No. 1 Arizona dives into rugged Big 12 stretch with a loss as part of AP Top 25 national slate

The Super Bowl is over, the football season complete. Now college basketball has more room to seize the spotlight.

Here's a look at storylines to watch among AP Top 25 teams with roughly five weeks until Selection Sunday:

The clear headliners continue to be No. 1 Arizona and No. 2 Michigan, even after the Wildcats stumbled for the first time at No. 9 Kansas on Monday night.

Arizona (23-1) held the top spot in Monday's latest poll for the ninth straight week, with the past four of those coming by unanimous votes. The Wolverines (22-1), meanwhile, have been sitting right behind the Wildcats six times in Arizona's current reign.

Of the two, the Wildcats have a tougher week ahead. The loss at Allen Fieldhouse came against a Jayhawks team playing without freshman star Darryn Peterson due to illness. And that started a run of four straight games against ranked Big 12 opponents, the next being Saturday's home game against No. 16 Texas Tech.

In the Big Ten, the Wolverines visit Northwestern on Wednesday and host UCLA on Saturday. Win both of those and they could have a shot at the program's first No. 1 ranking since January 2013.

Speaking of the Big 12, No. 3 Houston looms — both as a soon-to-be opponent for Arizona (Feb. 21) and as a Final Four contender after reaching last year's NCAA title game.

The Cougars (21-2) rose five spots in Monday's poll to tie for the week's biggest jump, which has them back inside the top 5 for the first time since a November stint that included a week at No. 1. Kelvin Sampson's team heads to Utah on Tuesday before hosting Kansas State on Sunday.

Also in the Big 12: the Jayhawks visit No. 5 Iowa State on Saturday with a chance to follow up the Arizona win.

The Atlantic Coast Conference is still rolling along with a bounceback year.

Duke was a clear heavyweight last year and reached the Final Four, but the league overall managed just four bids to March Madness and only one other non-Duke win in the NCAA Tournament.

The fourth-ranked Blue Devils still look like the league's best team this year. But the rest of the league is much deeper with the ACC having four other ranked teams in No. 11 North Carolina, No. 15 Virginia, No. 20 Clemson and No. 24 Louisville.

The Tar Heels edged the Blue Devils on Seth Trimble's last-second 3-pointer in a rivalry thriller on Saturday, sending Duke and Clemson into this week tied atop the league standings at 10-1. Duke and UNC don't have long to regroup from their emotionally draining battle; they both play on the road Tuesday, the Tar Heels at Miami and the Blue Devils at Pittsburgh.

As for the Tigers, they host an NCAA hopeful in Virginia Tech on Wednesday before visiting Duke on Saturday.

The Southeastern Conference had a record 14 NCAA bids last year and saw Florida go on to win the title. The 14th-ranked Gators are currently climbing as the league's highest-ranked team.

Opening the year at No. 3, Florida started 9-5 and slid all the way out of the AP Top 25 for a week. But the Gators have lost just once since, with the past three games against South Carolina, Alabama and Texas A&M all coming by at least 19 points.

Florida visits Georgia on Wednesday then travels Saturday to No. 25 Kentucky, which jumped back into the poll Monday for the first time since early December.

No. 18 St. Louis lost to Stanford on a 3-pointer with 0.8 seconds left in November. The Billikens haven't lost since and sit atop the Atlantic 10.

St. Louis (23-1) goes for its 18th straight win Friday at Loyola Chicago.

Miami (Ohio) stood alongside Arizona as the nation's last unbeaten teams to start the week. Now the No. 23 RedHawks are alone.

The RedHawks (24-0) host Ohio on Friday in the Mid-American Conference with the nation's longest active winning streak.

Alabama and Iowa are the top vote-getters among unranked teams, and both have spent multiple weeks in the poll this year.

The Crimson Tide (16-7) visits Mississippi on Wednesday, then hosts South Carolina on Saturday.

The Hawkeyes (18-5) visit Maryland on Wednesday before hosting No. 13 Purdue on Saturday.

Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here and here (AP mobile app). AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball

Florida head coach Todd Golden, left, claps and talks to Alabama center Charles Bediako (14) who walks off the court after fouling out during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game, Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026, in Gainesville, Fla. (AP Photo/Noah Lantor)

Arizona center Motiejus Krivas, left, blocks a shot by Kansas guard Tre White (3) as Arizona guard Brayden Burries (5) also defends during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game, Monday, Feb. 9, 2026, in Lawrence, Kan. (AP Photo/Colin E. Braley)

CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy (AP) — Ukrainian skeleton athlete Vladyslav Heraskevych will be allowed to wear a black armband in competition at the Milan Cortina Games, the International Olympic Committee said Tuesday, but not the helmet he wanted to commemorate the lives of some athletes from his country who were killed in the war with Russia.

The IOC called the move a compromise.

“I think what we’ve tried to do is to address his desires with compassion and understanding,” IOC spokesman Mark Adams said Tuesday. “He has expressed himself on social media and in the training and, as you know, we will not stop him expressing himself in press conferences, as he leaves competition in the mixed zone and elsewhere. We feel that this is a good compromise in the situation.”

Heraskevych said the IOC told him Monday night that he could not wear the helmet that shows the faces of several Ukrainian athletes who have been killed since 2022, because Olympic officials decided it broke the rule banning political statements.

Heraskevych — who was fourth at last year's world championships and is generally considered a medal hopeful at these games — has more training runs scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday, and he is expected to compete in the Olympic men's skeleton race Thursday.

It was not immediately clear if he would wear the armband. The IOC also pointed out that it has banned armbands in the past, but is willing to make an exception in Heraskevych's case. The move by the IOC doesn't mean all athletes can wear armbands, and if Heraskevych chooses to do so, it can not include any text, Adams said.

“We didn’t violate any rules, and it should be allowed for me to compete with this helmet,” Heraskevych told The Associated Press on Monday, before Ukrainian sliding officials met with a representative from the IOC and learned the helmet would not be allowed. “I cannot understand how this helmet hurt anyone. It’s to pay tribute to athletes and some of them were medalists in the Youth Olympic Games. That means they’re Olympic family. They were part of this Olympic family, so I cannot understand they would find a reason why not.”

Figure skater Dmytro Sharpar, a onetime Youth Olympic Games teammate of Heraskevych, is on the helmet, as are boxer Pavlo Ishchenko, hockey player Oleksiy Loginov and others. Some, Heraskevych said, were killed on the front lines; at least one died while trying to distribute aid to fellow Ukrainians.

Even Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy weighed in on Heraskevych’s quest, with a post on his Instagram page saying that he wanted to thank the slider for “reminding the world the price of our struggle.”

AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

Ukraine's Vladyslav Heraskevych arrives at the finish during a men's skeleton training session at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Monday, Feb. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi)

Ukraine's Vladyslav Heraskevych starts a men's skeleton training session at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Monday, Feb. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Ukraine's Vladyslav Heraskevych starts a men's skeleton training session at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Monday, Feb. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)