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The Daily Utah Chronicle

The University of Utah's Independent Student Voice

The Daily Utah Chronicle

The University of Utah's Independent Student Voice

The Daily Utah Chronicle

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Want your voice to be heard? Submit a letter to the editor, send us an op-ed pitch or check out our open positions for the chance to be published by the Daily Utah Chronicle.
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After Week of Upsets, Kansas Heads New Poll

Kansas took advantage of a weekend of upsets to become No. 1 in the AP college basketball poll on Monday.

The Jayhawks (12-1) moved up one spot to replace Duke (12-1), which had been on top of the rankings all season, the last five weeks as a unanimous No. 1.

But the Blue Devils had their 22-game winning streak snapped Sunday by Florida State, the sixth loss by a top 10 team over the weekend and the 15th by a ranked team last week.

This is the ninth season in which Kansas has been ranked No. 1 and all but two?1951-52 and 1956-57?have been under coach Roy Williams. The last time the Jayhawks were No. 1 was for 15 polls in the 1996 97 season.

Kansas, which hasn’t lost since being upset in its opening game by Ball State, received 34 first-place votes and 1,722 points from the national media panel.

“Winning 12 games in a row is a big-time thing,” Kansas junior forward Drew Gooden said Monday. “We deserve to be No. 1.”

Duke, whose run as a unanimous No. 1 was the longest since UNLV did it for the final six weeks of the 1990-91 season, received 26 first-place votes and 1,697 points, 11 more than Florida (12-1), which was No. 1 on the other 11 ballots and remained third.

“If I were voting, I would still vote for Duke because they lost on a last-second shot on the court of an opposing conference team,” Williams said Monday. “Whatever it comes out, that will be fine. We still have to play in college basketball. There’s no BCS we have to worry about.”

Maryland moved up four places to fourth, while Oklahoma made the week’s biggest jump, moving from No. 10 to fifth.

Oklahoma State, Virginia and Kentucky?three of the other top-10 teams to lose over the weekend?were sixth, seventh and eighth and were followed in the top 10 by Illinois and Cincinnati.

UCLA moved up three places to lead the second 10 and was followed by Syracuse, Iowa and Alabama and Stanford, which were tied for 14th. Boston College was No. 16, followed by Missouri, Gonzaga, Wake Forest and Arizona.

The last five ranked teams were Miami, Mississippi State, Pittsburgh, Butler and Michigan State.

Mississippi State (14-1), which beat Kentucky 74-69 in overtime, is ranked for the first time since the 1995-96 season, the year the Bulldogs went to the Final Four. Mississippi State’s only loss this season was to Cincinnati.

Pittsburgh (14-1) moved into the Top 25 for the first time since the 1998-99 season off a 77-74 victory at Boston College, the Panthers’ ninth straight since a loss to South Florida.

Georgetown (9-5) was the only ranked team to lose two games last week, falling to Miami and Rutgers and dropping out from 24th. The Hoyas were No. 14 in the preseason poll and had been ranked every week this season.

Marquette (11-3) fell out from No. 25 after losing to Charlotte, the Golden Eagles’ third loss in four games. Marquette was ranked for the last six weeks, getting as high as No. 14.

The week’s biggest drop was Michigan State’s fall from No. 19 to 25th after losing to Minnesota in its only game.

The other top 10 teams to lose over the weekend were Illinois and Iowa.

Duke, Virginia, Oklahoma State and Miami entered the weekend as the only Division I teams without a loss. The last team to go unbeaten in a season was Indiana in 1975-76.

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