With Purdue loss, Alabama at No. 1

School first to reach top spot in football, hoops since Ohio St.

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 on Sunday caused a jumble at the top of the AP Top 25 and that helped the Crimson Tide.

Alabama received 38 first-place 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 firstplace votes.

UCLA and Kansas rounded out the top five.

Alabama has made a name for itself as more than just a football school since coach Nate Oats arrived from Buffalo 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 200203 season.

It also is the first school to be No. 1 in the AP football and basketball polls in the same season since Ohio State in 2010-11.

Women

UNLV coach Lindy La Rocque was 4 years old the last time the Lady Rebels were ranked in the AP 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 Monday at No. 23.

South Carolina earned the No. 1 ranking for the 34th consecutive week. That is tied for the thirdlongest 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 28member 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, Maryland, Duke and Notre Dame finish the top 10.

Note: Former Michigan State star Keith Appling, 31, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and a firearm charge in the fatal 2021 shooting of a Detroit man. Appling’s plea agreement calls for 18 to 40 years in prison on the second-degree murder charge and two years on the firearm charge. Sentencing is March 3.