"Iron Bowl of Basketball": College hoops fans react as AP Top 25 rankings get released after heated rivalry games in Week 13 

The Associated Press released its Top 25 men's college basketball poll on Monday, and X (formerly Twitter) has been buzzing with reactions from college hoops fans. NCAA March Madness shared the Week 13 poll.

Here are the reactions from fans.

"Iron Bowl of Basketball," a fan wrote.

"Basketball runs through this state, absolutely electric," another fan wrote.

"Next 2 months gonna be (three fire emojis)" a fan commented.

However, other fans were particularly interested in the Southeastern Conference teams, with four of the top six positions occupied by teams from the conference.

"The SEC will be the epitome leader of every college sport," a fan wrote.

"NIL got legalized and bam the sec turns into a basketball conference? I for one did not see that one happening. Wild," another fan wrote.

"5 Sec teams in the top 10," a fan commented.

Auburn, Duke remain atop, Maryland, Arizona return to AP Top 25 CBB rankings

Auburn and Duke retained the top two rankings in The Associated Press Top 25 men’s college basketball poll for the third straight week. The Tigers (20-1) held the No. 1 ranking for the fourth consecutive week after 246 of 248 first-place votes while remaining unbeaten in the Southeastern Conference, which has nine ranked teams.

Cooper Flagg's Duke (19-2) remains second despite handing Auburn its first loss of the season in the 84-78 victory over the Tigers on Dec. 5. The Blue Devils have the longest winning streak at 15 games entering the week.

Meanwhile, Maryland (18), Arizona (20) and Michigan (24) are back in the AP Top 25 poll. The Terrapins jumped back into the poll after extending their winning streak to four games, beating Illinois and Wisconsin last week. This is Maryland's first return to the rankings in two years, as the last time the Terrapins made an appearance was in February 2023.

Arizona (15-6) is back in the poll for the first time since November after winning 11 of 12 games, including an 86-75 overtime win over Iowa State last week. The Wildcats peaked at No. 9 in the polls at the beginning of the year while Michigan State (16-5) is back after peaking at No. 14 in early December.

Other notable rankings in the 13th week include Texas Tech (17-4), which jumped nine spots to sit at No. 13. Rick Pitino's St. John's climbed three spots to No. 12, the highest ranking for the program since ninth in the 1999-2000 season. UConn also rose from No. 25 to No. 19 after beating then-No. 9 Marquette 77-69 on Saturday.