Polls don’t lie
Uconn earns program’s first unanimous No. 1
The Uconn men’s basketball program has separated itself from the rest of college basketball.
The reigning national champions earned what the Associated Press believes is the program’s first-ever unanimous No. 1 ranking in the AP Top 25 poll on Monday. Uconn (24-2, 14-1 Big East) has been atop the poll for six consecutive weeks, its longest stretch as No. 1 since the 1998-99 season.
The Huskies split first-place votes with Purdue since they claimed the top spot in the Jan. 15 poll. But after Saturday’s 28-point rout of No. 4 Marquette and the Boilermakers’ loss to unranked Ohio State on Sunday, all 62 voters agreed on Uconn.
Uconn, No. 4 in the NET and No. 2 on Kenpom, was also unanimously selected No. 1 in Monday’s USA Today Coaches Poll.
Keepers of the nation’s longest winning streak (14 games), tied for the longest-ever in Big East play, head coach Dan Hurley and the Huskies are currently favorites to become the first back-toback national champions since Florida in 2006-07.
Purdue (23-3) dropped to No. 3 with Houston moving up to No. 2, after a big win over Texas. Arizona moved up a spot to No. 4 and Tennessee jumped three spots to round out the top five.
The Big East had three teams ranked for the eighth consecutive week, with Marquette dropping to No. 7 and Creighton moving up to No. 15. Uconn will meet the Bluejays in Omaha on Tuesday in search of its first road win over a top 25 opponent in more than 10 years (Jan. 16, 2014 at Memphis).
Castle, Spencer repeat with Big East honors:
For a Uconn-record eighth time this season and the seventh time in the last eight weeks, touted freshman Stephon Castle was named Big East Freshman of the Week, the league announced Monday. Graduate student Cam Spencer was also recognized to the conference’s weekly honor roll for the second straight time.
Highlighted by his 15 points and six assists against Depaul, Castle averaged nine points, 4.5 assists and 3.5 rebounds over a 2-0 week for the Huskies. He leads all Big East freshmen in points (10.8), rebounds (4.4) and assists (3.2) on the season.
Spencer averaged 14 points and 5.5 rebounds on 50% shooting for the week. Earning his second honor roll nod of the season, the Rutgers transfer leads the Huskies in scoring (15.2 points per game) and his 44.3% clip from 3-point range ranks third in the nation.