Stanford and Duke remained 1-2 in The Associated Press college
basketball poll for the fourth straight week Monday, but there's a
new No. 3.
Defending champion Michigan State, which lost to Ohio State on
Saturday, dropped from third to fifth, with Kansas and North
Carolina each moving up one place to third and fourth.
There were a number of changes in the rankings following a week
in which half the Top Ten lost at least one game and six other
ranked teams also lost.
Arizona and Wisconsin had the week's biggest jumps, five places
to seventh and 10th, respectively, while Wake Forest, which lost to
Duke and Cincinnati last week, fell seven places to 16th. For the
Badgers, it's their first Top Ten ranking since they were seventh
on Dec. 11, 1962.
Three teams -- Mississippi, Texas and Connecticut - dropped out
of the rankings, while Notre Dame, Oklahoma and Georgia were the
week's newcomers.
Stanford (19-0), still the lone unbeaten team in Division I
after sweeping the Washington schools in the Pac-10 last week,
received 65 first-place votes and 1,745 points from the national
media panel.
Duke (19-1), which beat then-No. 9 Wake Forest and then-No. 8
Maryland last week, was No. 1 on five ballots and had 1,683 points.
The Blue Devils will cap their three-game streak against Top Ten
teams when they play host to North Carolina on Thursday night.
Illinois moved up one spot to sixth and was followed in the Top
Ten by Arizona, Tennessee, Maryland and Wisconsin.
Virginia moved up two places to lead the Second Ten and was
followed by Syracuse, Florida, Georgetown, Iowa State, Wake Forest,
Alabama, Iowa, Fresno State and Boston College.
The last five ranked teams were Southern California, Seton Hall,
Notre Dame, Oklahoma and Georgia.
Notre Dame (13-5), which beat Syracuse and Georgetown last week
to run its winning streak to four in a row, moved back into the
rankings after being out for two weeks.
Oklahoma (15-4) was only out for one week before re-entering
with wins last week over Texas and Nebraska.
Georgia (13-7) stretched its winning streak to six straight with
wins last week over Vanderbilt and Tennessee, the latter in double
overtime and the third win over a ranked team in that span.
The Bulldogs were last in the Top 25 on Dec. 15, 1997, the first
of two seasons under coach Ron Jirsa, who succeeded Tubby Smith.
Jim Harrick replaced Jirsa and went 10-20 last season and wasn't
expected to have the Bulldogs back on the national scene this
quickly.
Mississippi (15-4) was the highest ranked of the three teams
that fell out of the poll, dropping from 19th after losing to
Mississippi State in its only game last week. The Rebels were
ranked for seven straight weeks with No. 19 its highest placing.
Texas (15-5) lost two games last week -- 75-68 to Oklahoma and
80-52 to Arizona -- and fell out from 20th. The Longhorns had
returned to the poll last week after a one-week absence.
Connecticut (13-6) lost its only game last week to Villanova,
extending the Huskies' losing streak to four games. The drop from
24th ended Connecticut's run of 67 consecutive poll appearances, a
streak dating to the preseason poll of the 1997-98 season.
Arizona has the longest current streak of consecutive polls at
102, dating to the preseason poll of 1995-96. Stanford and Duke are
tied for second at 85, a run that started with the preseason poll
of the next season.
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