Villanova remains No. 1 in rankings

Villanova stayed at No. 1 in an AP Top 25 poll that offered little change at the top.

The top four teams stayed the same in the latest poll, led by the Wildcats (12-0) receiving 43 of 65 first-place votes to stay at No. 1 for the third straight week. Michigan State (12-1) was second and had 16 first-place votes, while third-ranked Arizona State (12-0) had six firstplace votes to stay ahead of No. 4 Duke (12-1).

Those four teams won their six games last week by an average margin of 39.7 points, leaving their coaches to focus on fine-tuning elements of their games before the bulk of conference play takes hold.

Texas A&M (11-1) climbed to fifth, followed by Xavier, West Virginia, Wichita State, Virginia and TCU to round out the top 10. Those teams all climbed between three and five spots. Miami 84, Middle Tennessee 81: Dewan Huell scored 21 points, Bruce Brown Jr. had 20 as the Hurricanes (11-1) beat the Blue Raiders (8-4) in the third-place game in the Diamond Head Classic in Honolulu. Miami rebounded from a loss to New Mexico State in Saturday’s semifinals. USC 77, New Mexico State 72: Bennie Boatwright, a 6-foot-10 junior, drained a long three-pointer with 4.1 seconds left as the Trojans (9-4) scored the last nine points to beat the Aggies (11-3) in the title game of the Diamond Head Classic. Landale honored: St. Mary’s center Jock Landale was named WCC Player of the Week. The Gaels went 2-0 as Landale totaled 37 points with 21 rebounds in wins over Dayton and North Carolina Asheville.