Jilted Irish jump past Doherty, Tar Heels in AP poll
Associated Press
The Irish moved ahead of Matt Doherty and the Tarheels, by claiming the No.10 spot in the Associated Press men's basketball rankings released Monday.
North Carolina, which was previously ranked No. 6, dropped to No. 14 after two straight losses to Kentucky and Michigan State. The Irish, on the other hand, moved up one spot to No. 10.
Duke, which beat two ranked teams last week, held the top spot, while Michigan State moved up one spot to No. 2.
The Blue Devils (7-0) beat Illinois and Temple after moving to the top of the rankings last week. They received 59 first-place votes and 1,715 points from the national media panel, 107 more than Michigan State.
The Spartans (5-0), who received nine No. 1 votes, moved up one spot after beating North Carolina and Illinois-Chicago last week. The defending national champions play host to No. 8 Florida on Wednesday in a rematch of last season's title game.
Kansas (7-0) dropped from second to third despite easily beating Middle Tennessee State and Illinois State in its only games last week. The Jayhawks received one first-place vote.
Stanford and Arizona remained fourth and fifth in the rankings, while Tennessee and Seton Hall each moved up one place to sixth and seventh, respectively.
Florida moved up two places to eighth, while Illinois held ninth and Notre Dame jumped one spot to No. 10.
Wake Forest led the Second Ten and was followed by Southern California, Syracuse, North Carolina, Connecticut, Virginia, Wisconsin, Cincinnati, Maryland and Oklahoma.
Arkansas, Utah, Alabama, St. John's and Iowa State rounded out the Top 25.
Alabama and Iowa State are the week's newcomers, replacing Temple and Dayton, which were 17th and 24th, respectively.
Alabama (3-0), which has scored at least 92 points in each of its games this season with an average margin of victory of 38 points, is ranked for the first time since December 1996. The Crimson Tide, who are led by sophomore Rod Grizzard and freshman Gerald Wallace, beat Louisville 100-71 last week, a 44-point turnaround from the teams' meeting last season.
Iowa State (5-0) was ranked the last seven weeks of last season, getting as high as No. 6 in the final poll. The Cyclones lost All-America forward Marcus Fize from last season but preseason All-America guard Jamaal Tinsley has become the team leader. He was selected MVP of the Cyclone Challenge last weekend when Iowa State beat Southern Mississippi in the title game.
Temple and Dayton, both members of the Atlantic 10, fell out of the rankings after losing two games last week.
The Owls (4-3) lost 66-58 to Miami (Ohio) and 93-68 to Duke last week, extending their losing streak to three games. The first loss in the streak was also to Duke, 63-61 in the championship game of the Preseason NIT.
Dayton (2-3) returned to the Top 25 last week for the first time since 1974, but losses to Cincinnati and Marshall knocked out the Flyers. Marshall, which beat the Flyers 67-65, is the only non-ranked team Dayton has played this season.
In addition to the Florida-Michigan State game, there are only three games between ranked teams this week.
Third-ranked Kansas is at No. 11 Wake Forest on Thursday. On Saturday, No. 5 Arizona — playing for the first time with suspended preseason All-America center Loren Woods — is at No. 15 Connecticut, and No. 7 Seton Hall is at No. 9 Illinois.
All Sports Stories for Tuesday, December 5, 2000
