Indiana coach Tom Crean used an analogy to the state’s second favorite sport after the Hoosiers remained No. 1 in The Associated Press’ Top 25 for a second straight week.

It had been over a month since a team managed to stay on top, and Indiana broke that trend despite losing a game last week, leading Crean to bring up auto racing.

“I had a good friend tell me that in-season rankings are the barometer of representing what lane you’re in and the direction and how far you are moving towards your goals,” Crean said Monday. “We want to stay in the left lane and keep working on our team and pace because we know there are quite a few others in the left lane as well.”

The Hoosiers (21-3) lost to Illinois on a last-second basket Thursday but rebounded with a win at then-No.10 Ohio State on Sunday. In a week when four of the top five teams and six of the top 10 lost, it was enough to keep the No. 1 ranking.

This ends a stretch of five consecutive weeks with a new No. 1, two weeks short of the longest such stretch in 1993-94. Duke started the run followed by Louisville, Duke again, Michigan and Indiana.

The Hoosiers received 26 first-place votes from the 65-member national panel Monday, while Duke, the only member of the top five not to lose last week, moved up two spots to second after getting 20 first-place votes. Miamijumped from eighth to No. 3, the Hurricanes’ highest ranking ever.

The AP Top 25

The top 25 teams in The AP college basketball poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through Feb. 10, total points based on 25 points for a 1st-place vote through one point for a 25th-place vote and last week’s ranking:

Record Pts Prv

1. Indiana (26) 21-3 1,559 1

2. Duke (20) 21-2 1,515 4

3. Miami (17) 19-3 1,499 8

4. Michigan 21-3 1,428 3

5. Gonzaga (2) 23-2 1,371 6

6. Syracuse 20-3 1,293 9

7. Florida 19-3 1,286 2

8. Michigan St. 20-4 1,178 12

9. Arizona 20-3 1,062 7

10. Kansas St. 19-4 1,012 13

11. Butler 20-4 943 14

12. Louisville 19-5 842 11

13. Ohio St. 17-6 828 10

14. Kansas 19-4 823 5

15. Georgetown 17-4 679 20

16. Pittsburgh 20-5 591 23

17. Oklahoma St. 17-5 587 22

18. Marquette 17-5 493 24

19. New Mexico 20-4 433 15

20. Wisconsin 17-7 305 -

21. Notre Dame 19-5 264 25

22. Memphis 20-3 193 -

23. Oregon 19-5 137 19

24. Colorado St. 19-4 125 -

25. Kentucky 17-6 87 -

Others receiving votes: Minnesota 80, Missouri 69, Cincinnati 68, Saint Mary’s (Cal) 62, Creighton 56, San Diego St. 53, Louisiana Tech 43, VCU 35, Saint Louis 34, Illinois 26, NC State 24, Akron 12, UCLA 8, UNLV 6, Indiana St. 5, Virginia 4, Wichita St. 3, Belmont 2, Mississippi 1, Oklahoma 1.

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