The top three teams--Syracuse, Kansas and Georgetown--held...

The top three teams--Syracuse, Kansas and Georgetown--held onto their spots in the AP college basketball poll, but the 24th and 25th spots were taken over by teams returning to the rankings.

North Carolina and Minnesota came back into the poll in the final two positions, replacing Oklahoma State and Michigan State.

Syracuse (8-0) was named No. 1 on 33 ballots and received 1,501 points from the nationwide panel of sportswriters and broadcasters. Kansas (11-0) was No. 1 on 21 ballots and had 1,469 points, 30 more than Georgetown (8-0), which had seven first-place votes.

Illinois (8-0) moved up one place from last week after its 101-93 victory over previously unbeaten Missouri. The Fighting Illini had the only other first-place vote and 1,368 points.

Michigan (8-1) rounded out the top five and was followed by Oklahoma, Missouri, Louisville, Louisiana State and Indiana.

Missouri dropped three spots with the loss to Illinois and the Tigers (9-1) had 1,116 points. Louisville (8-1) was ninth last week and the Cardinals had 1,042 points, 21 more than LSU (5-1), which dropped one place.

Indiana, 11th last week, moved into the top 10 for the first time this season. The Hoosiers (8-0) had 992 points, 31 more than Arkansas (7-1), which was 10th last week.

Arkansas was followed in the second ten by UNLV, Duke, Georgia Tech, Memphis State, UCLA, St. John’s, Iowa, North Carolina State and La Salle.

The final five spots were Arizona, Alabama, Oregon State and the returnees--North Carolina and Minnesota.