KU jumps two spots in AP poll

By J-W Staff And Wire Reports     Mar 15, 2004

Despite losing to Texas on Saturday, KU jumped two spots to No. 16 in Monday’s Associated Press poll. Illinois-Chicago, KU’s opponent in Friday’s opening round of the NCAA Tournament, is unranked.

Other ranked Big 12 teams are No. 4 Oklahoma State and No. 12 Texas.

Stanford returned to No. 1 Monday for the final AP men’s college basketball poll of the season.

The Cardinal (29-1) had been on top for three weeks before giving way to Saint Joseph’s for one week.

The poll and the NCAA tournament selection committee disagreed on the top teams. Stanford and No. 2 Kentucky were both No. 1 seeds for the upcoming tournament, but the other No. 1s — Saint Joseph’s and Duke — were fifth and sixth, respectively, in the vote of the national media panel.

Gonzaga and Oklahoma State, both No. 2 seeds in the NCAA tournament, were third and fourth in the poll.

Utah State, which was passed over for an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament, finished tied for 25th with Boston College. The Aggies will be the first ranked team since UNLV in 1993 to not participate in the NCAA tournament.

Stanford received 55 first-place votes and 1,771 points, 150 more than Kentucky (26-4), which was No. 1 on nine ballots.

Gonzaga (27-2) had two first-place votes, while Oklahoma State (27-3) had four.

Saint Joseph’s (27-1) dropped from first to fifth after having its shot at a perfect regular season ended with a 20-point loss to Xavier in the Atlantic 10 tournament quarterfinals. The Hawks had one first-place vote.

Duke was sixth, followed by Connecticut (27-6), which had one first-place vote, Mississippi State, Pittsburgh and Wisconsin.

Cincinnati moved up two places to No. 11 and was followed by Texas, Illinois, Georgia Tech, North Carolina State, Kansas, Wake Forest, North Carolina, Maryland and Syracuse.

The last six ranked teams were Providence, Arizona, Southern Illinois, Memphis and the tie between Boston College and Utah State.

The Aggies (25-3) finished tied with Pacific for the Big West regular season title then lost to Cal State-Northridge, which was under .500, in the conference tournament semifinals.

UNLV was 25th in the final poll in 1993 but the Runnin’ Rebels were on probation and could not play in either the NCAA tournament or the NIT. UNLV was in the same situation the previous year, when it was seventh in the final poll.

Maryland (19-11) jumped into the rankings at No. 19 after winning the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament by beating the top three seeds — Duke, North Carolina State and Wake Forest. The Terrapins had been ranked for two weeks earlier in the season.

Boston College (23-9) moved into the rankings for the first time this season after losing to Pittsburgh in the semifinals of the Big East tournament. That loss ended a seven-game winning streak by the Eagles.

Air Force (22-6) was ranked last week for the first time in school history, but the Falcons fell from 25th after losing to Colorado State in the quarterfinals of the Mountain West Conference tournament.

Six teams held the No. 1 ranking this season with preseason choice Connecticut spending the most time there at eight. Duke and Stanford were each on top for four weeks, while Kansas, Florida and Saint Joseph’s were all No. 1 for one week.

Forty-two schools were ranked during the season with Iowa, Creighton, LSU, Air Force and Boston College each making an appearance for just one week.

Fourteen schools were ranked from the preseason poll through the final Top 25 but only Connecticut and Duke spent the entire season in the Top Ten.

The top 25 teams in The Associated Press’ men’s college basketball poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through March 14, total points based on 25 points for a first-place vote through one point for a 25th-place vote and previous ranking:
Record Pt Pv
1. Stanford (55) 29-1 1,771 2
2. Kentucky (9) 26-4 1,621 8
3. Gonzaga (2) 27-2 1,620 3
4. Oklahoma St. (4) 27-3 1,569 7
5. Saint Joseph’s (1) 27-1 1,535 1
6. Duke 27-5 1,472 5
7. Connecticut (1) 27-6 1,397 9
8. Mississippi St. 25-3 1,292 4
9. Pittsburgh 29-4 1,261 6
10. Wisconsin 24-6 1,147 10
11. Cincinnati 24-6 1,018 13
12. Texas 23-7 985 11
13. Illinois 24-6 863 12
14. Georgia Tech 23-9 845 14
15. N.C. State 20-9 680 17
16. Kansas 21-8 629 18
17. Wake Forest 19-9 552 15
18. North Carolina 18-10 518 16
19. Maryland 19-11 421
20. Syracuse 21-7 414 19
21. Providence 20-8 324 20
22. Arizona 20-9 233 21
23. S. Illinois 25-4 183 24
24. Memphis 21-7 143 23
25. Boston College 23-9 106
25. Utah St. 25-3 106 22
Others receiving votes: Florida 96, Washington 87, Xavier 87, DePaul 86, Michigan St. 72, W. Michigan 51, Air Force 29, Nevada 28, Texas Tech 28, Vanderbilt 22, Utah 19, Dayton 18, ETSU 17, Louisville 17, Charlotte 16, Manhattan 6, UTEP 6, UAB 3, Pacific 2, Seton Hall 2, Va. Commonwealth 2, Vermont 1.

KU jumps two spots in AP poll

By J-W Staff Reports     Jan 19, 2004

Wins over Big 12 Conference foes Kansas State and Texas A&M helped KU move from No. 14 to No. 12 in Monday’s Associated Press Top 25 poll.

Losses by then-No. 7 Arizona and No. 11 Oklahoma also helped KU (11-2 overall, 3-0 Big 12). Arizona replaced KU at No. 14, and OU dropped to No. 20, the biggest drop of any team still in the top 25.

There was a lot of movement in the top 10, as Connecticut (No. 1 last week), Kentucky (No. 5), Wake Forest (No. 4) and North Carolina (No. 9) joined Arizona with losses since the last poll. Unlike the other three teams, UNC moved up two spots to No. 7 after topping the Huskies on Saturday.

Duke replaced UCONN as the top-ranked team, followed by Stanford, St. Joseph’s, Connecticut, Louisville, Cincinnati, UNC, Pittsburgh, Kentucky and Wake Forest in the top 10.

No. 16 Texas (11-2), No. 18 Texas Tech (14-2) and No. 24 Oklahoma State (12-2) were the other ranked Big 12 teams.

The top 25 teams in The Associated Press’ men’s college basketball poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through Jan. 18, total points based on 25 points for a first-place vote through one point for a 25th-place vote and previous ranking:
Record Pt Pv
1. Duke (45) 14-1 1,763 2
2. Stanford (24) 14-0 1,733 3
3. Saint Joseph’s (1) 15-0 1,548 6
4. Connecticut 14-2 1,529 1
5. Louisville 13-1 1,443 8
6. Cincinnati (2) 13-0 1,429 10
7. North Carolina 11-3 1,262 9
8. Pittsburgh 18-0 1,207 13
9. Kentucky 11-2 1,181 5
10. Wake Forest 11-2 1,072 4
11. Georgia Tech 14-2 1,068 12
12. Kansas 11-2 1,026 14
13. Syracuse 13-1 1,004 17
14. Arizona 11-3 971 7
15. Gonzaga 14-2 921 16
16. Texas 11-2 833 18
17. Florida 11-3 549 15
18. Texas Tech 14-2 530 22
19. Mississippi St. 14-1 501 20
20. Oklahoma 10-3 337 11
21. Wisconsin 11-3 303 19
22. Vanderbilt 13-2 292 23
23. Purdue 12-4 247
24. Oklahoma St. 12-2 140
25. South Carolina 16-2 115
Others receiving votes: Creighton 107, Maryland 66, W. Michigan 46, Utah St. 35, Providence 32, Marquette 25, Illinois 21, LSU 13, N.C. State 10, Utah 10, Air Force 6, Alabama 5, Hawaii 5, N. Iowa 4, Boston College 3, Memphis 2, Toledo 2, Dayton 1, Manhattan 1, Rice 1, S. Illinois 1.
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