AP Poll

Top 25 Poll: Iowa St Debuts, Louisville Tumbles

Shawn Siegel — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 15:34:00 -0500

AP Top 25 Commentary: Gonzaga and Iowa State entered the field this week, with a bevy of teams hot on their trail. For Iowa St, getting into the Top 25 is a substantial accomplishment considering their recent history, and it helps their peaking at the right time. With this new ranking and solid Big 12 record, Iowa St could potentially play their way into a 5 or 6 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

Besides Louisville and Virginia, who fell out of the Top 25, the other big loser this week was Florida. The Gators dropped 6 spots from 16th to 22nd, but should be quite thankful they're ranked considering they've only beaten one Top 25 team all season (Florida St.)

North Carolina moved into 4th place after spanking Duke. The Heels certainly have a good shot at a #1 seed now depending on how things shake out in the ACC Tournament.

Creighton moved up 6 spots after winning the MVC Tournament, but still trail conference rival Wichita St by 3 seeds.

At the back of the poll, Drexel has moved into 28th place with 83 votes while VCU has struggled to gain as much traction with just 6 votes. The two CAA powerhouses meet in tonight's conference final.

RK TEAM RECORD PTS
1 Kentucky (63) 30-1 1,623
2 Syracuse (2) 30-1 1,561
3 Kansas 26-5 1,482
4 North Carolina 27-4 1,442
5 Missouri 27-4 1,343
6 Duke 26-5 1,262
7 Ohio State 25-6 1,251
8 Michigan State 24-7 1,149
9 Marquette 25-6 1,087
10 Michigan 23-8 945
11 Murray State 30-1 922
12 Baylor 25-6 909
13 Georgetown 22-7 873
14 Wisconsin 23-8 853
15 Indiana 24-7 707
16 Wichita State 27-5 492
17 Florida State 21-9 468
18 San Diego State 24-6 441
19 Creighton 28-5 364
20 UNLV 25-7 360
21 Temple 24-6 343
22 Florida 22-9 305
23 Notre Dame 21-10 256
24 Gonzaga 25-5 170
25 Iowa State 22-9 127

Others receiving votes:

Saint Mary's 88, Louisville 84, Drexel 83, New Mexico 64, Virginia 34, Memphis 13, Virginia Commonwealth 6, Vanderbilt 6, Cincinnati 5, Long Beach State 3, Kansas State 2, Harvard 1, Saint Louis 1

Dropped from rankings:

Louisville 19, Virginia 24

New This Week:

Gonzaga 24, Iowa St 25

AP Top 25: Iowa St Surging, But Just Outside

Shawn Siegel — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 14:43:40 -0500

AP Top 25: Missouri drops from 3rd to 7th after losing twice, but the rest of the top 10 remains relatively the same. Outside of Missouri, other teams to take noticeable drops include Florida St (7 spots), Florida (4 spots), UNLV (4 spots). New Mexico fell out of the poll just one week after soaring to 18th.

On the plus side, Creighton returns to the ranking after a small absence and fellow MVC squad Wichita St jumps 4 spots to a season-high 15th. The Shockers sit 10th in the RPI.

Outside of the Top 25, Iowa St made the biggest move. The Cyclones didn't receieve a single vote last week, but moved up to 27th with a solid 80 votes. Iowa St is 11-5 in the Big 12, tied with 9th ranked Baylor. A pair of WCC teams, Gonzaga and Saint Mary's remain lurking on the outside, waiting for another team to slip up. Also continuing to rise is Drexel, who locked up the CAA title with their 17th win in a row.

RK TEAM RECORD PTS
1 Kentucky (63) 28-1 1,623
2 Syracuse (2) 29-1 1,562
3 Kansas 24-5 1,459
4 Duke 25-4 1,409
5 Michigan State 24-5 1,372
6 North Carolina 25-4 1,314
7 Missouri 25-4 1,253
8 Marquette 24-5 1,150
9 Baylor 24-5 1,055
10 Ohio State 23-6 1,036
11 Georgetown 21-6 906
12 Murray State 28-1 885
13 Michigan 21-8 766
14 Wisconsin 21-8 764
15 Wichita State 26-4 754
16 Florida 22-7 638
17 UNLV 24-6 531
18 Indiana 22-7 444
19 Louisville 22-7 426
20 Notre Dame 20-9 357
21 San Diego State 22-6 304
22 Florida State 19-9 252
23 Temple 22-6 158
24 Virginia 21-7 142
25 Creighton 25-5 140

Others receiving votes:

Gonzaga 115, Iowa State 80, Saint Mary's 62, New Mexico 60, Drexel 41, Vanderbilt 23, Virginia Commonwealth 9, Long Beach State 8, Brigham Young 6, Harvard 5, Memphis 5, Purdue 3, California 3, Kansas State 2, Southern Miss 2, Alabama 1

Out this week:

New Mexico 18

New This Week:

Creighton 25

AP Top 25 & Commentary: Saint Mary's Hammered

Shawn Siegel — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 14:51:24 -0500

AP Top 25 Commentary: This week's poll features some of the biggest changes of the season, particularly outside of the Top 10. UNLV, ranked 11th last week, dropped 9 spots after losing an OT game at TCU and at new #18 New Mexico. This seems a bit harsh considering TCU is a fringe Top 100 team with a handful of solid wins, and New Mexico is on a tear.

Fellow MWC San Diego St dropped 13 spots, although this is more deserving. SDSU's home loss to UNM was much worse than UNLV's road loss, and the road loss at Air Force was much worse than UNLV's TCU loss. I was surprised SDSU remained in the Top 25, expecting one of Gonzaga or Creighton to be in their spot.

Saint Mary's met an even worse fate than the MWC duo, going from 21st to receiving a paltry 7 votes. Yes, they lost at Murray St, but name a west coast team that could have flown to Murray, KY in the middle of February and won that game?

Besides New Mexico, the other team to move into the poll is #22 Temple. Temple beat two mediocre teams, but moved up thanks to other team's struggles.

The ranked team with the lowest RPI is Virginia, sitting 42nd. Its hard to say what justifies Virginia, just 6-6 in ACC play, being ranked over the likes of Creighton and Gonzaga.

Lastly, Drexel received 13 votes this week. The Dragons have won 15 games in a row, but look deeper and they're no more deserving of votes than better mid-majors like Iona and South Dakota St. 15 of Drexel's wins over sub-200 RPI teams, and they haven't beaten a Top 50 team all season.

RK TEAM RECORD PTS
1 Kentucky (63)    26-1 1,623
2 Syracuse (2)    27-1 1,559
3 Missouri    25-2 1,498
4 Kansas    22-5 1,377
5 Duke    23-4 1,359
6 Michigan St    22-5 1,317
7 North Carolina    23-4 1,261
8 Ohio State    22-5 1,139
9 Georgetown    20-5 1,085
10 Marquette    22-5 1,013
11 Michigan    20-7 869
12 Florida    21-6 860
13 Baylor    22-5 859
14 Murray State    26-1 765
15 Florida State    19-7 620
16 Wisconsin    20-7 615
17 Louisville    21-6 495
18 New Mexico     22-4 469
19 Wichita State    24-4 467
20 Notre Dame    19-8 457
21 UNLV    22-6 325
22 Temple    21-5 281
23 Indiana    20-7 246
24 San Diego State    20-6 176
25 Virginia    20-6 153

Others receiving votes:

Creighton 76, Gonzaga 47, Brigham Young 29, Saint Louis 25, Drexel 13, Harvard 12, Vanderbilt 12, California 11, Saint Mary's 7, Long Beach State 4, Virginia Commonwealth 1

Dropped from rankings:

Saint Mary's 21, Gonzaga 24

New This Week:

New Mexico 18, Temple 22

Poll: Who Is the Best Unranked Team?

Shawn Siegel — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 11:08:07 -0500

AP Top 25 & Commentary: Creighton Out

Shawn Siegel — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 16:09:45 -0500

AP Top 25 Commentary: The beauty of being in a power conference is that just one win can erase weeks of doubt. Duke's win over UNC pushed them up 5 spots, erasing memories of the home loss to Miami. Or you can lose a game, in the case of Georgetown, and still rise in the polls (from 12 to 10th).

On the flip-side, one loss in a mid-major conference can wreck you. Just look at Harvard, who dropped from 25th to 34th after a single loss. Similarly, Murray St dropped 7 spots after losing their first game of the year.

Wichita St enters the Top 25, replacing fellow MVC squad Creighton. WSU has been hovering near the Top 25 with votes for weeks. You have to figure that one loss will unfortunately knock them right back out. Temple is also hovering near the top 25, and they fall a spot short this week at 26th. The Owls are one spot behind Wichita St in the RPI at 18th.

Interestingly, VCU gets 2 votes this week, as the Rams have been hot in the CAA. Equally hot in that league is Drexel, who managed 11 votes in the Coaches Poll, but not a single AP vote.

Saint Louis, 23rd in the RPI and with 8 Top 100 RPI wins, is struggling to gain traction despite playing well of late. The Billikens mustered up 5 lousy votes this week.

1 Kentucky (63) 25-1 1,623
2 Syracuse (2) 25-1 1,559
3 Missouri 23-2 1,498
4 Kansas 20-5 1,356
5 Duke 21-4 1,336
6 Ohio State 21-4 1,284
7 Michigan State 20-5 1,283
8 North Carolina 21-4 1,227
9 Baylor 21-4 1,064
10 Georgetown 19-5 983
11 UNLV 22-4 976
12 Marquette 21-5 810
13 San Diego State 20-4 688
14 Florida 19-6 675
15 Wisconsin 19-6 635
16 Murray State 24-1 600
17 Michigan 19-7 562
18 Indiana 19-6 430
19 Louisville 20-5 421
20 Florida State 17-7 406
21 Saint Mary's 23-3 377
22 Virginia 19-5 337
23 Notre Dame 17-8 231
24 Gonzaga 20-4 221
24 Wichita State 22-4 221

Others receiving votes:

Temple 122, Mississippi State 108, Creighton 20, Brigham Young 12, New Mexico 12, Long Beach State 12, Iowa State 10, Southern Miss 7, Harvard 6, Saint Louis 5, California 3, Vanderbilt 2, Virginia Commonwealth 2, Memphis 1

Dropped from rankings:

Creighton 17, Mississippi State 20, Harvard 25

New This Week:

Notre Dame 23, Gonzaga 24, Wichita St 25

AP Top 25 & Commentary: Florida Overrated?

Shawn Siegel — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 13:32:47 -0500

AP Top 25 Commentary:

The top 6 teams remain the same as last week, and then things get interesting.

Florida makes a big move up to 8th, thanks to losses by Duke, Kansas, and Michigan St (last week's 7-8-9 teams). The Gators best win on a road or neutral court this season is at mediocre Ole Miss, so I'm not quite jumping on the bandwagon. The Gators schedule gets a lot tougher the rest of the way with games at UK, Vandy, Bama, and Arkansas, as well as a home game against UK to close the season.

San Diego St and Saint Mary's move up 4 spots each, while Florida St jumps 6 positions. Florida St surpassed Virginia in the ranking after escaping with a close 3-point home win over the Cavaliers.

At the back of the poll, Vanderbilt not only dropped out of the Top 25, but they only received 2 votes this week. UCONN, who made a similar fall as Vandy last week, no longer received a single vote.

Gaining major momentum this week were Notre Dame, Temple, and Southern Miss, all nearing the Top 25. Last week, those 3 teams received a measly 11 votes between them. There seems to be much less conviction about teams 22 through 25 than previous weeks, so any of those 3 has a chance to jump into the Top 25 next week.

RK TEAM RECORD PTS
1 Kentucky (63) 23-1 1,623
2 Syracuse (2) 23-1 1,553
3 Ohio State 20-3 1,493
4 Missouri 21-2 1,415
5 North Carolina 20-3 1,352
6 Baylor 21-2 1,318
7 Kansas 18-5 1,170
8 Florida 19-4 1,066
9 Murray State 23-0 1,055
10 Duke 19-4 1,037
11 Michigan State 18-5 1,032
12 Georgetown 18-4 919
13 San Diego State 20-3 728
14 UNLV 21-4 702
15 Florida State 16-6 694
16 Saint Mary's 22-2 635
17 Creighton 21-3 600
18 Marquette 19-5 469
19 Virginia 18-4 448
20 Mississippi State 18-5 401
21 Wisconsin 18-6 384
22 Michigan 17-7 253
23 Indiana 18-6 227
24 Louisville 18-5 112
25 Harvard 20-2 105

Others receiving votes:

Notre Dame 83, Iowa State 71, Southern Miss 51, Temple 41, Gonzaga 35, Wichita State 31, Long Beach State 6, New Mexico 5, Kansas State 3, Iona 2, Cleveland State 2, Vanderbilt 2, Brigham Young 1, Miami (FL) 1

Dropped from rankings:

Gonzaga 24, Vanderbilt 25

New This Week:

Louisville 24, Harvard 25

AP Top 25 & Commentary: Vandy Returns

Shawn Siegel — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 14:22:44 -0500

AP Top 25 Commentary: The top of the poll remains relatively the same as last week, although Missouri did drop from 2nd to 4th after losing at Oklahoma State. The Tigers face another road challenge tonight at Texas.

Outside of UCONN and Kansas State, who dropped out of the poll, the other biggest loser this week was Georgetown who dropped from 9th to 14th. The biggest gainer was Wisconsin, moving from 25th up to 19th.

The voting was much more compact than it had been in recent week. Last week, 7 teams outside of the Top 25 received at least 20 votes, this week only 3. One of those 3 is Harvard, who remains on the outside despite being 23rd in the Coaches poll. This is this the 4th straight week Harvard has been ranked in the Coaches but not AP poll.

Vanderbilt returned to the poll for the first time in 6 weeks. The question remains whether their success is due to SEC weakness, or whether they're really any better than the squad the struggled to start the season.

Virginia is the ranked team with the lowest RPI, 53rd. The Cavaliers have just one win against a Top 50 RPI team, a home win over Michigan.

1 Kentucky (63) 21-1 1,623
2 Syracuse (2) 22-1 1,550
3 Ohio State 19-3 1,498
4 Missouri 19-2 1,363
5 North Carolina 18-3 1,331
6 Baylor 19-2 1,310
7 Duke 18-3 1,250
8 Kansas 17-4 1,178
9 Michigan State 17-4 1,098
10 Murray State 21-0 979
11 UNLV 20-3 936
12 Florida 17-4 861
13 Creighton 20-2 803
14 Georgetown 16-4 762
15 Marquette 18-4 682
16 Virginia 17-3 578
17 San Diego State 18-3 566
18 Saint Mary's 21-2 472
19 Wisconsin 17-5 415
20 Indiana 17-5 395
21 Florida State 14-6 375
22 Mississippi State 17-5 329
23 Michigan 16-6 305
24 Gonzaga 17-3 141
25 Vanderbilt 16-5 102

Others receiving votes:

Harvard 69, Louisville 65, Kansas State 40, West Virginia 12, Wichita State 9, Nevada 6, Notre Dame 6, Southern Miss 5, Long Beach State 3, Iowa State 3, Connecticut 2, Iona 2, Illinois 1

Dropped from rankings:

Kansas State 22, Connecticut 24

New:

Gonzaga 24, Vanderbilt 25

AP Top 25 Commentary: Ultra-Conservative Voting

Shawn Siegel — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 13:11:38 -0500

AP Top 25 Commentary: There was a major re-shuffling in this week's AP Poll. Only one team remained in the same spot: #18 Mississippi St. The big news is that Kentucky takes over from Syracuse atop the poll, but there were more interesting changes at the bottom.

Florida St and Wisconsin re-entered the Top 25, replacing Illinois and Florida. It is amazing how conservative the voting community is.. there is always the tendency to put power-conference teams from the Preseason Top 25 back into the poll as soon as reasonably possible. Sure, FSU had a couple big wins, but it is still the same team that lost to Princeon, Clemson, and Harvard. Harvard is 30th in the poll, still being punished for the Fordham loss. Odd how major-conference teams (FSU, Cincy losing to Presbyterian, etc) don't get punished in the same fashion.

Even Louisville, yet to to beat a ranked team at home, or a Top 100 on the road, was given much respect by the voters. The Cardinals are 29th in the AP Poll (and amazingly 25th in the Coaches). Meanwhile, Wichita St (who has beaten a ranked team, and multiple Top 100 teams away from home, and has won 7 straight games) could only muster a 31st place ranking.

1 Kentucky (61) 19-1 1,620
2 Missouri (2) 18-1 1,532
3 Syracuse (2) 20-1 1,506
4 Ohio State 17-3 1,411
5 Kansas 16-3 1,383
6 Baylor 17-2 1,234
7 North Carolina 16-3 1,232
8 Duke 16-3 1,176
9 Georgetown 16-3 1,045
10 Michigan State 16-4 1,009
11 Murray State 20-0 925
12 UNLV 18-3 886
13 San Diego State 17-2 832
14 Florida 15-4 709
15 Creighton 18-2 682
16 Indiana 16-4 609
17 Marquette 16-4 517
18 Mississippi State 16-4 422
19 Virginia 15-3 414
20 Michigan 15-5 396
21 Saint Mary's 19-2 345
22 Kansas State 14-4 252
23 Florida State 13-6 244
24 Connecticut 14-5 203
25 Wisconsin 16-5 182

Others receiving votes:

West Virginia 96, Gonzaga 82, Vanderbilt 40, Louisville 35, Harvard 32, Wichita State 28, Cincinnati 20, Illinois 11, Middle Tennessee 9, Dayton 3, Iona 2, Long Beach State 1

Dropped from rankings:

Illinois 22, Louisville 23

New:

Florida St 23, Wisconsin 25

Conensus Basketball Ranking: Baylor Up to 3rd

Shawn Siegel — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 17:55:03 -0500

Consensus Ranking

Nothing will rile up fans more than thinking their team is under-rated, under-respected, and under-ranked in the national polls. As the voice behind CollegeHoops.net's Top 50 Ranking, I'm well aware of how angry fans get when they feel slighted. No doubt, I occasionally slip up, and no doubt the dozens of voters in the AP poll slip up even more often.

With the advent of computer rankings & metrics, we have many tools that attempt to overcome historical biases to rank teams fairly. Taking a consensus average of these rankings, we can get a good sense of the lay of the land, and we can also see where the human voters differ with the computers. More importantly, we can see whether there is a pattern to the human biases and whether certain teams are consistently mis-valued compared to their peers.

Throughout the season, I'll be updating the Consensus Ranking and commenting on notable trends.

What Is It?

68 teams are ranked, consisting of A) any team with AP votes, B) any team in the RPI Top 50, C) any team in CHN Top 50, and D) any team previously included. The teams are ranked by an average of their RPI, Sagarin, and KenPom ratings. At the right of the chart is the team's current AP ranking and their consensus ranking in the last update.

Below the ranking, you'll find a list of the most overrated and underrated teams, as well as teams that move the most since the last update.

This Week's Notes

- Not surprisingly, some of the top mid-majors fell in the ranking due to their conference schedules. Long Beach in Murray State in particular dropped because of their opponents records. (On the other hand, Virginia Tech and Louisville dropped because they played poorly.)

- Three Big Ten teams made positive moves for the opposite reason the mid-majors fell. Northwestern and Illinois in particular benefited from playing good teams.

- Like last week, the WCC continues to be the most underrated league, with its big 3 being slighted.

- Of the 7 highest ranked teams that didn't receive votes, 5 are from non-BCS leagues.

- For the 2nd week in a row, San Diego St remains the most overrated team. The computers were not as impressed with SDSU's close home win over UNLV as the humans were.

- Louisville dropped 16 spots in the computer ranking, but somehow remains ranked. The Cardinals lost again this afternoon and will presumably be unranked next week.

Rank	Conference	RPI	KenPom	Sagarin	Avg	Last Week	AP
1	Syracuse	1	3	1	1.7	1	1
2	Ohio St	7	1	2	3.3	3	6
3	Baylor	3	8	3	4.7	7	3
4	Kentucky	9	5	4	6.0	2	2
5	Duke	2	9	7	6.0	6	4
6	Michigan St	6	6	8	6.7	4	9
7	Kansas	12	2	6	6.7	9	7
8	Missouri	11	7	5	7.7	13	5
9	Indiana	13	11	9	11.0	5	11
10	Georgetown	14	13	12	13.0	10	10
11	UNC	20	10	10	13.3	8	8
12	UNLV	10	19	11	13.3	11	14
13	Alabama	21	14	16	17.0	12	35
14	Gonzaga	8	27	23	19.3	14	29
15	Marquette	17	23	18	19.3	16	21
16	St. Mary's	24	22	14	20.0	20	24
17	West Virginia	17	24	21	20.7	18	33
18	Wisconsin	45	4	13	20.7	26	27
19	Seton Hall	5	33	25	21.0	17	28
20	UCONN	4	31	28	21.0	25	13
21	Wichita St	32	15	17	21.3	23	36
22	Creighton	19	32	15	22.0	27	19
23	Kansas St	31	21	19	23.7	15	25
24	California	39	16	24	26.3	22
25	Virginia	36	26	20	27.3	30	15
26	Memphis	28	28	27	27.7	29
27	Illinois	16	37	30	27.7	35	22
28	BYU	40	20	26	28.7	28
29	Murray St	29	38	22	29.7	19	12
30	Florida	46	12	31	29.7	34	17
31	Michigan	26	34	33	31.0	24	20
32	New Mexico	56	18	29	34.3	40	30
33	Purdue	48	30	32	36.7	31
34	Saint Louis	59	17	34	36.7	32
35	Northwestern	25	47	38	36.7	47	38
36	Vanderbilt	33	35	44	37.3	42	26
37	Louisville	42	39	35	38.7	21	23
38	Florida St	48	29	41	39.3	new	38
39	Southern Miss	15	68	37	40.0	38
40	Temple	23	52	47	40.7	43
41	Harvard	50	40	42	44.0	45	31
42	Texas	62	25	45	44.0	46
43	Minnesota	38	48	49	45.0	new
44	Iona	35	54	48	45.7	37	37
45	Dayton	27	59	53	46.3	36
46	Mississippi St	41	56	43	46.7	52	18
47	Xavier	43	45	56	48.0	58
48	Northern Iowa	30	61	54	48.3	39
49	San Diego St	37	69	39	48.3	44	16
50	MTSU	66	43	36	48.3	57
51	Iowa St	52	44	50	48.7	50
52	Oral Roberts	46	58	46	50.0	48
53	Stanford	69	42	40	50.3	49	33
54	Marshall	34	66	52	50.7	53
55	Long Beach St	54	57	51	54.0	33
56	St. Joseph's	52	60	59	57.0	54
57	Davidson	43	73	60	58.7	55
58	Arizona	64	53	64	60.3	51
59	Colorado St	22	99	72	64.3	59
60	Virginia Tech	82	50	67	66.3	41
61	Denver	57	85	61	67.7	56
62	Cincinnati	104	46	58	69.3	64	32
63	Ohio	81	80	65	75.3	60
64	Arkansas	74	79	75	76.0	63
65	Wagner	79	81	71	77.0	61	38
66	Cleveland St	66	95	77	79.3	62
67	UCF	65	103	87	85.0	66
68	Ole Miss	55	126	98	93.0	65

Teams the AP voters overrate vs. the computer ranking:

San Diego St +33

Cincinnati +30

Mississippi St +28

Wagner +27

Stanford +20

Murray St +17

Louisville +14

Florida +13

Michigan +11

Harvard +10

Vanderbilt +10

Virginia +10

Teams the AP voters most underrate vs. the computer ranking:

Teams w/ votes

Alabama -22

West Virginia -16

Gonzaga -15

Wichita St -15

Seton Hall -9

Wisconsin -9

St Mary's -8

Teams w/ no votes

California

Memphis

BYU

Purdue

Saint Louis

Southern Miss

Temple

Biggest Changes Since Last Week:

Rising

Northwestern +12

Xavier +11

Illinois +8

New Mexico +8

Wisconsin +8

MTSU +7

Falling

Long Beach St -22

Virginia Tech -19

Louisville -16

Murray St -10

Dayton -9

Northern Iowa -9

What do you think? Post comments below, send a tweet to @collegehoopsnet, or follow facebook.com/collegehoopsnet.

AP Top 25 Commentary: Saint Mary's Replaces Gonzaga

Shawn Siegel — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 13:31:15 -0500

AP Top 25 Commentary: Syracuse remained #1 yet again after double-digit wins over Villanova and Providence. The Orange have only beaten two ranked teams (both at home), Florida, who fell to 17th this week, and Marquette.

Gonzaga was replaced in the poll by Saint Mary's, who gave the Bulldogs a beatdown in Moraga. With 64 votes, Gonzaga is still in the mix to reenter the poll with a couple solid weeks. The other team exiting the poll was Seton Hall, who blew a late lead on the road to South Florida.

North Carolina fell to 8th after getting crushed on the road at Florida St. The loss was so bad that one lone voter placed FSU in the Top 25 despite having 6 losses. For topping Michigan St, Northwestern also received a vote, and the rogue Wagner fan continued to support the Seahawks.

Louisville, who fell to 41st in the RPI after getting crushed by Providence earlier in the week, somehow hung onto the 23rd spot.

Rank Team Record Points

1 Syracuse (60)   19-0 1,619
2 Kentucky (4)   17-1 1,558
3 Baylor (1)   17-0 1,503
4 Duke   15-2 1,380
5 Missouri   16-1 1,335
6 Ohio State   16-3 1,312
7 Kansas   14-3 1,218
8 North Carolina   15-3 1,172
9 Michigan State   15-3 1,119
10 Georgetown   14-3 884
11 Indiana   15-3 858
12 Murray State   18-0 825
13 Connecticut   14-3 807
14 UNLV   16-3 651
15 Virginia   14-2 649
16 San Diego State   15-2 621
17 Florida   14-4 596
18 Mississippi State   15-3 590
19 Creighton   16-2 471
20 Michigan   14-4 461
21 Marquette   14-4 278
22 Illinois   15-3 257
23 Louisville   14-4 208
24 Saint Mary's   17-2 167
25 Kansas State   12-4 102

Others receiving votes:

Vanderbilt 101, Wisconsin 90, Seton Hall 79, Gonzaga 64, New Mexico 61, Harvard 22, Cincinnati 17, Stanford 16, West Virginia 16, Alabama 10, Wichita State 3, Iona 2, Florida State 1, Northwestern 1, Wagner 1

Dropped from rankings:

Gonzaga 21, Seton Hall 24