Porterville Recorder

NCAA

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to a first-half shoulder injury.

They had to make a wild comeback from 23 down in the final 10 minutes against Louisville last week to get back to No. 1 this time, just in time for their rivalry game against No. 8 North Carolina on Wednesday.

THE TOP TIER Gonzaga (25-2) earned the remaining six firstplace votes and moved up a spot to No. 2, followed by Virginia and coach John Calipari's Wildcats — who have made a long climb back after falling from No. 2 following the Duke loss to as low as No. 19 in mid-december.

Nevada, Michigan, UNC, Houston and Michigan State rounded out the top 10.

RISING LSU made the week's biggest jump, climbing six spots to No. 13 after

last week's win at Kentucky. The Tigers (21-4) are tied with Tennessee atop the Southeaste­rn Conference standings and have lost once since mid-december.

Iowa State also made a significan­t jump, rising four spots to No. 19 after beating Big 12-leading Kansas State.

Twelve teams climbed in the rankings this week, though LSU and Iowa State were the only ones that moved more than a spot or two.

SLIDING Kansas State fell five spots to No. 23 for the week's biggest slide. And No. 17 Villanova matched Tennessee's four-spot fall after the reigning national champions lost to St. John's at Madison Square Garden.

In all, eight teams fell in Monday's poll.

STATUS QUO For the first time this season, no new teams joined the Top 25. And five teams stayed in the same spot from the previous poll. CONFERENCE WATCH The Atlantic Coast Conference and the Big Ten took up nearly half the spots in this week's Top 25.

The ACC has six ranked teams in Duke, Virginia, UNC, No. 16 Florida State, No. 18 Louisville and No. 20 Virginia Tech. The Big Ten also has six with Michigan, Michigan State, No. 15 Purdue, No. 21 Iowa, No. 22 Wisconsin and No. 24 Maryland.

The Big 12 had four ranked teams — led by preseason No. 1 and current No. 12 Kansas — the SEC had three and the Big East had two.

 ?? CHRIS SEWARD AP PHOTO BY ?? In this Feb. 16, photo, Duke’s Cam Reddish (2) drives to the hoop against North Carolina State’s Wyatt Walker (33) during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game, in Durham, N.C.
CHRIS SEWARD AP PHOTO BY In this Feb. 16, photo, Duke’s Cam Reddish (2) drives to the hoop against North Carolina State’s Wyatt Walker (33) during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game, in Durham, N.C.

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