Bulldogs Jump To 8th In Coaches Poll
12/26/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 26, 2005
BRISTOL, Connecticut (Ticker) - A blowout home loss has knocked Oklahoma out of the top 10.
Four days after losing by 24 points to unranked West Virginia, the Sooners fell seven spots to 15th in the latest USA Today/ESPN coaches' poll released Monday.
Oklahoma (6-2), which was routed by the Mountaineers on Thursday, 92-68, had the biggest fall in a poll in which no team dropped out of the top 25.
The top seven teams - Duke (11-0), Connecticut (9-0), Villanova (8-0), Memphis (9-1), Florida (11-0), Illinois (12-0) and Washington (10-0) - remained unchanged.
Duke has been the poll's only No. 1 team this season and received 30 first-place votes - one more than last week - and 774 points to hold a 35-point lead over Connecticut (8-0), which received the remaining first-place vote.
Gonzaga (9-2) moved up one spot to eighth, while Michigan State (10-2) and Louisville (9-1) complete the top 10.
UCLA (10-1) starts the second 10 and is followed by George Washington (8-0), Boston College (8-2), Maryland (8-2), Oklahoma, Texas (9-2), Indiana (7-2), North Carolina State (9-1), Kentucky (7-3) and Ohio State (8-0).
Nevada (8-1), Wisconsin (9-1), Pittsburgh (9-0), Wake Forest (9-2) and North Carolina (6-2) complete the poll. The Tar Heels slipped six spots after absorbing a 74-59 setback at Southern California on Wednesday.
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 25, 2005) TEAM PTS PVS ---- --- --- 1. DUKE (30) (11-0) 774 1 2. CONNECTICUT (1) (9-0) 739 2 3. VILLANOVA (8-0) 716 3 4. MEMPHIS (9-1) 667 4 5. FLORIDA (11-0) 643 5 6. ILLINOIS (12-0) 632 6 7. WASHINGTON (10-0) 583 7 8. GONZAGA (9-2) 533 9 9. MICHIGAN ST (10-2) 470 1110. LOUISVILLE (9-1) 453 1011. UCLA (10-1) 444 1212. GEO WASHINGTON (8-0) 402 1313. BOSTON COLLEGE (8-2) 342 1414. MARYLAND (8-2) 311 1615. OKLAHOMA (6-2) 304 816. TEXAS (9-2) 287 1517. INDIANA (7-2) 271 1718. NC STATE (9-1) 264 1819. KENTUCKY (8-3) 184 2020. OHIO ST (8-0) 172 2221. NEVADA (8-1) 168 2122. WISCONSIN (9-1) 116 2323. PITTSBURGH (9-0) 84 2524. WAKE FOREST (9-2) 79 2425. NORTH CAROLINA (6-2) 61 19Dropped Out:Others Receiving Votes: SYRACUSE 48, ARIZONA 41, BUCKNELL38, TENNESSEE 29, WEST VIRGINIA 28, NORTHERN IOWA 23, IOWA22, COLORADO 21, CLEMSON 18, INDIANA ST 18, AIR FORCE 17,MICHIGAN 17, MISSOURI ST 12, OKLAHOMA ST 10, TEXAS A&M 8,NOTRE DAME 7, IONA 6, BUFFALO 4, CINCINNATI 4, VANDERBILT 3,KANSAS ST 2.
