Lady Vols fall out of AP Top 25 rankings
NEW YORK — Tennessee fell out of The Associated Press women’s basketball poll for the third time in the past four years Monday.
The Lady Vols, who are in the midst of their longest losing streak since 1970, saw their run of 31 years being ranked end in 2016.
Tennessee re-entered the Top 25 at the start of the next season before dropping out in the first week of December that season. They came back in the poll on Feb. 6, 2017, and had been ranked ever week since until Monday.
Utah earned its first appearance in the poll in a decade entering at No. 21.
The Utes (16-1) last were ranked in the final poll of the 2008 season. They were one of four teams to enter the Top 25 after 13 ranked teams lost last week. Utah was joined by Florida State at 22, Texas A&M at 24 and Missouri at 25.
While there was change at the bottom of the poll, the top eight teams stayed virtually the same with Notre Dame leading the way. The Fighting Irish received 22 first-place votes from the 30-member national media panel. Baylor broke a tie with UConn for second, garnering seven top ballots. The Huskies got the other one and dropped to third. Louisville and Oregon rounded out the first five teams in the poll.
Stanford is sixth, followed by Mississippi State, N.C. State, Oregon State and Marquette. It’s the first time that the Golden Eagles have ever been ranked this high.
Tennessee dropped out of the poll after losing its fourth straight game last week. Minnesota, DePaul and Indiana also fell out of the Top 25.
Men’s poll
Top-ranked Duke went down early in the week. No. 2 Michigan and No. 4 Virginia, the last of Division I’s unbeaten teams, both fell over the weekend. In all, six top-10 teams lost.
Tennessee kept rolling amid chaos across the AP Top 25.
The Vols (16-1, 5-0) are the new No. 1 in The Associated Press men’s college basketball poll on Monday, climbing three spots to earn their first top ranking since the 2007-08 season.
Tennessee received 48 of 64 first-place votes from a media panel in the poll released Monday, well ahead of No. 2 Duke with 11. No. 3 Virginia received three first-place votes and No. 6 Michigan State two. Gonzaga and Michigan rounded out the top five.
The changes in the AP Top 25 came quickly after a wild week.
Duke started by losing to Syracuse in overtime at Cameron Indoor Stadium. The Blue Devils played without a sick Cam Reddish and lost point guard Tre Jones to a shoulder injury in the first half.
Reddish returned against Virginia on Saturday and Duke responded with a superb game, knocking Virginia from the unbeaten ranks with a 72-70 victory despite playing without Jones.
Michigan lost to Wisconsin by 10, also on Saturday, leaving the 1976 Indiana Hoosiers as the last Division I team to go undefeated.
No. 7 Kansas, No. 8 Texas Tech and No. 9 Virginia Tech also lost. The Jayhawks fell two spots after losing to West Virginia. The Red Raiders dropped six spots to No. 14 after losses to Iowa State and Baylor.