Alabama No. 1 in Top 25 poll for 1st time in 20 years
Alabama is the new No. 1, rising to the top spot in The Associated Press Top 25 men’s college basketball poll for the first time in 20 years.
Purdue’s loss to Northwestern last week caused a jumble at the top of the AP Top 25 and that helped the Crimson Tide.
Alabama received 38 firstplace votes from a 62-person media panel Monday, moving up two spots to leapfrog No. 2 Houston. The Cougars had 22 first-place votes to remain at No. 2 and Purdue, down to No. 3, still had two first-place votes.
UCLA and Kansas rounded out the top five. Xavier is No. 16.
Alabama has made a name for itself as more than just a football school since coach Nate Oats arrived from Buffalo in in 2019. The Crimson Tide reached the NCAA Tournament’s Elite Eight two years ago and Oats pulled in one of the nation’s best recruiting classes last year.
Alabama is No. 1 for the first time since spending two weeks atop the poll midway through the 2002-03 season. Alabama (22-3, 12-0 Southeastern Conference) beat Auburn and Florida last week, with its only loss since mid-December coming at Oklahoma in a nonconference game on Jan. 28.
“Our team is playing good basketball right now,” Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said after a 77-69 loss to the Crimson Tide on Saturday. “We’re playing well. We’re just not playing well enough to beat the best team in the country.”
Bouncing Boilermakers
Purdue managed to remain at No. 1 last week despite losing to No. 14 Indiana. The Boilermakers weren’t so fortunate after a 64-58 loss to Northwestern on Sunday.
The Wildcats swarmed 7-foot-4 Purdue center Zach Edey, who had 24 points but committed six turnovers. The Boilermakers shot 36% from the field and missed their final 13 shots from 3-point range.
“Just got to show more poise and toughness than we did,” Purdue coach Matt Painter said.
Women’s poll: UNLV ranked for first time in 29 years; South Carolina still No. 1
UNLV coach Lindy La Rocque was 4 years old the last time the Lady Rebels were ranked in The Associated Press Top 25 women’s basketball poll.
Now the Las Vegas native has the team back in the Top 25 for the first time since 1994: UNLV entered the poll at No. 23 on Monday.
South Carolina earned the No. 1 ranking for the 34th consecutive week. That is tied for the third-longest run atop the poll with UConn. Only the Huskies (51 weeks) and Louisiana Tech (36) have had longer streaks at No. 1.
The Gamecocks (25-0), who were again a unanimous choice from the 28-member national media panel, routed then-No. 3 LSU on Sunday in a showdown of unbeaten teams. The Tigers fell to fifth.
Indiana, Stanford and Utah were behind South Carolina. It’s the best ranking in school history for the Utes, who moved up three places this week.
UConn dropped two spots to sixth after falling at Marquette, giving the Huskies their first losing streak in 30 years. Iowa fell two places to seventh after losing to Indiana.
Maryland, Duke and Notre Dame rounded out the top 10.
Ohio State is No. 13.