Virginia is now the unquestioned No. 1 in the AP Top 25.

The Cavaliers earned all 65 first-place votes in Monday’s poll after finishing four games ahead of the field in the Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season race. This was Virginia’s fourth straight week at No. 1, with the Cavaliers acquiring more first-place votes each time until claiming them all this week.

Virginia joined fellow ACC team Duke as teams to be unanimous No. 1 in the AP Top 25 this season.

The Cavaliers (28-2, 17-1 ACC) open ACC tournament play in Thursday’s quarterfinals with a chance to sweep the league regular-season and tournament titles for the second time in five seasons.

Beard gets new deal: Big 12 runner-up Texas Tech gave coach Chris Beard a new $19 million contract that goes through the 2023-24 season.

No. 14 Texas Tech goes into this week’s Big 12 tournament as the No. 2 seed with a 23-8 overall record. The 23 wins already match the most for the Red Raiders since they went 30-2 in the 1995-96 season.

Beard is 41-22 at Texas Tech since replacing Tubby Smith two years ago.

Automatic bids: Roland Griffin scored a career-high 29 points to help Iona earn its third straight NCAA tournament berth with a 83-71 win over Fairfield in the Metro Atlantic tournament final in Albany, N.Y. ... Demetrius Troy and Jordy Kuiper each scored 13 points to lead UNC Greensboro to a 62-47 win over East Tennessee State in the Southern tournament final in Asheville, N.C. The Spartans last played in the NCAA tournament in 2001.

Layups: Arizona C Deandre Ayton was named Pac-12 player of the year and freshman of the year. Ayton, who averaged 19.9 points and 11.4 rebounds in 31 regular-season games, is the just the third player in conference history to do so. ... Freshman G Mark Smith will transfer from Illinois. Smith averaged 5.8 points per game. News services