Men's Basketball

Jan. 17, 2005

NEW YORK (Ticker) - Atlantic Coast Conference powers North Carolina and Georgia Tech both dropped spots in the latest Associated Press college basketball poll released Monday.

In arguably the strongest conference in the country, both the Tar Heels and the Yellow Jackets absorbed their first losses in league play during the week. Despite both teams slipping, the ACC still has four entries within the top 12.

After recording an impressive 91-69 victory over then-No. 8 Georgia Tech on Wednesday, North Carolina (14-2) had its 14-game winning streak snapped with a 95-82 loss at then-No. 4 Wake Forest on Saturday. With the setback, the Tar Heels dropped three spots to sixth with 1,439 points.

The Yellow Jackets went 0-2 in a road trip to the state of North Carolina last week, dropping a 76-68 decision at North Carolina State on Sunday. Georgia Tech (11-4), which has played four games without second-leading scorer B.J. Elder, fell four spots to 12th.

For the seventh straight week, Illinois and Kansas held down the top two spots. The Fighting Illini (18-0) received 58 first-place votes and 1,759 points overall, while the Jayhawks (13-0) garnered 13 first-place votes and 1,710 points.

ACC heavyweights Wake Forest (15-1) and Duke (13-0) both moved up a spot to third and fourth, respectively. Oklahoma St.

(13-1) rounds out the top five.

After North Carolina, Syracuse (17-1) remained seventh, Kentucky (12-2) moved up a spot to eighth, Boston College (14-0) climbed four spots to ninth and Washington (15-2) is 10th.

Behind two straight West Coast Conference wins, Gonzaga (13-3) moved up five spots to No. 11, followed by Georgia Tech, Arizona (14-3), Louisville (14-3) and Texas (13-3). Gonzaga is 3-1 in the WCC and back atop the standings after Saint MAry's suffered its first WCC setback of the season last Saturday. Gonzagaq heads to San Francisco on Thursday and San Diego on Saturday for a pair of WCC road outings.

Losing at then-No. 25 Oklahoma last Monday, Connecticut (10-3) fell four spots to 16th. Mississippi State (15-3) is No. 17, Oklahoma (13-2) moved up seven spots to 18th and Michigan State (10-3) and Cincinnati (14-2) round out the top 20.

Pittsburgh (12-2) fell a spot to No. 21, Alabama (13-3) and Iowa (13-3) both climbed up one and Wisconsin (12-3), unranked last week, entered the poll at No. 24. Marquette (14-2), who lost to Conference USA foe Memphis on Thursday, dropped three spots to close out the top 25.

George Washington fell out of the poll after getting upset by Massachusetts, 76-74, in overtime Saturday.