Kentucky, USC knocked out of AP top 25

The Atlantic Sun Conference doesn't have any members in the Top 25, but its teams knocked a couple of big-name schools out of the rankings.

Gardner-Webb's win over Kentucky and Mercer's victory over Southern California weren't enough to get them into The Associated Press' first regular-season poll Monday, although both did receive votes.

Southern California fell from the rankings after it was 18th in the preseason. Kentucky dropped out from 20th place.

North Carolina, which opens the season against Davidson on Wednesday, remained No. 1 as the top seven teams held their places from the preseason poll.

Villanova and Butler moved into the rankings at Nos. 24 and 25.

-- AP