Syracuse remains No. 1, Florida now No. 2
The NCAA basketball regular season has less than a month remaining and teams are battling in their conference schedules. The latest AP poll was released on Monday and the Syracuse Orange was once against selected as No. 1, but no longer as the unanimous choice.
The Orange has a record of 25-0 and won its two games last week during the final seconds. Syracuse has now been No. 1 for three straight weeks after sitting at No. 2 for eight straight weeks behind Arizona.
After two straight weeks of being the unanimous No. 1 choice, this week 64 of the 65 members of the medial panel that voted, chose the Orange.
Florida with a record of 23-2 moves to No. 2 from No. 3 after receiving the other vote for first place. The Gators defeated Kentucky at Kentucky this past Saturday.
The only other division I team still undefeated is Wichita State at 27-0. The Shockers moved to No. 3 from No. 4 this week. Arizona, which was defeated last Friday by Pac-12 rivals Arizona State, dropped to No. 4 from No. 2.
The Duke Blue Devils have been quietly moving up the rankings and moved to No. 5 from No. 8 this week. Rounding out the top 10 were the San Diego State Aztecs, Cincinnati Bearcats, Kansas Jayhawks, Villanova Wildcats and Saint Louis Billikens.
Saint Louis is currently on a winning streak of 17 games to raise its record to 23-2. The team is ranked No. 10. It is the first appearance for the Billikens in the top 10 since December of 1964.
This is the 100th straight week Kansas has been ranked, which is second to Duke on the active list. The Blue Devils have been ranked in the Top 25 for the past 132 straight polls, a streak that began in the 2007-08 preseason.
However, the all-time record belongs to the UCLA Bruins at 221 straight weeks, a run that started in 1966 and lasted until 1980.
Michigan State at No. 13 is ranked for the 50th straight week. UCLA is ranked No. 23, while Gonzaga is No. 25. Both teams returned to the top 25 replacing Pittsburgh and SMU.
UCLA is 20-5 and was out of the top 25 for five straight weeks. The Bruins have won six of seven.
Gonzaga is 23-4 on the season and dropped out of the poll after losing to Memphis who is ranked No. 22. The Bulldogs then won two straight to clinch at minimum a tie for their West Coast Conference title, which is their 13th in their past 14 seasons.
Last week SMU moved into the top 25 after 30 seasons, but did not last long in the poll after losing to Temple 71-64 this past weekend.
Pittsburgh had a rough week. After starting the week ranked No. 15, the Panthers lost a heartbreaker to No. 1 Syracuse and a close game to North Carolina.
This week six games will feature two ranked teams and the biggest attention will be given to Saturday’s matchup at the Cameron Indoor Center when Duke ranked No. 5 hosts No. 1 Syracuse.
The teams played on February 1 in Syracuse in the Carrier dome and Syracuse won in overtime 91-89.
No. 19 ranked Texas can sweep their season series on Tuesday against No. 17 ranked Iowa State and on Saturday against No. 8 ranked Kansas.
