Syracuse Unanimous No. 1, SMU Ranked for First Time in 30 Years

The Syracuse Orange was the unanimous pick for No. 1 in the latest Associated Press Top 25 poll announced on Monday afternoon.

However, SMU was named to the Top 25 for the first time in 30 years. In just his second season as the head coach Larry Brown who is 73 years of age, has guided the Mustangs to the No. 23 ranking. It is the first time SMU has been in the Top 25 since the 1984-85 season. That season SMU made it to No. 2.

Syracuse was picked unanimously as No. 1, for the second consecutive week. The Orange is 23-0 on the season and received all of the 65 votes for first place.

Following Syracuse were the Arizona Wildcats, Florida Gators, Wichita State Shockers and San Diego State Aztecs to round out the top five. The only other team unbeaten in Division I is Wichita State at 25-0.

Villanova was No. 6, while Kansas moved up to seventh, but lost on Monday night to Kansas State in overtime. Duke moved up to the eighth spot, while Michigan State and Cincinnati were ninth and tenth respectively.

SMU was able to move into the Top 25 behind its impressive win last week over Cincinnati 76-53, which snapped the 15-game win streak of the Bearcats.

The win was SMU’s third over a team ranked in the top 25 over a span of seven games.

Before SMU won its first game over a ranked team this season, the school had not defeated a ranked opponent since December of 2003. The last time the team beat more than one team that was ranked in one season was during the 1984-85 season when the team was led on the court by Jon Koncak and coached by Dave Bliss.

This year’s SMU squad does not want to follow too much in the footsteps of the ’84-’85 squad that went 7-9 to end the season and finish unranked.

The other teams that SMU defeated that at the time were ranked were Connecticut, then No. 17 and Memphis then No, 22. As with Cincinnati, the two opponents were in the American Athletic Conference.

The AAC has reached impressive heights in just its first season in the NCAA. The conference now has five teams in the top 25, tying the five the Big Ten has for the most in the nation.

The other schools from the ACC in the top 25 are Cincinnati at No. 10, Louisville at No. 13, Memphis at No. 20 and Connecticut at No. 24.

The five Big Ten teams are Michigan State at No. 9, Michigan at No. 15, Iowa at No. 16, Wisconsin at No. 21 and Ohio State at No. 22.

Wisconsin before last week had been ranked the entire season before it fell out of the top 25. However, with their win over Michigan State, the Badgers returned.

Wisconsin reached No. 3 earlier in the season after starting 16-0, but lost five of seven and its win against the Spartans snapped a home losing streak of three games.