UVA drops out of AP Top 25
JMU remains No. 22 as Purdue rises to top
James Madison (6-0) held at No. 22 amid some major moves up and down in Monday’s Associated Press men’s basketball poll.
Purdue (6-0) is back at No. 1 after its run to the Maui Invitational title. The Boilermakers beat three teams ranked among the top 11. They replaced preseason No. 1 Kansas, which dropped to fifth after losing to Marquette (5-1) at the Maui tourney.
Arizona (6-0) climbed to second, Marquette was third and UConn (6-0) was fourth.
Villanova, Brigham Young and Colorado State jumped into the top 20, while Virginia, Colorado, Arkansas, Michigan State and
Southern California dropped out of the poll.
The Cavaliers (5-1) were blown out 65-41 by Wisconsin at the Fort Myers Tip-Off in Florida before edging West Virginia 56-54 in the third-place game.
Among ACC teams besides UVA, Duke (5-1) and Miami (5-0) climbed two spots each to seventh and eighth, respectively. North Carolina (5-1) fell three positions to 17th after falling to Villanova at the Battle 4 Atlantis.
In the coaches’ poll, JMU entered at No. 23, while Virginia fell out. The coaches’ top four were exactly the same as the AP’s, as was their ranking of Duke and Miami.
Women
North Carolina State (7-0), whose key players include former All-Tidewater Player of the Year Aziaha James from Princess Anne High, climbed five spots to No. 5 in Monday’s poll after recent victories against Connecticut and Colorado.
Virginia Tech (5-1) stayed put at No. 9 after escaping close calls against Kansas (59-58) and Tulane (76-70) and is the next-highest ACC team behind the Wolfpack.
The other ranked ACC teams were No. 15 Florida State, No. 18 Notre Dame, No. 22 Louisville and No. 24 North Carolina, all of which dropped.
South Carolina remained the unanimous top choice of the 36 voters.
Southern California, led by stellar freshman Juju Watkins, rose to No. 6, its best ranking in 29 years.