Gonzaga 16th In USA Today/ESPN Poll
12/11/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 11, 2006
BRISTOL, Connecticut (Ticker) -- UCLA once again received high marks after passing its first test of the season.
Two days after barely edging Texas A&M, the Bruins retained the No. 1 ranking in the latest USA Today/ESPN coaches' poll released Monday.
The Bruins (8-0) received 26 of a possible 31 first-place votes and 770 points from a panel of coaches. It marks the second consecutive week that UCLA has held the top spot.
In its first serious challenge of the campaign, UCLA held on for a 65-62 victory over Texas A&M on Saturday. The Bruins were forced to stave off several second-half rallies from the Aggies, who were ranked sixth at the time.
Off to a 10-0 start for the fourth consecutive season, Pittsburgh picked up four first-place votes to remain second.
The Panthers, who have 737 points, also survived a scare Saturday in a 70-67 triumph over Buffalo.
North Carolina (7-1) collected 708 points to maintain the No. 3 spot while Ohio State (8-1) received 689 points and the final first-place vote to remain fourth.
Defending national champion Florida (8-2) rounds out the top five.
Duke (9-1) climbed three spots to sixth while Wisconsin (9-1) moved from 12th to seventh. Connecticut (8-0) is eighth, followed by Alabama (8-1) and Wichita State (7-0).
Arizona (7-1) jumped four spots to 11th, followed by Kansas (8-2), Texas A&M (7-2), Washington (7-1) and Louisiana State (5-2). The Huskies fell six spots after suffering a 97-77 rout at the hands of Gonzaga on Saturday.
Fresh off the impressive win over its in-state rival, Gonzaga (9-2) jumped two spots to 16th. Oklahoma State (11-0) is 17th, followed by Butler (10-1), Memphis (7-2) and Air Force (10-1).
Nevada (7-1), Marquette (9-2), Michigan State (9-2), Oregon (7-0) and Clemson (10-0) complete the poll. The final two schools are new to the rankings.
Dropping out of the poll were Syracuse (8-2) and Maryland (9-2).
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 10, 2006) TEAM PTS PVS ---- --- --- 1. UCLA (26) (8-0) 770 1 2. PITTSBURGH (4) (10-0) 737 2 3. NORTH CAROLINA (7-1) 708 3 4. OHIO ST (1) (8-1) 689 4 5. FLORIDA (8-2) 586 7 6. DUKE (9-1) 584 9 7. WISCONSIN (9-1) 538 12 8. CONNECTICUT (8-0) 486 10 9. ALABAMA (8-1) 480 510. WICHITA ST (7-0) 476 1611. ARIZONA (7-1) 473 1512. KANSAS (8-2) 443 1313. TEXAS A&M (7-2) 341 614. WASHINGTON (7-1) 332 815. LSU (5-2) 327 1116. GONZAGA (9-2) 309 1817. OKLAHOMA ST (11-0) 294 2418. BUTLER (10-1) 267 1419. MEMPHIS (7-2) 205 1720. AIR FORCE (10-1) 204 2321. NEVADA (7-1) 144 1922. MARQUETTE (9-2) 137 2023. MICHIGAN ST (9-2) 74 2524. OREGON (7-0) 70 NR25. CLEMSON (10-0) 67 NRDropped Out: No. 21 SYRACUSE, No. 22 MARYLANDOthers Receiving Votes: SYRACUSE 64, NOTRE DAME 51, MARYLAND50, TEXAS 46, MISSOURI ST 39, SOUTHN ILLINOIS 20, PURDUE 15,XAVIER 8, LOUISVILLE 6, BOSTON COLLEGE 5, DAYTON 5, UNLV 5,WASHINGTON ST 5, FLORIDA ST 3, TENNESSEE 3, GEORGETOWN 2,MISSOURI 2, WEST VIRGINIA 2, ILLINOIS 1, NORTHERN IOWA 1,VIRGINIA 1.
