Men's Basketball

Feb. 16, 2009

Connecticut's third straight week at No. 1 in The Associated Press' college basketball poll means the Huskies have the second-longest streak of the season.

The Huskies (24-1) were again a runaway choice Monday, receiving 66 first-place votes from the 72-member national media panel, and the three teams behind them remained the same for a second straight week.

Oklahoma (25-1), which was No. 1 on four ballots, was second, followed by North Carolina (23-2), which got two first-place votes, and Pittsburgh (23-2).

North Carolina was an unanimous No. 1 in the preseason poll and in the first seven of the regular season. Pittsburgh held the top spot for two weeks and had been tied with Connecticut for the second-longest streak. The two were to meet Monday night at Hartford, Conn.

Memphis and Michigan State both moved up three places to fifth and sixth, respectively, and were followed by Louisville, Wake Forest, Duke and Marquette.

Wake Forest and Duke were both ranked No. 1 for one week this season.

Washington, which was ranked for two weeks before falling out for one poll, returned this week and was joined by newcomers LSU and Dayton.

They replaced Utah State, Ohio State and Florida State.

Missouri, which beat Kansas and Nebraska last week, had the week's biggest jump from 17th to No. 11, and the Tigers were followed by Villanova, Clemson, Arizona State, Kansas, Xavier, Gonzaga, Illinois, Purdue and UCLA.

Gonzaga won road games at Saint MAry's and San Francisco last week to improve their West Coast Conference record to 10-0 as the Bulldogs close in on another WCC title.

The last five ranked teams were Butler, Washington, LSU, Syracuse and Dayton.

UCLA, which was swept on its two-game trip to the Arizona schools in the Pac-10 last week, had the biggest drop, from 11th to No. 20.

Washington (19-6), which was ranked 23rd and 22nd before dropping out, returned at No. 22 having won four of five, including an 84-71 win at Arizona State.

LSU (21-4) has won nine of 10, the only loss in that stretch to Xavier. The 23rd-ranked Tigers, the only Southeastern Conference team in the Top 25, was last ranked in 2006-07 when they were No. 5 in the preseason poll and then were in the first 11 polls of the regular season before falling out until this week.

Dayton (23-3) entered at No. 25 having won nine of 10, including a win over Xavier. The Flyers, who won two games in that stretch by one point and two others by two points, were ranked for four weeks last season.

Utah State (24-2), which was ranked for two weeks, fell out from 21st following a 66-56 loss to Boise State that ended its 19-game winning streak, the longest in the nation.

Ohio State (17-6) lost 55-50 at Wisconsin and dropped out after a one-week return at No. 24.

Florida State (19-6) moved into the poll last week for the first time this season, but fell out from No. 25 after beating Virginia 68-57 and losing 86-63 to Wake Forest.

The Associated Press Top 25 college basketball poll, with
number of first-place votes and record in parentheses, total
points and previous ranking:
(Records through February 15, 2009)
    TEAM                                   PTS   PVS
    ----                                   ---   ---
 1. CONNECTICUT (66) (24-1)              1,794     1
 2. OKLAHOMA (4) (25-1)                  1,709     2
 3. NORTH CAROLINA (2) (23-2)            1,676     3
 4. PITTSBURGH (23-2)                    1,589     4
 5. MEMPHIS (22-3)                       1,465     8
 6. MICHIGAN ST (20-4)                   1,443     9
 7. LOUISVILLE (19-5)                    1,280     5
 8. WAKE FOREST (19-4)                   1,217     7
 9. DUKE (20-5)                          1,048     6
10. MARQUETTE (21-4)                     1,045    10
11. MISSOURI (22-4)                      1,041    17
12. VILLANOVA (20-5)                       983    13
13. CLEMSON (20-4)                         939    12
14. ARIZONA ST (20-5)                      830    18
15. KANSAS (20-5)                          651    16
16. XAVIER (21-4)                          646    14
17. GONZAGA (19-5)                         599    19
18. ILLINOIS (21-5)                        589    22
19. PURDUE (19-6)                          582    20
20. UCLA (19-6)                            473    11
21. BUTLER (22-3)                          373    15
22. WASHINGTON (19-6)                      334    NR
23. LSU (21-4)                             294    NR
24. SYRACUSE (19-7)                        207    23
25. DAYTON (23-3)                          194    NR
Dropped Out: No. 21 UTAH ST, No. 24 OHIO ST, No. 25 FLORIDA
ST
Others Receiving Votes: TEXAS 83, UTAH ST 72, OHIO ST 45,
ARIZONA 38, CALIFORNIA 34, UTAH 34, WEST VIRGINIA 26,
FLORIDA ST 18, DAVIDSON 15, SOUTH CAROLINA 10, MINNESOTA 6,
BOSTON COLLEGE 5, KENTUCKY 5, MIAMI FL 2, TENNESSEE 2,
WISCONSIN 2, BYU 1, ROBERT MORRIS 1.

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