Arizona moves up to No. 5 in AP basketball poll
With a winning streak now at 14 games, Arizona continues to make a steady climb in the Associated Press college basketball poll.
The Wildcats (20-2) are up two spots this week to fifth place after a pair of unremarkable wins at McKale Center over Washington State and Washington. They concluded the first half of their Pac-12 schedule at 9-0 but have probably their toughest test of the conference season coming up this Saturday at Oregon.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZU-_3aToJI
Gonzaga, the last unbeaten team in Division I, moved to No. 1 in The Associated Press college basketball poll for the second time in school history.
The Zags (22-0) jumped up from third when Villanova and Kansas both were beaten in a week when seven of the top 10 lost.
Gonzaga received 46 first-place votes from the 65-member national media panel Monday. The Zags were No. 1 for the last three weeks of the 2012-13 season.
Gonzaga is the fifth team to reach No. 1 this season, joining Duke, Kentucky, Villanova and Baylor.
Baylor (20-1), one of the three top 10 teams to not lose, jumped from fifth to second. The Bears had six first-place votes and were one point ahead of Kansas (19-2), which dropped one place after losing at West Virginia before winning at Kentucky. The Jayhawks had nine first-place votes.
Villanova, which had been No. 1 for the last two weeks and six overall, dropped to fourth after losing at Marquette. The Wildcats (20-2), who also had a last-second win over Virginia, were No. 1 on four ballots.
Northwestern (18-4) is the week's lone newcomer. The Wildcats were last ranked for one week in 2009-10.
Following Arizona in the top 10 were Louisville, West Virginia, Kentucky, Virginia and Wisconsin.
UCLA was 11th and was followed by North Carolina, Oregon, Cincinnati, Florida State, Butler, Maryland, Saint Mary's, South Carolina and Notre Dame.
The last five ranked teams were Duke, Creighton, Purdue, Florida and Northwestern.
West Virginia, which beat Kansas and Texas A&M, had the week's biggest jump from 18th to No. 7. Louisville, which beat Pittsburgh and North Carolina State by an average of 40 points, moved from 13th to No. 6.
Florida State's fall from sixth to No. 15 followed the Seminoles' losses to Georgia Tech and Syracuse. Kentucky also lost twice last week -- to Tennessee and Kansas -- and the Wildcats dropped from fourth to eighth.
1. Gonzaga (46) 22-0 1,594
2. Baylor (6) 20-1 1,504
3. Kansas (9) 19-2 1,503
4. Villanova (4) 20-2 1,479
5. Arizona 20-2 1,387
6. Louisville 18-4 1,237
7. West Virginia 17-4 1,101
8. Kentucky 17-4 1,083
9. Virginia 16-4 1,061
10. Wisconsin 18-3 1,058
11. UCLA 19-3 993
12. North Carolina 19-4 965
13. Oregon 19-3 863
14. Cincinnati 19-2 756
15. Florida St. 18-4 727
16. Butler 18-4 717
17. Maryland 19-2 518
18. Saint Mary's (Cal) 19-2 409
19. South Carolina 17-4 384
20. Notre Dame 17-5 363 14
21. Duke 16-5 339 17
22. Creighton 19-3 307 16
23. Purdue 17-5 264 20
24. Florida 16-5 213 25
25. Northwestern 18-4 106 -
Others receiving votes: SMU 69, Xavier 67, Southern Cal 29, Wichita St. 8, Middle Tennessee 5, Akron 5, VCU 3, Illinois St. 2, New Mexico St. 2, Virginia Tech 2, Utah 1, Iowa St. 1.
