Houston and Texas remain firmly entrenched atop The Associated Press men’s college basketball poll, while preseason No. 1 North Carolina has dropped out entirely after a fourth straight loss.

The Cougars earned 37 of 62 first-place votes in Monday’s poll, extending the program’s first stay at No. 1 since the “Phi Slama Jama” days in the 1980s for another week. Houston (8-0) beat Norfolk State and Saint Mary’s in its first week at the top.

“I don’t dwell on it,” coach Kelvin Sampson said last week about the No. 1 ranking. “We’re not running around here pushing our chest out, thinking we’re something we’re not.”

The Longhorns received 14 first-place votes. No. 3 Virginia got three votes and No. 4 Purdue got the remaining eight.

Connecticut (9-0) climbed to No. 5, the program’s highest ranking since early in the 2011-12 season. Other than the top five, there are three other teams in the AP Top 25 that entered Monday undefeated (No. 11 Auburn, No. 13 Maryland and No. 23 Mississippi State).

SWIFT FALL

North Carolina is only the sixth team to go from preseason No. 1 to unranked since at least the 1961-62 season, most recently with Michigan State during the 2019-20 season.

Of that group, the Tar Heels had the swiftest exit from the poll to start the season (four weeks) except for UCLA in 1965-66. The Bruins fell out of the poll after just three weeks back when only 10 teams were ranked.

Ranked No. 18 last week, the Tar Heels (5-4) lost their fourth straight game over the weekend at Virginia Tech while playing without banged-up big man Armando Bacot. They appeared on a single ballot this week from the 62-member panel that votes on the AP Top 25.

“I told them also that I’m not panicked, I’m not any of that,” coach Hubert Davis said afterward. “I’m convinced we’re going to be a great basketball team by the end of the season.”

Last year’s Tar Heels were on the bubble to even make the NCAA Tournament well into February in Davis’ debut season. They went on a final-month tear all the way to the NCAA championship game before falling to Kansas.

THE TOP TIER

Kansas climbed to No. 6, followed by three Southeastern Conference teams in Tennessee, Alabama and Arkansas. For the Volunteers and Crimson Tide, it marked their first appearances inside the top 10 this year. Arizona rounded out the top 10, falling six spots after a loss at Utah.

RISING

No. 13 Maryland had the biggest jump of the week, vaulting nine spots after wins against Louisville and Illinois last week in the Terrapins’ first year under Kevin Willard. That marks the program’s highest ranking since pushing into the top 10 during the 2019-20 season.

Tennessee was next up with a six-spot climb, while No. 11 Auburn rose four spots.

In all, 13 teams climbed from last week.

SLIDING

Creighton had the week’s biggest fall, tumbling 14 spots to No. 21 after losing at Texas and at home to Nebraska last week.

No. 12 Baylor fell six spots after a loss to Marquette, though the Bears responded by beating Gonzaga on Friday in a rematch of the 2021 NCAA championship game won by Baylor.

The Zags, now No. 18, fell four spots to their lowest ranking since checking in at No. 20 on Christmas Day in 2017.

In all, four teams slid from last week.

STATUS QUO

Beyond the top three, No. 25 Ohio State remained in place after a tough loss at No. 15 Duke last week.

WELCOME

No. 23 Mississippi State and No. 24 TCU were the new additions to the poll, with the Bulldogs (8-0) earning their first AP Top 25 ranking under first-year coach Chris Jans since January 2019.

The Horned Frogs were ranked 14th and 15th, respectively, in the first two polls before falling out for two weeks.

FAREWELL (FOR NOW)

In addition to UNC, Michigan State (No. 20) fell out after losses to Notre Dame and Northwestern.

CONFERENCE WATCH

The SEC led the way with six ranked teams, including No. 16 Kentucky. The Big Ten and Big 12 each had five ranked teams, followed by two each for the Atlantic Coast, Pac-12 and Big East conferences.

The American Athletic, West Coast and Mountain West conferences each had one.

THE TOP 25

1. Houston (37 first-place votes) 8-0

2. Texas (14) 6-0

3. Virginia (3) 7-0

4. Purdue (8) 8-0

5. UConn 9-0

6. Kansas 8-1

7. Tennessee 7-1

8. Alabama 7-1

9. Arkansas 7-1

10. Arizona 7-1

11. Auburn 8-0

12. Baylor 6-2

13. Maryland 8-0

14. Indiana 7-1

15. Duke 8-2

16. Kentucky 6-2

17. Illinois 6-2

18. Gonzaga 5-3

19. UCLA 7-2

20. Iowa St. 7-1

21. Creighton 6-3

22. San Diego St. 6-2

23. Mississippi St. 8-0

24. TCU 6-1

25. Ohio St. 6-2

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Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer stands atop The Associated Press women’s basketball poll with the most appearances all time, breaking a tie with the late Pat Summitt.

VanDerveer’s Cardinal remained No. 2 behind top-ranked South Carolina on Monday, giving her 619 weeks with one of her teams in the AP Top 25: 592 weeks with Stanford and 27 with Ohio State when she was in charge of that program. Summitt’s 618 weeks in the poll all came with Tennessee.

The Hall of Fame coach downplayed the achievement.

“Fortunate to be here for 36 years. We have great players and have been successful,” VanDerveer said. “I don’t pay attention to (records). People bring it up and I’m like ‘OK, great.'”

Louisville fell out of the Top 25 for the first time since 2016, a span of 127 weeks. That was the fifth longest active streak. The Cardinals (5-4) started the season ranked seventh and have struggled to find consistency this year, dropping their last two games to Ohio State and Middle Tennessee.

They are the third preseason top 10 team to fall out of the poll, joining Texas (this week) and Tennessee (last week). Before this year, only 10 preseason top 10 teams had fallen out of the rankings at some point during the year since the AP Top 25 became a writers’ poll in 1994-95.

Even more rare has been a preseason top five school dropping out. Only five teams had done that prior to this year and none before January. Tennessee was the last to do it, starting the 2015-16 season at No. 4 before falling out of the rankings Feb. 22.

Now Texas and Tennessee are both out before the New Year.

“Two factors are at play here. One of them is more parity with more good teams,” said Rebecca Lobo, the former UConn star, ESPN analyst and Top 25 voter. “The other factor at play is the transfer portal. I think those three teams all have multiple players who start who weren’t in their program a year ago. It’s a reflection that you can’t just assemble teams and right away expect them to be good. I think all those teams will in the poll by the end of the season.”

Ohio State moved up to No. 3 after, the Buckeyes’ best ranking since Nov. 30, 2009, when they also were third. Indiana and Notre Dame round out the top five.

UConn fell three spots to sixth with Virginia Tech, North Carolina, N.C. State and Iowa State finishing off the top 10 teams. The No. 7 ranking for the Hokies is the best ever for the school.

RANKED RAZORBACKS

Arkansas (10-0) vaulted into the poll at No. 21. The Razorbacks have a difficult month ahead with games against No. 18 Creighton and a tournament in San Diego that has Oregon, South Florida and Ohio State.

“I do think we know a lot about our team,” Arkansas coach Mike Neighbors said.

He was also happy his team made the poll as every sports team on campus that has played this year has been ranked, including football, men’s basketball, soccer and cross country.

“We didn’t want to be the team that stops that streak,” he said.

FALLING LOUISVILLE

The Cardinals had been ranked every week since Jan. 11, 2016. That was the same season they started the year at No. 8 before falling out on Nov. 30, the earliest a top 10 team had fallen out of the poll until last week. Things got better for Louisville as the Cardinals finished that regular season 24-6 and went 15-1 in the ACC.

HISTORIC WEEK

With Louisville, Texas and Tennessee all out of the Top 25, it marks only the second time in the poll’s history that none of those three teams were ranked. The only other time was the first-ever poll in 1976.

COMING AND GOING

Oklahoma and Kansas State also returned to the Top 25 this week, coming in at No. 23 and No. 24. Marquette dropped out after losing to Seton Hall.

THE TOP 25

1. South Carolina (29 first-place votes) 8-0

2. Stanford 10-1

3. Ohio St. 8-0

4. Indiana 9-0

5. Notre Dame 7-1

6. UConn 6-1

7. Virginia Tech 8-0

8. NC State 7-1

8. North Carolina 6-1

10. Iowa St. 6-1

11. LSU 9-0

12. Arizona 7-0

13. UCLA 8-1

14. Michigan 9-0

15. Utah 7-0

16. Iowa 6-3

17. Oregon 6-1

18. Creighton 7-1

19. Baylor 6-2

20. Maryland 7-3

21. Arkansas 10-0

22. Gonzaga 7-2

23. Oklahoma 7-1

24. Kansas St. 8-1

25. Villanova 7-2

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Playing without a numbing agent but with an extra pad on his separated left shoulder, Bears quarterback Justin Fields felt fine Sunday — except for one play.

On David Montgomery’s seven-yard touchdown run in the second quarter, Fields jumped in the air and collided with 6-3, 314-pound defensive lineman Kenny Clark in the end zone.

“Shoulder held up pretty good,” Fields said.

It showed. Breaking down Fields’ day, from the thrill of another touchdown run to the pain of a game-changing interception against the rival Packers:

The run

With about three minutes left in the first quarter, Fields took a shotgun snap and faked a handoff, correctly reading that linebacker Kingsley Enagbare was crashing down toward Montgomery. The Packers hadn’t played the read-option so aggressively earlier — but Fields was ready for it.

Fields kept the ball and ran right, where blitzing nickel cornerback Keisean Nixon was waiting for him. Fields planted his right foot near the right hash at the 39-yard line and cut upfield, leaving Nixon to slip to the ground.

No one touched Fields as he sprinted up the right hash. By the time he got to the Packers’ 32, he’d run past every player in their defensive backfield. When he got to the end zone for a 55-yard touchdown, Fields became the first quarterback since at least 1924 to run for three or more 50-plus-yard touchdowns in one season.

“His legs are crazy,” left tackle Braxton Jones said. “It’s awesome. I wasn’t surprised at all. It’s nice to run down there, kick the extra point and go back to the bench.”

Amazingly, Fields said he “felt like I was moving slower than my top speed” during the run. NFL Next Gen Stats, though, said he hit 20.15 mph, marking the eighth time he’d surpassed 20 mph this season. No player since 2018 has as many such games.

“I like to hit 21, 21.5, or something like that,” Fields said playfully. “So I got to do some extra sprints or something.”

The throw

Head coach Matt Eberflus’ favorite throw of the day wasn’t the 56-yarder to Equanimeous St. Brown on the 49-yarder to N’Keal Harry.

Rather, it was a third-and-10 pass to tight end Cole Kmet with 7:14 to play in the third quarter.

Standing in the shotgun at his own 43 with two receivers split right and another left, Fields motioned Kmet from right to left. At the snap, the tight end chipped Enagbare before Jones blocked him, and ran into the left flat.

Montgomery blocked a blitzer. Fields stepped up in the pocket and stopped at the 39, where Enagbare had doubled back and threatened to sack him. Fields looked left and with, Enagbare jumping with two hands in the air, threw to Kmet along the sideline for 24 yards.

“Saw him late on the sideline, just chilling over there by himself,” Fields said. “So I got that ball out and we were able to convert.”

That’s an important step in Fields’ development. His running prowess is undeniable. He throws an accurate deep ball. But to shift in the pocket, go through his progressions and find the open man — all with a hand in his face — is progress.

“Went out for his first, second read, kept his eyes down field and threw it down there,” Eberflus said. “That was really good.”

The pick

One of the overriding questions of the Bears’ offseason was whether one of the league’s least impressive receiving groups would hurt Fields’ development. It did Sunday, when a “trust throw” turned into a disaster.

The Bears had first-and-10 at the Packers’ 43 with 2:57 to play. Down one, they were in the driver’s seat, needing only a field goal to take a lead.

Fields dropped back and threw a dig route to St. Brown up the left seam. It’s an anticipation throw — Fields needs to fire the ball and trust that St. Brown would hit the brakes and turn right in time for the ball to arrive.

St. Brown was slow in getting out of his break. Cornerback Jaire Alexander, who’d been beaten deep earlier in the game, jumped the route for an interception.

St. Brown left the locker room before media was allowed in. Both Eberflus and Fields said the receiver needed to do a better job coming back for the ball — if for no other reason, to knock It down for an incompletion.

“It was unfortunate,” Eberflus said.

The play calling

About 30 seconds into the fourth quarter, Fields looked left for receiver N’Keal Harry, who’d run a hitch.

“[Alexander] was sitting on it, trying to jump it,” Fields said.

He moved onto his next read. Feeling pressure, he pirouetted and rolled left. Harry took off deep and Fields lofted a pass. Harry leaped and caught it for 49 yards.

“I already knew it was a catch because he’s probably the one of the best jump ball guys that we have on our team … ” Fields said. “Of course, he made a hell of a catch.”

Fields wouldn’t have another chance to throw deep on that drive. On first down from the Packers’ 28, Fields checked down to Montgomery for a two-yard loss. On second down, Montgomery ran for seven.

On third-and-5, the Bears, surprisingly, handed off — and Montgomery gained only one. He ran behind right guard Teven Jenkins, who was pulling left. Packers defensive lineman Devonte Wyatt shed the block quickly, though, and made the tackle.

The Bears then had a 40-yard field goal blocked.

The play-calling to end the drive was suspect. Fields was asked whether he was frustrated he didn’t get another opportunity for a big play after finding Harry; his answer instead cast blame on Montgomery for the third-down run.

“We just got to execute it,” he said. “I don’t think the running back did the completely right track. Of course, he hit right hole, but I think he just has to hit that harder.”

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Hoity-toity, pedantic or snooty.

Right or wrong, these stereotypes are sometimes associated with classical-music programming on the radio. And it’s just such perceptions — or misperceptions — that the hosts of “Sounds Classical,” a new Friday evening program on WFMT-FM (98.7) beginning Dec. 9, want to dispel.

The show, featuring Kristina Lynn, 31, and LaRob K. Rafael, 29, is meant to offer a fresh, down-to-earth and, yes, fun, approach to classical music at the same time as it expands the very idea of what the genre can be.

“I think we can all agree,” Lynn said, “that sometimes, if you’re not in the classical-music world, it can seem hard to reach or unapproachable in certain ways. You associate it with these grand music halls, these intellectual things and these bigger-than-life composers who are sometimes not very relatable.”

Rather than focusing on Beethoven’s life span or the number of Mozart piano concertos, Rafael wants to explore the emotional aspects of classical music: “How do we feel when we hear this piece? Why do we like playing this piece on the radio? What does it evoke?”

In conceiving a new show for WFMT, said General Manager George Preston, the station wanted to present classical music from a younger perspective and provide more exposure for some of the station’s newer in-house talent.

“Over the past few years,” Preston said, “we’ve been broadening our play list at WFMT to be very inclusive, and we thought this would be a great opportunity to sort of help classical presentation on the radio evolve into the 21st century.”

Station leaders picked the 8 p.m. time slot on Fridays for the new hourlong program in part because of the station’s solid ratings at that time. In addition, listeners tend to engage more closely with its content in the evenings than the during the day, when WFMT’s programming sometimes serves as background to other activities.

Lynn and Rafael emerged as ideal choices as the hosts, Preston said, because they are “super-creative” and classically trained musicians — Lynn a trumpeter and Rafael a singer — and because of their “wonderful chemistry” and curious minds.

Both joined WFMT’s announcing team in 2020. Lynn is also the station’s operations manager, and Rafael serves as founder and artistic director of Hearing in Color, a Chicago organization devoted to sharing music and composers who have been historically excluded.

Though the two attended DePaul University at the same time, they met at WMFT. They didn’t have a chance to really get to know each other until they began working on the show, and from their first minutes in the studio together, their personalities clicked.

“We get along very well,” Lynn said. “We have fun talking about music. We’re laughing. He’s a singer, so he’s singing the music. We’re getting emotional, and I think that dynamic between us is really exciting. It’s different than what you normally hear on WFMT. We don’t have a lot of co-hosted things at all, so it’s really nice to hear our dynamic together.”

When they begin an installment of the show, the two hosts have a theme and a general direction they want the discussion to go. “But all of the reactions to the music or the spur-of-the-moment conversation just happen organically, and that’s what I really like,” Rafael said.

In addition to music and their own conversations, the two plan to incorporate interviews with local artists and national figures. They have finished the first two installments of the show and are working on programs for the rest of the year, including one that looks at the best of 2022.

A focus of “Sounds Classical” is asking what “classical music” means in the 21st century and examining how the genre’s boundaries continue to bend and expand. The two dive right into that topic in the Dec. 9 episode with music by such past and present composers as Michael Abels, Ludwig van Beethoven, Carlos Gesualdo and Max Richter.

“It’s actually really hard to nail down an answer to that in today’s world, at least,” Lynn said. “That’s what we discovered. Is it a very Euro-centric perspective? It is just Western music? Is it just notated music or orchestral music? We want to include other voices than just what we have always learned about.”

A theme Rafael hopes to examine, for example, is the influence of hip-hop on classical music and vice versa. “There are shockingly so many references to classical music in hip-hop,” he said, “so I’m excited to talk to experts about how people decide to sample music. Why do they choose strings? Why do they choose orchestral arrangements and what that adds?”

While WFMT is constantly updating its musical repertory and presenting varied short-run series and specials, an inaugural show like “Sounds Classical” is a rarity.

“It doesn’t happen all that often, to be honest,” Preston said. “To have a new, weekly hourlong program, it’s a pretty big deal.”

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