Nov. 17, 2008
NEW YORK (AP) - North Carolina started the season without injured starters Tyler Hansbrough and Marcus Ginyard and stayed a unanimous No. 1 in The Associated Press' college basketball poll Monday.
The Tar Heels (1-0) didn't have Hansbrough (shin) or Ginyard (foot surgery) in their season-opening 86-71 win over Pennsylvania last weekend, but strong play from freshmen big men Tyler Zeller and Ed Davis were enough to draw all 72 first-place votes from the national media panel.
No teams from the preseason poll lost in the first week. That left all 25 teams from the first regular-season poll in the latest rankings, with just a couple of schools moving a place or two.
Gonzaga moved up one spot to ninth following a season-opening 83-52 win over Montana State Billings last SAturday. It's the highest ranking for the Bulldogs since the final poll of the 2006 season when Gonzaga finished fifth. Gonzaga will be back in action Tuesday when Idaho visits the McCarthey Athletic Center.
Connecticut, Louisville and UCLA stayed second through fourth. Michigan State, which beat Idaho 100-62 in its opener, and Pittsburgh, which opened with an 86-63 win over Fairleigh Dickinson, switched places to fifth and sixth, respectively.
Texas held seventh and Notre Dame moved up one spot to eight. Duke dropped from No. 8 to 10. The Blue Devils beat Presbyterian and Georgia Southern by an average of 37 points before rallying to squeak by Rhode Island 82-79 on Sunday night.
Purdue again was No. 11, followed by Oklahoma, Memphis and Tennessee. Arizona State and Marquette were tied for No. 15, with Miami, Florida, Southern California and Wake Forest completing the top 20. The last five ranked teams were Davidson, Georgetown, Villanova, Kansas and Wisconsin.
All the teams started their seasons last week except for Louisville and Georgetown. Louisville opens against Morehead State on Saturday in the first round of the Billy Minardi Classic. Georgetown was to host Jacksonville on Monday night.
Hansbrough, the reigning national player of the year, missed the first game of his college career because of the leg injury and the timetable for his return has not been set. Coach Roy Williams said last week the team is being conservative with his recovery. Ginyard, the Tar Heels' best defender, is out until December.
North Carolina hosts Kentucky on Tuesday and is at Cal-Santa Barbara on Friday, then will play in the EA Sports Maui Invitational next week in a field that also features Texas and Notre Dame.
The season's first matchup of top 10 teams could take place Friday in the championship game of the 2K Sports Classic Benefiting Coaches vs. Cancer in New York if Duke beats Southern Illinois in one semifinal and UCLA defeats Michigan in the other.
The Associated Press Top 25 college basketball poll, withnumber of first-place votes and record in parentheses, totalpoints and previous ranking:(Records through November 16, 2008) TEAM PTS PVS ---- --- --- 1. NORTH CAROLINA (72) (1-0) 1,800 1 2. CONNECTICUT (1-0) 1,674 2 3. LOUISVILLE (0-0) 1,635 3 4. UCLA (2-0) 1,475 4 5. MICHIGAN ST (1-0) 1,362 6 6. PITTSBURGH (1-0) 1,355 5 7. TEXAS (1-0) 1,304 7 8. NOTRE DAME (1-0) 1,243 9 9. GONZAGA (1-0) 1,185 1010. DUKE (3-0) 1,176 811. PURDUE (1-0) 1,116 1112. OKLAHOMA (1-0) 1,028 1213. MEMPHIS (1-0) 968 1314. TENNESSEE (1-0) 941 1415. (tie) ARIZONA ST (1-0) 653 1515. (tie) MARQUETTE (1-0) 653 1617. MIAMI FL (1-0) 591 1718. FLORIDA (2-0) 460 1919. USC (1-0) 398 1820. WAKE FOREST (1-0) 349 2121. DAVIDSON (1-0) 339 2022. GEORGETOWN (0-0) 265 2223. VILLANOVA (1-0) 261 2324. KANSAS (1-0) 207 2425. WISCONSIN (1-0) 187 25Dropped Out:Others Receiving Votes: BAYLOR 125, UNLV 116, SAINT MARYS CA108, XAVIER 102, SYRACUSE 97, OHIO ST 49, CLEMSON 33, TEXASA&M 32, LSU 23, BYU 17, WASHINGTON ST 13, WEST VIRGINIA 10,VA COMMONWEALTH 8, VIRGINIA TECH 8, SIENA 7, VANDERBILT 6,RHODE ISLAND 5, ALABAMA 3, MERCER 3, CREIGHTON 2, UAB 2,SOUTHN ILLINOIS 1, HOLY CROSS 1, ARIZONA 1, CS NORTHRIDGE 1,WASHINGTON 1, VMI 1.
