Bulldogs Jump To No. 13 In AP Top 25
12/15/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec 15, 2003
SPOKANE, Wash. - The road doesn't get much easier for Gonzaga University's men's basketball team, which jumped to No. 13 in the latest Associated Press Top 25 released Monday.
After disposing of then third-ranked University of Missouri 87-80 last Saturday in Seattle's KeyArena, the Bulldogs' next opponent will be No. 9 Stanford University on Saturday in the Pete Newell Challenge at The Arena in Oakland. The Bulldogs and Cardinal, a rematch of last year's Pete Newell Challenge, tip off at 6 p.m. PST on KHQ-TV in Spokane and CSTV, the latter available to Direct TV subscribers. The nightcap of the showcase doubleheader will have the University of California facing 11th-ranked Saint Joseph's University, the latter the only team to defeat the Bulldogs this season.
Gonzaga jumped four spots in this week's poll after being 17th for the first three weeks of the regular season. Gonzaga entered the pre-season poll ranked 10th prior to suffering a season-opening setback to Saint Joseph's in the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic in Madison Square Garden.
The University of Connecticut, the pre-season No. 1, moved back into the top spot after the University of Florida dropped a pair of games last week after sitting atop the poll. The Gators fell to 15th. UConn received 21 first-place votes while the University of Kentucky received 26 first-place nods to move from eighth to second. In all seven teams received first-place votes this week.
One of those receiving votes for No. 1 was Stanford, which garnered a pair of first-place votes and moved from 13th to ninth. The Cardinal had vaulted from 22nd to 13th the previous week after upsetting then No. 1 University of Kansas. The Cardinal are 5-0 heading into Monday's home game with Florida International University.
Gonzaga moved to 7-1 overall with Saturday's win over Missouri at the inaugural "Battle in Seattle", coming from as many as seven points down in the second half. It was the highest-ranked team the Bulldogs have defeated. Missouri fell to 10th in this week's poll.
By The Associated Press
The top 25 teams in The Associated Press' men's college basketball poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through Dec. 14, total points based on 25 points for a first-place vote through one point for a 25th-place vote and previous ranking:
Record Pts Pvs 1. Connecticut (21) 7-1 1,685 2 2. Kentucky (26) 5-0 1,618 8 3. Duke (1) 6-1 1,535 4 4. North Carolina (6) 6-0 1,507 7 5. Georgia Tech (14) 8-0 1,418 10 6. Kansas 5-1 1,409 5 7. Arizona (2) 4-1 1,407 9 8. Oklahoma 7-0 1,217 11 9. Stanford (2) 5-0 1,081 1310. Missouri 3-1 1,057 311. Saint Joseph's 7-0 1,050 1211. Texas 5-1 1,050 613. Gonzaga 7-1 987 1714. Wake Forest 5-0 914 1515. Florida 5-2 863 116. Cincinnati 4-0 648 1817. Purdue 7-1 647 1618. Pittsburgh 7-0 544 2019. Syracuse 3-1 535 1920. Louisville 4-1 406 -21. Illinois 6-2 398 1422. Wisconsin 6-1 367 2323. Marquette 6-1 303 2224. Dayton 8-0 183 2525. Maryland 6-2 176 -
Others receiving votes: Vanderbilt 80, Michigan St. 68, Iowa 40, Mississippi St. 31, Providence 26, Auburn 23, Florida St. 20, BYU 15, South Carolina 10, Virginia 10, N.C. State 9, UCLA 9, Texas Tech 8, Oregon 7, Utah 7, Boston College 6, Creighton 5, Notre Dame 5, Murray St. 4, Oklahoma St. 4, George Washington 2, Rhode Island 2, Boise St. 1, Detroit 1, Lafayette 1, Memphis 1.
