College basketball rankings: Houston replaces UNC as AP No. 1

Make some room, Phi Slama Jama. Other Houston Team has reached the pinnacle of men’s college basketball.

Nearly four decades after Clyde Drexler and Akeem Olajuwon propelled the Cougars to No. 1, the newest group, led by Marcus Sasser and star newcomer Jarace Walker, took the top spot in the AP Top 25 on Monday. They received 45 out of 63 votes in first place from the national media panel, easily beating second place in Texas and third place in Virginia.

“It’s not like we went online and applied and waited for an answer. That’s what we’ve been working towards,” said Houston coach Kelvin Sampson, whose team came back from a Final Four and an Elite Eight trip in the last two seasons. “But remember, it’s a rental. You don’t own it. You only rent it because one day someone else will be number 1.”