Duke, which won its two games last week by a total of 85 points,
was No. 1 in The Associated Press' college basketball poll for the
third straight week Monday, while three teams made their first
appearance in the Top 25 this season.
The Blue Devils (9-0), who beat Davidson 102-60 and Michigan
104-61 in their final games before breaking for exams, received 60
first-place votes and 1,716 points from the national media panel.
Defending national champion Michigan State (7-0) stayed No. 2
after victories over Florida and Loyola, Illinois, and was No. 1 on
nine ballots with 1,653 points.
The newcomers to the rankings were Iowa, Mississippi and
Georgetown at Nos. 22-24.
Stanford (6-0), which was off last week, moved up one place to
No. 3, while Tennessee (8-0) used wins over Memphis and Southern
Methodist to jump from sixth to fourth.
Illinois (7-2), the only team in the top six to lose this
season, moved from ninth to fifth after rallying from 21 points
down to hand Seton Hall its first loss of the season.
Wake Forest (7-0), which beat then-No. 3 Kansas 84-53 Tuesday,
had the week's biggest jump, going from 11th to No. 6. The ranking
is the highest for the Demon Deacons since they were No. 4 on Feb.
24, 1997, during Tim Duncan's senior season.
Arizona, which dropped two places after losing at Connecticut,
was seventh and was followed in the Top 10 by Florida, Seton Hall
and Kansas.
Connecticut moved up four spots to lead the second 10 and was
followed by Syracuse, Southern California, Virginia, North
Carolina, Wisconsin, Cincinnati, Oklahoma, Alabama and Maryland.
The final five ranked teams were Notre Dame, Iowa, Mississippi,
Georgetown and Arkansas.
Notre Dame, which lost at home to Indiana and Miami of Ohio last
week, had the biggest drop in falling from 10th to No. 21. The Top
Ten ranking was the Fighting Irish's first since the 1985-86
season.
The teams that fell out from last week were Utah, St. John's and
Iowa State.
The three newcomers all have 7-0 records.
Iowa, which beat Iowa State on Saturday, was ranked for two
weeks early last season after an impressive showing in the Coaches
vs. Cancer Classic.
Mississippi, the only team to beat Oklahoma this season, was in
the Top 25 the entire 1997-98 season, getting as high as No. 10.
Georgetown, which has beaten College of Charleston and Minnesota
this season, was last ranked in 1995-96. The Hoyas were in the Top
25 that whole season, getting as high as No. 4.
Utah (4-4) lost to Utah State and Weber State last week to
extend its losing streak to three games and dropped out from 22nd.
The loss to Weber State snapped the Utes' 54-game home winning
streak, what had been the longest in the nation. Coach Rick
Majerus, who is rehabilitating from knee surgery, isn't expected to
rejoin his team until January.
St. John's (4-3) fell from 24th after losing to Fordham in its
only game last week, while Iowa (6-1) dropped from No. 25 after the
loss to Iowa.
This week's only matchup of ranked teams will be Saturday when
Arizona plays Illinois at Chicago.
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ALSO SEE
Associated Press Top 25 poll
Undefeateds Iowa, Georgetown crack coaches poll
ESPN.com's Sweet 16
AthletesDirect: Mike Krzyzewski's official Web site
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