TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — In the waning seconds of a blowout win, fans at Arizona's McKale Center started a chant of “Number 1!”
The second-ranked Wildcats can certainly make a case with Saturday night's dismantling of No. 20 Auburn and top-ranked Purdue's first loss of the season.
Then again, Michigan can also stake a claim to No. 1. So can Duke. What about Iowa State?
“Obviously, it's not something you shy away from,” Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd said after the 97-68 win over Auburn. “You're at Arizona, you're going to be on the big stage and it's part and parcel being in a program like this.”
The 2025-26 college basketball season is off to an epic start with ready-made-star freshmen across the country and top programs' willingness to schedule tough early games.
The season kicked off with a flourish in Las Vegas, where Arizona took down reigning national champion Florida and has been dotted with marquee matchups almost every day, sometimes multiple games in one day.
There's already been three dozen games between ranked teams — 10 just last week — and the Thanksgiving Day game between Duke and Arkansas was the most-watched regular-season game in the last 30 years.
And this is only the first week in December.
Purdue had been the standard, opening as the preseason No. 1 in the AP Top 25 for the first time and holding steady for four of the first five weeks.
That will change in Monday's poll after No. 10 Iowa State rolled into Mackey Arena and stomped the Boilermakers 81-58.
That triggers a question: Who's next at No. 1?
Arizona certainly has a shot.
The Wildcats (8-0) have been ranked No. 2 the past two weeks and have four wins over ranked teams: No. 15 Florida, then-No. 15 UCLA in Southern California, at No. 5 UConn and the home blowout of Auburn. The Tiger takedown was Arizona's largest win over a ranked opponent since beating No. 19 Western Kentucky by 39 points in 2002.
Michigan could leapfrog the Wildcats by the sheer magnitude of its wins.
The Wolverines (8-0) had some tight games early on, but have left a path of destruction over the past three weeks. Michigan has won each of its last five by at least 25 points, including two over ranked teams.
The big, bad Wolverines turned a three-game run through the Players Era Championship in Las Vegas into a jackpot, beating San Diego State 94-54, Auburn 102-72 and No. 11 Gonzaga 101-61 in the title game.
Michigan was No. 3 in last week's poll, but had more first-place votes (15-6) than Arizona.
“I think there’s a pretty wide margin between Michigan and Arizona and the rest of college basketball, just from what I’ve seen on film and, obviously, what we’ve experienced in person,” Auburn coach Steven Pearl said.
Don't forget about Duke.
The Blue Devils (10-0) and uber-talented freshman Cameron Boozer had early wins against Texas and No. 21 Kansas at Madison Square Garden. Duke most recently has traversed a gauntlet of games unscathed, beating No. 25 Arkansas in Chicago, Florida at home, then winning at No. 7 Michigan State in a game that had a late-March feel.
“That was a big-time basketball game and I'm still catching my breath,” Duke coach Jon Scheyer said after the win in East Lansing.
No. 10 Iowa State also could be in the conversation.
The Cyclones (9-0) have one of the nation's most talented trios in Milan Momcilovic, Joshua Jefferson and Tamin Lipsey, and are fourth nationally in scoring at 96.4 points per game.
It's a big jump from No. 10 to 1, but Iowa State did run the nation's top-ranked team right out of its own gym. The 23-point victory over Purdue matched the largest road win against a No. 1 team in NCAA history, a mark fist set by No. 15 Villanova with its 96-73 win over No. 1 UConn in 1995.
“It was an avalanche,” Purdue coach Matt Painter said.
One that will trigger a change at the top of the college basketball world.
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Duke forward Cameron Boozer (12), right, drives against Michigan State forward Cam Ward during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025, in East Lansing, Mich. (AP Photo/Al Goldis)
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Israel stepped up airstrikes on Iranian missile launchers and factories Tuesday, and Iran retaliated against Israel and across the Gulf region, disrupting energy supplies and travel. As explosions rang out in Tehran and in Lebanon — where Israel said it struck Hezbollah militants — the American embassy in Saudi Arabia came under drone attack.
Four days into a war that President Donald Trump suggested would last several weeks but perhaps longer, hundreds of people have been killed, the vast majority in Iran. Information coming out of Iran has been limited because of poor communications, round-the-clock airstrikes and tight restrictions on journalists.
Iran has fired dozens of ballistic missiles at Israel, setting off air raid sirens across the country. The pace of the attacks appeared to be slowing and Israel has intercepted most of the incoming fire, but some missiles have landed, killing 11 people.
The spiraling nature of the war raised questions about when and how it would end. Trump seemed to leave open the possibility for more extensive U.S. military involvement, telling the New York Post on Monday that he was not ruling out the possibility of boots on the ground.
The administration has given various objectives. While the initial U.S.-Israeli strikes killed Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Trump urged Iranians to overthrow their government, senior administration officials have since said regime change was not the goal.
Trump said Monday the military campaign’s four objectives were to destroy Iran’s missile capabilities, wipe out its navy, prevent it from obtaining a nuclear weapon and ensure that it cannot continue to support allied armed groups.
Trump said Tuesday that “someone from within” the Iranian regime might be the best choice to take power once the U.S.-Israel campaign is finished.
Speaking from the Oval Office Tuesday, Trump said Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of Iran’s toppled Shah, is not someone that his administration has considered in depth to take over.
As far as possible leaders inside Iran, “the people we had in mind are dead,” Trump said. “I guess the worst case would be do this, and then somebody takes over who’s as bad as the previous person, right? That could happen. We don’t want that to happen.”
Iran’s leaders are scrambling to replace Khamenei, who ruled the country for 37 years. It’s only the second time since the 1979 Islamic Revolution that a new supreme leader is being chosen. Potential candidates range from hard-liners committed to confrontation with the West to reformists who seek diplomatic engagement.
The supreme leader has the final say on all major decisions, including war, peace and the country’s disputed nuclear program.
Across Iran’s capital, aircraft were heard overhead and explosions rang out throughout the night into Tuesday.
The Israeli military said it conducted a wave of airstrikes on sites that produce and store ballistic missiles, in Tehran and Isfahan. Strikes caused two explosions at a broadcasting facility in Tehran, Iranian state TV said, adding that no one was injured.
The United Nations’ nuclear watchdog said Iran’s Natanz nuclear enrichment site had sustained “some recent damage,” though there was “no radiological consequence expected.” The U.S. hit Natanz during the 12-day war in June, when Israeli and American strikes greatly weakened Iran's nuclear program.
Without offering evidence, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed Iran was rebuilding “new sites, new places” underground for making atomic bombs. Iran has said it has not enriched uranium since June, though it has maintained its right to and says its nuclear program is peaceful.
New rounds of U.S. and Israeli airstrikes rattled Tehran and several other Iranian cities.
“Since midnight, I and my wife are hearing sound of explosions,” said Ali Amoli, an engineer living in north Tehran. “Sometimes from the west side of the city and sometimes from other directions.” Streets and gas stations appeared quieter than in recent days.
Local media published images of a damaged commercial plane at Bushehr airport that broke apart following an airstrike on Tuesday.
A north Tehran resident who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation described growing fears in the capital as it comes under heavy bombardment. The resident said most stores in the normally bustling area of Tajrish were closed and that ATMs were mostly “out of cash.” Bakeries and supermarkets were open, though, the resident said.
An attack from two drones on the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh caused a “limited fire,” according to Saudi Arabia’s Defense Ministry, and the embassy urged Americans to avoid the compound. It followed an attack on the U.S. Embassy in Kuwait. U.S. Embassies in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Lebanon said they were closed to the public.
The U.S. State Department ordered the evacuation of non-emergency personnel and family in Kuwait, Bahrain, Iraq, Qatar, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates. In addition, the U.S. has urged citizens to leave more than a dozen Middle Eastern countries, though with much of the airspace closed many remained stranded.
The State Department said Tuesday it’s preparing military and charter flights for Americans who want to leave the Middle East. Several other countries arranged evacuation flights for their citizens.
The U.S.-Israeli strikes have killed at least 787 people, according to the Iranian Red Crescent Society. The Iranian-supported militant group Hezbollah has also attacked Israel, whose retaliatory strikes killed 52 people in Lebanon.
The U.S. military has confirmed six deaths of American service members. In addition, three people were killed in the United Arab Emirates, and one each in Kuwait and Bahrain.
Iran has hit many countries deemed safe havens in the Mideast in retaliation for the U.S.-Israeli strikes. Recent targets included two Amazon data centers in the United Arab Emirates and one in Bahrain. The centers in the UAE were hit, while a drone struck near the one Bahrain, causing damage, the company said.
Iran has also struck energy facilities in Qatar and Saudi Arabia, and attacked several ships in the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a fifth of all oil traded passes, sending global oil and natural gas prices soaring.
“The Strait of Hormuz is closed,” declared Iranian Brig. Gen. Ebrahim Jabbari, an adviser to the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, vowing that any ships that passed through it would be set on fire.
Oil and natural gas prices climbed, and stock prices fell sharply.
The conflict has spread to Lebanon, where Hezbollah fired missiles at Israel on Monday, prompting Israel to retaliate.
On Tuesday, the Israeli military hit Beirut with more airstrikes and said it had moved additional troops into southern Lebanon and taken new positions on several strategic points close to the border.
The U.N. peacekeeping force in Lebanon later said its peacekeepers saw Israeli troops going into and then out of Lebanon. But Israel’s army said its troops are still operating in Lebanon.
This story has been updated to correct that communications in Iran are poor, but that the internet isn't shut down. It also clarifies that more than one drone hit the U.S. Embassy in Saudi Arabia. Some instances referred to just one drone.
Becatoros reported from Athens, Greece, and Magdy from Cairo. Seung Min Kim and Konstantin Toropin in Washington, David Rising in Bangkok, Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel, Hallie Golden in Seattle, Giovanna Dell'Orto in Miami, and Suzan Fraser in Ankara, Turkey, contributed to this report.
A firefighter extinguishes fire at a building that was hit by an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
A woman crosses almost deserted square with a billboard at rear showing a portrait of the late Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in the U.S.–Israeli military campaign, in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Smoke rises from a destroyed building that was hit by an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
An Iranian flag is placed among the ruins of a police station struck Monday during the U.S.–Israeli military campaign in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Smoke rises from Israeli airstrikes in Dahiyeh, a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Jewish men covered in prayer shawls pray in an underground parking garage as a precaution against possible Iranian missile attacks, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)
A group of men inspects the ruins of a police station struck Monday amid the U.S.–Israeli military campaign in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Smoke rises from Israeli airstrikes in Dahiyeh, a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Smoke rises from Israeli airstrikes in Dahiyeh, a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, early Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
This image provided by U.S. Central Command shows a F-35C Lightning II preparing for launch on the flight deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) in support of Operation Epic Fury on Monday, March 2, 2026. (U.S. Navy via AP)
Mourners take cover while air-raid sirens warn of incoming missiles launched by Iran toward Israel during the funeral of Sarah Elimelech and her daughter Ronit who were killed in an Iranian missile attack, in Beit Shemesh, Israel, Monday, March 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
A worker instals a billboard on an overpass containing a portrait of the late Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed during the ongoing joint U.S.-Israeli military campaign, in Tehran, Iran, Monday, March 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Smoke engulfs a street after a strike in Tehran, Iran, Monday, March 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Mohsen Ganji)
