaga (2-0)

3. Houston (2-0)

4. Kentucky (2-0)

5. Baylor (2-0)

6. Kansas (2-0)

7. Duke (2-0)

8. UCLA (2-0)

9. Creighton (2-0)

10. Arkansas (2-0)

11. Texas (2-0)

12. Indiana (2-0)

13. TCU (2-0)

14. Auburn (2-0)

15. Arizona (2-0)

16. Virginia (2-0)

17. San Diego St. (2-0)

18. Alabama (2-0)

19. Michigan (2-0)

20. Illinois (2-0)

21. Dayton (2-0)

22. Texas Tech (2-0)

23. Connecticut (2-0)

24. Michigan State (1-1)

25. Tennessee (1-1)

Also considered: Virginia Tech (3-0), Texas A&M (2-0), Saint Louis (2-0).

Dropped out: No. 16 Villanova (1-1) after losing to Temple; No. 21 Oregon (1-1) after losing by 13 to UC Irvine.

Entered: UConn and Michigan State were on my preseason ballot, and I’ve seen to reason to remove them. I’m not penalizing Sparty for a one-point loss to Gonzaga on an aircraft carrier.

Analysis: Easy week. The only real decision was what to do with No. 11 Tennessee, which lost by 10 to Colorado in Nashville. Not a bad loss, so they stay on the ballot, but barely.

By conference: Big 12 (5), SEC (5), Big Ten (4), ACC (3), Big East (2), Pac-12 (2), West Coast (1), American (1), Mountain West (1), Atlantic 10 (1).

Jerry Carino has covered the New Jersey sports scene since 1996 and the college basketball beat since 2003. He is an Associated Press Top 25 voter. Contact him at jcarino@gannettnj.com.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: AP Top 25 men's basketball poll