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No Surprise: Bearcats No. 1


For the first time since 1997 Connecticut isn't in the Top Ten, leaving Cincinnati, Arizona and Auburn as the only teams to be ranked that high in every Associated Press poll this season.

The college basketball rankings released Monday had the same 25 teams as last week - the first time that has happened this season. But there was some movement.

The Huskies (16-5) beat Villanova then were soundly beaten at Michigan State and fell from seventh to No. 13. Connecticut's run of 42 consecutive polls in the Top Ten began Dec. 22, 1997.

Auburn takes over the current run for consecutive appearances in the Top Ten. Its streak, which started last season, is at 23.

Cincinnati (22-1), which won road games against North Carolina-Charlotte and UAB last week, was No. 1 for the fifth straight week, matching its run at the top earlier this season. The Bearcats received 63 first-place votes and 1,739 points from the national media panel.

Stanford, Duke, Syracuse and Ohio State held second through fifth.

Stanford (19-1) won at UCLA and USC last week and received four first-place votes and 1,660 points. Duke (18-2), which extended its Atlantic Coast Conference record winning streak to 31 games with victories over North Carolina and Virginia, was No. 1 on one ballot.

Syracuse (19-0), which remained the only unbeaten Division I team with wins over St. John's and Providence, got two first-place voes.

Michigan State, which beat Connecticut by 19 points Saturday, and Arizona each moved up two places to sixth and seventh.

Tennessee, which dropped two spots after losing to Kentucky, and Auburn and Indiana, which each moved up one place, rounded out the Top Ten.

Kentucky moved up three spots to lead the Second Ten and was followed by Florida , Connecticut, Oklahoma State, Tulsa, Oklahoma, Iowa State, Texas, Temple and Kansas.

The last five teams in the rankings are Utah, Vanderbilt, Maryland, Oregon and LSU.

While Connecticut's six-place drop was the week's biggest fall, Kentucky and Iowa State each improved three places for the biggest gains.

In the last three weeks, at least three teams dropped from the Top 25. That makes this week's lack of change even more dramatic, but this week's schedule could start the changes again. There is at least one double-ranked game every day except Friday.

On Monday night, Kansas was at Oklahoma State. On Tuesday, Kentucky is at Florida. On Wednesday, Auburn visits LSU and Maryland is at Duke.

On Thursday, Oregon is at Stanford. On Saturday, Florida is at Tennessee and Oklahoma State visits Oklahoma. On Sunday, Maryland goes out of conference at Temple and Kentucky is at LSU.

©2000 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed

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