NCAA College Basketball Rankings: AP Poll Slots St. John's Basketball No. 23

The St. John's basketball program received more good news Monday afternoon from the college basketball rankings, as the Red Storm (17-9, 9-5 Big East) are ranked 23 in the most recent AP poll. That's two spots better than the USA Today/ESPN Coaches poll which had the Johnnies at No. 25. This is the first time St. John's has been ranked in the top 25 since Nov. of 2000.

The Syracuse basketball program is ranked 17th, which is three spot better than the USA Today/ESPN poll that had the Orange (22-6, 9-6) at No. 20. It is also the same rankings SU had last week.

The rest of the Big East Conference looks like this: Pittsburgh Panthers (24-3) is No. 4, Notre Dame Fighting Irish (21-5) is No. 9, Georgetown (21-6) is No. 11, Connecticut (20-6) is 14th, Villanova (21-6) is No. 15 and Louisville (20-7) is 16th.

With the top four teams in last week's poll -- Kansas, Ohio State, Pittsburgh and Texas -- all losing there was a shakeup at the top of this week's poll. This week's top 5 are:

1. Duke
2. Ohio State
   
3. Kansas
4. Pittsburgh
5. Texas

NCAA College Basketball Rankings: St. John's Cracks Top 25

The St. John's Red Storm are back on the national college basketball radar. Absent from the top 25 rankings for a decade, St. John's is No. 25 in this week's ESPN/USa Today Coaches Poll.

Coming off a victory over No. 4 Pittsburgh, St. John's (17-9, 9-5 Big East) has now defeated Pitt, Duke, Notre Dame, No. 15 Connecticut and No. 11 Georgetown this season. The Red Storm earned 73 points in the latest poll, 18 points ahead of No. 26 George Mason.

The Big East, as always, is still well-represented in the rankings.

Pittsburgh (24-3) is No. 6, Notre Dame (21-5) is No. 9, Georgetown (21-6) is No. 11, Villanova (21-6) is No. 14, Connecticut (20-6) is 15th, Louisville (20-7) is 16th and Syracuse (22-6) is No. 20.

With the top four teams in last week's poll -- Kansas, Ohio State, Pittsburgh and Texas -- all losing there was a shakeup at the top of this week's poll. This week's top 5 are:

1. Duke
2. Kansas
3. Ohio State
4. San Diego State
5. Texas