Gonzaga Remains 11th In Coaches Poll
12/12/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 12, 2005
BRISTOL, Connecticut (Ticker) - After an emphatic statement by J.J. Redick, Duke easily remained the top team in the latest USA Today/ESPN coaches' poll released Monday.
Redick established career highs with 41 points and nine 3-pointers as Duke posted a 97-66 rout of then-No. 2 Texas in what turned out to be a mismatch between the nation's top teams.
The meeting at the Meadowlands was the earliest between the top teams in the nation since Indiana upended defending champion UCLA on November 29, 1975.
The Blue Devils (9-0) have been the poll's only No. 1 team this season and received 30 first-place votes - five more than last week - and 774 points to hold a 36-point lead over Connecticut (7-0), which received the only other first-place vote.
Villanova (6-0) is third and Louisville (5-0) fourth with 716 and 654 points, respectively. The Huskies, Wildcats and Cardinals give the Big East Conference three of the top four teams in the country, while Memphis (7-1) climbed two spots to round out the top five.
Unranked to start the season, Florida (9-0) is sixth and followed by Texas (8-1), Illinois (10-0), Oklahoma (5-1) and Washington (8-0).
Gonzaga (6-2) survived a scare in a 64-62 win over Oklahoma State on Saturday on Adam Morrison's 3-pointer with 2.5 seconds remaining. At No. 11, the Bulldogs are followed by Michigan State (7-2), Boston College (6-2), UCLA (7-1) and George Washington (7-0).
Wake Forest (7-1), Maryland (7-2), Indiana (5-2), North Carolina State (6-1) and defending national champion North Carolina (5-1) round out the top 20.
Nevada (6-1), Kentucky (6-3), Iowa (7-3), Wisconsin (7-1) and Ohio State (4-0) complete the poll. The Badgers and Buckeyes joined the rankings while Alabama (4-3) and Arizona (4-3) dropped out.
Duke leads six Atlantic Coast Conference teams in the poll, a number matched by the Big Ten Conference.
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 11, 2005) TEAM PTS PVS ---- --- --- 1. DUKE (30) (9-0) 774 1 2. CONNECTICUT (1) (7-0) 738 3 3. VILLANOVA (6-0) 716 4 4. LOUISVILLE (5-0) 654 5 5. MEMPHIS (7-1) 613 7 6. FLORIDA (9-0) 595 8 7. TEXAS (8-1) 591 2 8. ILLINOIS (10-0) 558 10 9. OKLAHOMA (5-1) 529 910. WASHINGTON (8-0) 501 1211. GONZAGA (6-2) 474 1112. MICHIGAN ST (7-2) 383 1413. BOSTON COLLEGE (6-2) 354 614. UCLA (7-1) 330 1815. GEO WASHINGTON (7-0) 306 2016. WAKE FOREST (7-1) 264 2117. MARYLAND (7-2) 259 1718. INDIANA (5-2) 237 1619. NC STATE (6-1) 197 2320. NORTH CAROLINA (5-1) 157 2421. NEVADA (6-1) 126 2222. KENTUCKY (6-3) 119 1523. IOWA (7-3) 85 1324. WISCONSIN (7-1) 75 NR25. OHIO ST (4-0) 62 NRDropped Out: No. 19 ALABAMA, No. 25 ARIZONAOthers Receiving Votes: MICHIGAN 58, SYRACUSE 58, ARIZONA47, PITTSBURGH 42, HOUSTON 31, LSU 22, WEST VIRGINIA 22,BUCKNELL 19, OHIO 15, XAVIER 11, BUFFALO 7, NOTRE DAME 7,COLORADO 6, AIR FORCE 5, ALABAMA 5, KANSAS ST 5, CLEMSON 4,IONA 4, NORTHERN IOWA 3, VANDERBILT 3, UNC WILMINGTON 2, NEWMEXICO 1, OKLAHOMA ST 1.
