Associated Press Poll is out

JIM O'CONNELL
AP Basketball Writer

Illinois was a unanimous No. 1 in The Associated Press' college basketball poll for the third straight week Monday, while Charlotte moved into the Top 25 for the first time in six years.

The Fighting Illini (25-0) beat Michigan and Wisconsin last week to remain the only unbeaten team in Division I. Illinois received all 72 first-place votes from the national media panel to stay No. 1 for the 11th consecutive week.

Kansas (20-1) moved up one place to get back to No. 2, a spot it held for nine straight weeks before losing at Villanova. The Jayhawks dropped to sixth after their only loss and were third the past two weeks.

Kentucky (19-2) jumped from fifth to third and North Carolina (20-3), which lost at Duke and won at Connecticut last week, dropped from second to fourth.

Charlotte (17-4) moved into the rankings at No. 23 after five wins in its last six games, the only loss at East Carolina. The 49ers' other losses were to Rutgers, Alabama in triple overtime and Cincinnati.

The last time Charlotte was ranked came in the final week of the 1998-99 season when it was 24th.

Wake Forest moved up one place to fifth and was followed by Boston College, Duke, Oklahoma State, Syracuse and Arizona.

Michigan State jumped from 13th to No. 11 and then came Louisville, Gonzaga, Utah, Washington, Alabama, Pittsburgh, Connecticut, Pacific and Wisconsin.

The last five ranked teams were Oklahoma, Maryland, Charlotte, Cincinnati and Villanova.

Maryland, which beat Duke on Saturday night to become the first Atlantic Coast Conference team to sweep the regular season series from the Blue Devils in 10 years, moved back in at 22nd after a week out of the rankings.

The Terrapins (15-7), who were ranked as high as 12th this season, were out of the Top 25 four of the previous five weeks as they lost five of nine.

Texas (16-7), which was ranked as high as No. 10 this season, fell out of the Top 25 for the first time this season. The Longhorns had lost three straight and four of five before beating Kansas State at home in overtime on Saturday.

Texas Tech (15-6) broke into the Top 25 for the first time this season last week, but the Red Raiders fell out from 25th after losing at Iowa State on Saturday.

Pacific (20-2) entered the AP rankings for the first time in school history last week and the Tigers moved from 24th to 19th with wins over Idaho and Utah State, stretching their winning streak to 16 games.

While Pacific's jump was the best of the week, Oklahoma had the biggest fall - from 16th to 21st after losses to Oklahoma State and Missouri.

Illinois has two road games this week - Penn State on Wednesday and Iowa on Saturday - as it chases a perfect regular season.

There are four games between ranked teams this week: Pittsburgh at Syracuse on Monday; Syracuse at Boston College on Saturday; and Pittsburgh at Villanova and Wake Forest at Duke on Sunday.


The top 25 teams in The Associated Press' men's college basketball poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through Feb. 13, total points based on 25 points for a first-place vote through one point for a 25th-place vote and last week's ranking:
Record Pts Pvs
1. Illinois (72) 25-0 1,800 1
2. Kansas 20-1 1,710 3
3. Kentucky 19-2 1,592 5
4. North Carolina 20-3 1,576 2
5. Wake Forest 21-3 1,553 6
6. Boston College 20-1 1,365 4
7. Duke 18-3 1,348 7
8. Oklahoma St. 19-3 1,329 10
9. Syracuse 22-3 1,219 8
10. Arizona 21-4 1,140 12
11. Michigan St. 17-4 1,008 13
12. Louisville 21-4 965 9
13. Gonzaga 19-4 889 14
14. Utah 21-3 827 15
15. Washington 20-4 811 11
16. Alabama 19-4 737 17
17. Pittsburgh 17-4 717 18
18. Connecticut 15-6 602 19
19. Pacific 20-2 360 24
20. Wisconsin 16-6 342 20
21. Oklahoma 17-6 263 16
22. Maryland 15-7 231 _
23. Charlotte 17-4 225 _
24. Cincinnati 18-6 130 21
25. Villanova 14-6 118 22
Others receiving votes: Florida 105, Georgetown 48, Texas 46, Texas Tech 46, DePaul 45, Old Dominion 44, Mississippi St. 33, Nevada 29, Notre Dame 28, Georgia Tech 27, S. Illinois 21, Wichita St. 21, Vermont 19, Memphis 7, Wis.-Milwaukee 7, Miami 6, George Washington 5, St. Mary's, Cal. 2, Texas A&M 2, Holy Cross 1, Minnesota 1.

Call me crazy but i don't think Illinois should be number1 in the poll.here why Illinois should not be number in the poll.they have only 5big wins. out of this 4Big wins.They have one Huge win at WAKE.The other 4wins are not so huge as the Wake win becuase they this win are comeing from the Big 10.And i must say the Big10 is very week this year.Is Illinois 25-0 you can't that away from then.But i bet if you Move UNC or Duke or Wake to Big 10 move of this team out of the ACC and move Illinois to ACC Illinois would not be 25-0.but UNC Wake or Duke would be 25-0 in the Big10

 

I won't call you crazy for that. Big10, Big 12, and SEC all suck this year. Not hard to have a good record in those conferences. Big East and ACC are impressive and the top teams in those leagues are picking each other off.

 

Dukie so funny, in a spastic colon kind of way.....

 

I will take the win in the head to head match up over a higher ranking any time.

 

Remember you said that when it comes time for you to bitch about NCAA Tourny seeds.

 

UNC > Duke. Alll is right in the world.

 

save a bullet for me

 

Kansas will fall, just lost to Texas Tech last night. This is the time for Duke to move up in the polls with VT away and then a big game against Wake at Cameron. Knowing Maryland they will get crushed by another unranked opponent. That is a weird team

 

Kentucky is the most overrated team in the country. If you can't beat my school by 10 points at your own home, then you should be knocked out of the top 10. We are terrible, and shouldn't win another game. Think UNC's 8 win season but even worse.