Arizona sits at top after chaotic week
It is Arizona’s turn to sit atop The Associated Press Top 25 men’s college basketball poll.
The Wildcats rose to No. 1 in Monday’s poll for the first time in nearly nine years, making Tommy Lloyd’s squad the third team to hold the top spot this season. Last week’s No. 1 team, Purdue, slid after an overtime loss at Northwestern.
Arizona claimed 59 of 63 first-place votes to move up one spot, putting the Wildcats comfortably ahead of preseason No. 1 Kansas. The Jayhawks rose three spots to No. 2 with a win against last season’s NCAA champion, Connecticut.
Arizona hasn’t been No. 1 in the AP Top 25 since an eightweek stint that ended in January 2014 under former coach Sean Miller. Lloyd is in his third season after a long run as an assistant at Gonzaga, and his first two teams each spent multiple weeks inside the top five.
“I know when I came to this program, my dream is to make it one of the best in the country,” Lloyd said of the possible rise to No. 1 after a weekend win against Colgate. “If you’re one of the best in the country, you’re going to stumble into being No. 1 once in a while. So you know what? Handle it. And that’ll be the message.”
It was a busy day for the poll: No team in the Top 25 was in the same spot it was a week ago.
Houston rose three spots to No. 3, while the Boilermakers fell to fourth after the Northwestern loss. UConn slid only one spot to No. 5 after the loss at Kansas, followed by Baylor.
Gonzaga and North Carolina cracked the top 10 for the first time this season.
The Bulldogs jumped four spots to No. 7 after a neutral-court win against USC. The Tar Heels jumped eight spots to No. 9 after beating Tennessee in the ACC/SEC Challenge, followed by a home comeback win against Florida State.
WOMEN
UConn dropped to 17th in The Associated Press Top 25 women’s basketball poll Monday, its worst ranking in 30 years.
The last time the Huskies were ranked this low was the second poll of the 1993-94 season when they were 18th. The drop also ended a 357-week stretch of being ranked in the top 15, which was the second longest in the history of the poll that dates to 1977 (Tennessee, 428 consecutive appearances).
South Carolina remained the unanimous No. 1 choice in voting by 35 members of a national media panel. The Gamecocks swept a pair of games over North Carolina and Duke last week. UCLA, N.C. State, Iowa and Texas rounded out the first five in the poll. The Longhorns jumped up five spots in the poll after beating then-No. 11 UConn.
The one plus for the Huskies, who last weren’t in the top 15 on Jan. 10, 2005, is that their three losses have come to UCLA, North Carolina State and Texas — all now in the top five.
USC, LSU and Colorado followed the Longhorns in the poll. The Tigers saw the return of All-America forward Angel Reese in a win over Virginia Tech in the ACC/SEC Challenge. Reese had missed four games for LSU.
Stanford fell from third to ninth after losing at Gonzaga on Sunday. Tennessee lost to Ohio State and UConn lost on the same day — the first time that the traditional powers Stanford, Tennessee and UConn all lost on the same day since Dec. 29, 2004. The Cardinal now own the longest active streak in the top 15 according to the website “Across the Timeline” with 102 consecutive weeks. Baylor moved up to No. 10. The victory over Stanford propelled Gonzaga into the poll at No. 23. Washington State and Creighton also re-entered the Top 25 this week at Nos. 21 and 22, respectively.