Two big Kansas wins buoyed the Jayhawks to No. 12 in The Associated Press poll this week, the highest the team has been in the poll since Jan. 19.
Kansas (15-4) defeated Missouri on Feb. 2, 65-56, and defeated Texas Tech on Saturday, 96-77. The Jayhawks face the 10th-ranked Oklahoma State Cowboys tonight at 8 p.m. in Stillwater, Okla.
Other ranked Big 12 teams included No. 11 Texas (16-3) and No. 18 Texas Tech (17-5). Oklahoma also received votes in Monday’s poll.
Duke, Stanford and Saint Joseph’s held the top three spots in the poll for the fourth straight week. Pittsburgh and Connecticut, who meet Sunday, were fourth and fifth, respectively, for a second consecutive week.
Mississippi State moved up one place to sixth, the Bulldogs’ highest ranking since they were No. 6 in the final poll of the 1962-63 season.
North Carolina State and Southern Illinois were the week’s newcomers. Southern Illinois came in at No. 23, the Salukis’ second appearance ever in the Top 25. They were ranked for three weeks in December 1976.
Duke (20-1), which beat North Carolina and Clemson last week, received 43 first-place votes and 1,765 points from the national media panel.
Stanford and Saint Joseph’s — the only unbeaten teams remaining in Division I — both won two games last week to get to 20-0. The Cardinal, who swept Arizona State and Arizona, the latter on a 35-footer by Nick Robinson at the buzzer, were No. 1 on 27 ballots and had 1,753 points, 94 more than Saint Joseph’s.
The Hawks, who beat Villanova and La Salle last week, received the other two first-place votes.
Pittsburgh, Connecticut and Mississippi State were followed in the Top Ten by Gonzaga, Kentucky, Louisville and Oklahoma State.
Texas was 11th for the second straight week and was followed by Kansas, Cincinnati, North Carolina, Georgia Tech, Arizona, Wisconsin, Texas Tech, Utah State and Wake Forest.
The last five ranked teams were North Carolina State, Florida, Southern Illinois, Providence and South Carolina.
Syracuse and Oklahoma, both ranked every week this season, fell out of the Top 25.
The Orangemen (14-5) were No. 18 last week, but the defending national champions lost to Connecticut and Providence and have four losses in the last five games. Syracuse was No. 7 in the preseason poll.
Oklahoma (14-5) lost 66-37 to Texas on Sunday, its lowest point total since 1955. The Sooners, who were ranked as high as No. 6 this season, had won four straight after losing four in a row. They were ranked in 45 consecutive polls since Dec. 10, 2001. Duke has the longest current streak of consecutive polls at 142.
North Carolina State (14-5) was ranked 24th in the preseason poll and was in the Top 25 for the first two weeks of the regular season before falling out. The Wolfpack come back into the poll having won four of their last five with the only loss by two points at North Carolina.
Southern Illinois (18-2) returned to the poll for the first time since the days of future NBA player Mike Glenn having won 10 straight games. The Salukis, 12-0 in the Missouri Valley Conference, lost to Murray State and Charlotte.
| 1. Duke (43) | 20-1 | 1,765 | 1 | |
| 2. Stanford (27) | 20-0 | 1,753 | 2 | |
| 3. Saint Joseph’s (2) | 20-0 | 1,659 | 3 | |
| 4. Pittsburgh | 22-1 | 1,502 | 4 | |
| 5. Connecticut | 19-3 | 1,499 | 5 | |
| 6. Mississippi St. | 19-1 | 1,405 | 7 | |
| 7. Gonzaga | 19-2 | 1,392 | 8 | |
| 8. Kentucky | 16-3 | 1,281 | 9 | |
| 9. Louisville | 17-3 | 1,189 | 6 | |
| 10. Oklahoma St. | 17-2 | 1,166 | 13 | |
| 11. Texas | 16-3 | 1,156 | 11 | |
| 12. Kansas | 15-4 | 879 | 20 | |
| 13. Cincinnati | 16-3 | 846 | 10 | |
| 14. North Carolina | 14-6 | 723 | 17 | |
| 15. Georgia Tech | 17-5 | 705 | 15 | |
| 16. Arizona | 14-6 | 667 | 12 | |
| 17. Wisconsin | 15-4 | 646 | 14 | |
| 18. Texas Tech | 17-5 | 415 | 19 | |
| 19. Utah St. | 19-1 | 349 | 24 | |
| 20. Wake Forest | 13-6 | 333 | 16 | |
| 21. N.C. State | 14-5 | 327 | — | |
| 22. Florida | 14-6 | 294 | 21 | |
| 23. S. Illinois | 18-2 | 219 | — | |
| 24. Providence | 15-5 | 215 | 23 | |
| 25. South Carolina | 19-4 | 200 | 25 | |
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Others receiving votes: Syracuse 187, Memphis 71, Air Force 62, Seton Hall 55, Dayton 54, Oklahoma 46, Michigan St. 42, LSU 41, Florida St. 40, Illinois 40, Charlotte 39, W. Michigan 33, Vanderbilt 24, Hawaii 23, Marquette 14, Maryland 14, Kent St. 12, UTEP 7, Creighton 5, Boston U. 4, Vermont 2.
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