College basketball rankings: Coaches Poll top 25 sees Michigan hold off Arizona

Only two first-place votes separate Michigan and Arizona in the battle for No. 1 in the Coaches Poll

By Carter Bahns

Dec 15, 2025 at 12:44 pm ET • 1 min read

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Arizona earned one of the biggest statement wins of the college basketball season when it trounced Alabama in a 96-75 rout on Saturday, but it still was not enough for the Wildcats to claim the No. 1 spot in the Coaches Poll. Michigan retained its status as the team to beat, clashing for the second week with the AP Top 25, which features Arizona as the top squad in the land.

To the Wolverines' credit, they did nothing to deserve relegation out of the catbird seat in the rankings. A pair of resounding victories over Villanova and Maryland made it 10 consecutive wins to open the season and seven in a row by at least 18 points.

Michigan assumed the No. 1 position last week, but the margin of first-place votes was slim enough for Arizona to challenge for the spot. The Wildcats are now just two first-place votes and four total voting points back of the Wolverines. Tommy Lloyd's aggressive scheduling approach continues to pay off as the Wildcats not only remain unbeaten but also boast the nation's most robust strength of record. Brayden Burries' 28 points against the Crimson Tide helped Arizona defeat its fifth top-25 foe in nine games.

Meanwhile, it does not take too long of a trip down the rankings to find Nebraska. The Cornhuskers are up seven spots to No. 15 on the heels of their first ranked win of the year. Jamarques Lawrence canned a buzzer-beater to keep Nebraska unbeaten with an 83-80 win over Illinois. Fred Hoiberg's squad is suddenly the first Big Ten team to reach 11 wins, and it is now up to five high-major victories.

Also on the rise this week are No. 14 Arkansas and No. 22 Virginia, both up three spots. No. 12 Vanderbilt, No. 13 North Carolina and No. 17 Kansas climbed two spots while No. 20 St. John's moved up by one. There was no movement inside the top 11.

Here is the full Dec. 15 Coaches Poll after the sixth week of the 2025-26 college basketball season.

First-place votes in parentheses