College Basketball: Top 25 Polls

    
February 16th, 2009 by Matthew Ryter
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The Story: The top 4 teams, including No. 1 Connecticut, all remain the same entering the week of February 16.  Two of those teams, No. 1 Connecticut and No. 4 Pittsburgh face off tonight on ESPN. Fellow Big East foe Louisville, last week’s AP No. 5 team lost to Notre Dame last week which enabled Memphis to take its No. 5 ranking. Duke has fallen to No. 9 in both polls after losing two consecutive games to North Carolina and Boston College. UCLA has fallen to No. 20 in this week’s AP poll after being swept by both Arizona schools. Big 12 surprise Missouri cracked the top 10 this week in the Coaches’ poll and are riding a 5 game win streak. Syracuse, 7-6 in Big East play, are in danger of dropping out of both polls sitting at No. 24/25. Mid-major Utah State has fallen from the AP poll after losing to Boise State last week, but remain ranked No. 23 in the Coaches’ poll. Ohio State and Florida State have also dropped from the AP rankings this week. Replacing these three squads on this week’s rankings are No. 22 Washington, No. 24 LSU, and No. 25 Dayton.

 

AP Top 25


1. Connecticut (66) 24-1 1,794
2. Oklahoma (4) 25-1 1,709
3. North Carolina (2) 23-2 1,676
4. Pittsburgh 23-2 1,589
5. Memphis 22-3 1,465
6. Michigan State 20-4 1,443
7. Louisville 19-5 1,280
8. Wake Forest 19-4 1,217
9. Duke 20-5 1,048
10. Marquette 21-4 1,045
11. Missouri 22-4 1,041
12. Villanova 20-5 983
13. Clemson 20-4 939
14. Arizona State 20-5 830
15. Kansas 20-5 651
16. Xavier 21-4 646
17. Gonzaga 19-5 599
18. Illinois 21-5 589
19. Purdue 19-6 582
20. UCLA 19-6 473
21. Butler 22-3 373
22. Washington 19-6 334
23. LSU 21-4 294
24. Syracuse 19-7 207
25. Dayton 23-3 194


Others Receiving Votes
Texas 83, Utah State 72, Ohio State 45, Arizona 38, California 34, Utah 34, West Virginia 26, Florida State 18, Davidson 15, South Carolina 10, Minnesota 6, Boston College 5, Kentucky 5, Miami (FL) 2, Wisconsin 2, Tennessee 2, Robert Morris 1, Brigham Young 1.


Dropped From Rankings
Utah State 21, Ohio State 24, Florida State 25.

ESPN/USA Today Poll


1. Connecticut (30) 24-1 774
2. Oklahoma (1) 25-1 739
3. North Carolina 23-2 711
4. Pittsburgh 23-2 689
5. Michigan State 20-4 634
6. Memphis 22-3 618
7. Louisville 19-5 508
8. Wake Forest 19-4 489
9. Duke 20-5 468
10. Missouri 22-4 429
11. Marquette 21-4 409
11. Arizona State 20-5 409
13. Clemson 20-4 393
14. Villanova 20-5 377
15. UCLA 19-6 324
16. Illinois 21-5 294
17. Xavier 21-4 278
18. Kansas 20-5 268
19. Washington 19-6 224
20. Gonzaga 19-5 191
21. Purdue 19-6 176
22. Butler 22-3 162
23. Utah State 24-2 121
24. LSU 21-4 114
25. Syracuse 19-7 74


Others Receiving Votes
Dayton 69, Texas 22, Florida State 20, California 16, South Carolina 14, Arizona 13, Brigham Young 13, Ohio State 12, Utah 11, Davidson 5, Saint Mary's 3, Miami (FL) 2, Penn State 1, Tennessee 1.

 

Ryter’s Block:  Just like last week’s UNC vs. Duke match-up, this week is highlighted by Pittsburgh vs. Connecticut. Duke had a very tough week losing two games and dropping to No. 9 this week. Although losing two games in one week usually ends up in a bigger drop in the rankings; I believe Duke is right where they belong. After watching UCLA lose to both Arizona schools I believe that their AP ranking, No. 20, is more accurate then their Coaches’ poll ranking, No. 15. I gave them some praise and hype last week and I was clearly wrong. I love Missouri’s ranking. They are on a five game winning streak and post a 22-4 overall record. DeMarre Carroll can fill the stat sheet and he is an extremely entertaining player to watch. He does it all for the Tigers. I like the fact that Dayton has climbed into the AP poll, and they should be in the Coaches’ poll over Utah State. Memphis has been climbing up the rankings and is riding a 16 game winning streak. Although they don’t play in a Big 6 conference, any time a team can post a 16 game win streak it’s impressive. LSU should be ranked a little higher; they are a top 20 team.

 

Here are the games to watch this week that should shake up next week’s rankings…

 

Monday February 16:             No. 4 Pittsburgh at No. 1 Connecticut

 

Tuesday February 17:            No. 5 Michigan State at No. 21 Purdue

 

Wednesday February 18:       Penn State at No. 16 Illinois

 

Thursday February 19:           No. 19 Washington at No. 15 UCLA

 

Saturday February 21:            No. 22 Butler at Davidson

                                                No. 2 Oklahoma at Texas

 

Sunday February 22:              No. 8 Wake Forest at No. 9 Duke

                                                No. 14 Villanova at No. 25 Syracuse

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