Michigan State was No. 1 in The Associated Press college
basketball poll for a second straight week Monday and the defending
national champion will be on top as conference play gets under way.
There was very little change in the Top 25 after the final week
of nonconference games produced few upsets.
Not only did the Spartans (11-0) hold the same spot from last
week, the top 11 teams stayed in the same order and the only new
member of the poll is No. 24 Texas.
Michigan State, which beat Bowling Green and Wright State last
week, received 47 first-place votes and 1,607 points from the
national media panel. Stanford (11-0), which beat Fordham and Santa
Clara last week, was No. 1 on the other 18 ballots and had 1,577
points.
Duke was third again, followed in the Top Ten by Wake Forest,
Florida, Tennessee, Kansas, Virginia, Illinois and Connecticut.
Seton Hall was 11th for the second straight week and was
followed in the Second Ten by Wisconsin, North Carolina, Syracuse,
Oklahoma, Arizona, Maryland, Alabama, Georgetown and Southern
California.
The last five ranked teams were Notre Dame, Mississippi, Iowa
State, Texas and Cincinnati.
Texas (10-2) moved into the rankings on a five-game winning
streak that included a victory over Illinois. The Longhorns, who
were ranked all last season and got as high as No. 9, have lost to
Duke in the Preseason NIT semifinals and at South Florida.
Iowa (11-2) dropped out of the poll after a three-week run. The
Hawkeyes finished third in last week's Rainbow Classic, sandwiching
wins over Detroit and Saint Louis around an 80-68 semifinal loss to
Tennessee.
Five teams -- Oklahoma, Alabama, Georgetown, Mississippi and Iowa
State -- made modest two-spot jumps this week, while Cincinnati's
fall from 19th to 25th was the biggest drop. The Bearcats (9-3)
beat North Carolina-Wilmington 65-55 last week before losing 69-66
to Toledo.
The first week of conference play will bring six games between
ranked teams starting with Tuesday night's matchup of unbeatens -- Virginia at Wake Forest. The Demon Deacons also have a road game
against a ranked opponent this week as they play at North Carolina
on Saturday.
Also on Tuesday night, Notre Dame is at Syracuse, while
Saturday's other ranked matchups are Seton Hall at Georgetown;
Oklahoma at Iowa State; and Stanford at Arizona.
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