Kansas remains No. 1 in latest Paste BN Sports men's basketball coaches poll

Kansas is still No. 1 in the Paste BN Sports men’s basketball coaches poll, though the Jayhawks needed yet another narrow escape to keep the top spot.

After outlasting Villanova on Saturday, Kansas kept its record unblemished. The Jayhawks were voted first on 27 of 31 ballots cast this week.

The rest of the top five also remains unchanged. Duke, which had last week off for exams, remains No. 2 with a single first-place nod. Virginia and Tennessee stay put at 3 and 4, respectively. Michigan is now getting three first-place votes but is still in the No. 5 spot overall.

Formerly No. 1 Gonzaga dropped a second consecutive game in a high-scoring affair with North Carolina and falls another three places to No. 9. The Zags slip behind unbeaten Nevada as well as Auburn and Michigan State, and the Tar Heels now round out the top 10.

TOP 25: Complete Paste BN Sports men's basketball coaches poll

In other poll news, No. 25 Furman enters the rankings for the first time. In fact, until this season the Purple Paladins hadn’t received any votes at all in the coaches poll since Paste BN began its administration in 1991.

No. 20 Houston also has reached its highest position of the history of the Paste BN poll. And No. 23 Marquette enters this week, its first Top 25 appearance since 2013.

Kansas State and Villanova fall out.