Memphis holds No. 1 ranking for 2nd straight week

Published 6:00 am Monday, January 28, 2008

Memphis made it to a second week as No. 1.

The Tigers led The Associated Press’ college basketball pollMonday, doubling their only other stint as a top-ranked team. InJanuary 1983, Memphis went to No. 1 and lost hours later.

This edition of the Tigers (19-0) beat Tulsa and Gonzaga lastweek and stayed No. 1 with 46 first-place votes and 1,774 pointsfrom the 72-member national media panel.

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Kansas (20-0), the only other unbeaten team in Division I, heldsecond for a second straight week with easy wins over Iowa Stateand Nebraska. The Jayhawks had the other 26 No. 1 votes and 1,754points.

Duke moved up one place to third, the Blue Devils’ highestranking since No. 1 in the final poll of 2005-06. North Carolina,which was No. 1 from the preseason poll until Memphis moved upfollowing the Tar Heels’ home loss to Maryland, jumped one place tofourth.

UCLA and Georgetown moved up three spots to fifth and sixth,while Tennessee, which lost 72-66 at Kentucky, dropped from thirdto seventh.

Michigan State moved up from No. 10 to No. 8, while WashingtonState dropped three places to ninth and Texas advanced two spots toround out the top 10.

Indiana, whose 29-game home winning streak was snapped byConnecticut on Saturday, dropped four places to 11th and wasfollowed by Butler, Wisconsin, Stanford, Xavier, Drake, Marquette,Pittsburgh, Vanderbilt and Florida.

Saint Mary’s (Calif.), Kansas State, Texas A&M, Mississippiand Baylor were the last five ranked teams.

Florida, Saint Mary’s and Kansas State all returned to therankings for the second time this season. They replace Dayton,Villanova and Arizona State, all losing two games last week.

Florida (18-3), the two-time defending national champion, wasranked 25th in the second poll of the regular season after losingto Florida State. The Gators returned at No. 20, having won sevenof their last eight games, including an 86-64 victory overVanderbilt on Sunday.

Saint Mary’s (17-2) was No. 24 in the poll of Dec. 10, theGaels’ first ranking since the 1988-89 season. They lost atSouthern Illinois in their next game and fell out until this week.Saint Mary’s has won 10 of 11 since, the only loss at Texas.

Kansas State (14-4) returned to the rankings having won 10 ofits last 11, the only loss at Xavier. The Wildcats, who were 25thin the preseason poll and were ranked for the first three polls ofthe regular season, host No. 2 Kansas on Wednesday.

Dayton (14-4) fell out from 16th after losing 69-43 to Xavierand 80-63 to Richmond last week. The Flyers were ranked for thelast four weeks, reaching as high as No. 14.

Villanova (13-5) lost to Rutgers and Notre Dame last week anddropped out from 18th. The Wildcats had been ranked for 10 of thelast 11 weeks, reaching as high as No. 17.

Arizona State (14-5) returned to the poll two weeks ago afternot being ranked since the final poll of 1994-95. The Sun Devilslost home games to Washington and Washington State last week.