Ohio State claims top spot; Kansas third

By Jim O'Connell - Associated Press Basketball Writer     Feb 27, 2007

Ohio State took over the No. 1 spot in The Associated Press college basketball poll Monday, the first time the Buckeyes have held the top ranking since 1962, when they were led by Jerry Lucas and John Havlicek and on a run of three straight Final Fours.

Led by freshmen Greg Oden and Mike Conley Jr., Ohio State advanced one day after beating Wisconsin in a meeting of Nos. 1 and 2.

“You hate there had to be a team that lost that game,” Buckeyes coach Thad Matta said Monday, referring to his team’s 49-48 victory that clinched a second straight Big Ten title. “Fortunately for us we made the bucket at the end and came away on top.”

UCLA (25-3), which locked up the Pac-10 title this weekend, moved from fourth to second. The Bruins received the other 10 first-place votes and had 1,729 points.

Kansas University jumped from sixth to third, and Wisconsin, which also lost to Michigan State last week, fell to fourth after reaching No. 1 for the first time in school history.

Florida, which lost to LSU on Saturday, fell from third to fifth.

Memphis, which has the nation’s longest current winning streak at 17 games, moved up one spot to sixth, its highest ranking of the season, and was followed by Texas A&M, North Carolina, Georgetown and Nevada.

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