Gonzaga climbs to 23rd in coaches' poll
12/20/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 20, 2004
BRISTOL, Connecticut (Ticker) -- Gonzaga has climbed back into the USA Today/ESPN coaches' poll following its upset of Georgia Tech.
Gonzaga (8-1), which upset the Yellow Jackets, 85-73, on Saturday, jumped to a season-high 23rd in the latest poll released Monday. The Bulldogs were unranked the previous three weeks after ranking 25th in the first regular-season poll on November 22.
Georgia Tech (7-1), still one of four Atlantic Coast Conference teams in the top 10, dropped six spots to No. 9 after its first loss of the season.
Illinois (10-0) held on to the top ranking for the third straight week, collecting 24 of 31 first-place votes and 766 points.
Kansas (7-0) received five first-place votes and remained second with 740 points. Oklahoma State (8-0) garnered the other two first-place votes and climbed one spot to third.
Next in the poll are three ACC teams - Wake Forest (9-1), North Carolina (8-1) and Duke (8-0). Pittsburgh (8-0), Syracuse (9-1), Georgia Tech and Kentucky (7-1) complete the top 10.
Connecticut (5-1) starts the second 10, followed by Texas (7-2), North Carolina State (8-1), Alabama (9-1), Arizona (7-2), Cincinnati (7-0), Washington (8-1), Louisville (6-2), Iowa (9-1) and Michigan State (6-2).
Maryland (6-2), George Washington (7-1), Gonzaga, Mississippi State (9-2) and Virginia (7-1) complete the poll.
Marquette, which was 25th last week, dropped out following a 48-43 loss to Arizona.
The USA TODAY/ESPN Coaches Top 25 college basketballcoaches' poll, with number of first-place votes and recordin parentheses, total points and previous ranking:(Records through December 19, 2004) TEAM PTS PVS ---- --- --- 1. ILLINOIS (24) (10-0) 766 1 2. KANSAS (5) (7-0) 740 2 3. OKLAHOMA ST (2) (8-0) 713 4 4. WAKE FOREST (9-1) 646 5 5. NORTH CAROLINA (8-1) 643 6 6. DUKE (8-0) 624 7 7. PITTSBURGH (8-0) 545 10 8. SYRACUSE (9-1) 543 8 9. GEORGIA TECH (7-1) 536 310. KENTUCKY (7-1) 497 1111. CONNECTICUT (5-1) 399 1312. TEXAS (7-2) 385 1213. NO CAROLINA ST (8-1) 342 914. ALABAMA (9-1) 334 1515. ARIZONA (7-2) 333 1616. CINCINNATI (7-0) 296 1717. WASHINGTON (8-1) 293 2018. LOUISVILLE (6-2) 241 1419. IOWA (9-1) 216 2120. MICHIGAN ST (6-2) 199 1821. MARYLAND (6-2) 162 1922. GEO WASHINGTON (7-1) 161 2223. GONZAGA (8-1) 152 NR24. MISSISSIPPI ST (9-2) 90 2425. VIRGINIA (7-1) 81 23Dropped Out: No. 25 MarquetteOthers Receiving Votes: MARQUETTE 33, OKLAHOMA 23, BOSTONCOLLEGE 20, WISCONSIN 18, NEW MEXICO 11, WEST VIRGINIA 8,SOUTHERN ILL 7, FLORIDA 3, NOTRE DAME 3, WICHITA ST 3,CREIGHTON 2, HAWAII 1, IOWA ST 1, MICHIGAN 1, OLD DOMINION1, SANTA CLARA 1, TEXAS A&M 1, TX A&M CORP CHR 1.
