Dec. 8, 2008

MCLEAN, Virginia (Ticker) -- Following another impressive win over a high-profile program, North Carolina remained the unanimous No. 1 in the latest USA Today/ESPN coaches' poll, which was released Monday.

The Tar Heels (8-0) received all 31 first-place votes and 775 points from a panel of Division I head coaches.

North Carolina has completely dominated its opposition this season, winning every game by double digits and posting an average victory margin of 30.4 points.

In their only game last week, the Tar Heels crushed then-No. 12 Michigan State, 98-63, at Detroit's Ford Field - the site of this season's Final Four.

North Carolina also has crushed Kentucky, Oregon and Notre Dame this season.

Despite receiving a scare from Buffalo last week, Connecticut (8-0) remained second in the rankings with 734 overall points.

The Huskies survived what would have been a major upset Thursday by rallying for a 68-64 victory over Buffalo.

Pittsburgh (9-0) remained third, followed by Gonzaga (6-0) and Oklahoma (8-0). Both the Bulldogs and the Sooners climbed one spot in the rankings.

The ranking is the highest for the Bulldogs since the week of March 15, 2008, when the Bulldogs climbed to No. 2 behind Stanford University. Gonzaga plays at Washington State University on Wednesday.

Texas (6-1) moved up two spots to sixth while Duke (8-1), which was upset Saturday by Michigan, dropped three places to seventh.

Tennessee (6-1), Xavier (7-0) and Louisville (4-1) rounded out the top 10.

Wake Forest (8-0) vaulted six spots to 11th, followed by Villanova (8-0), which jumped four spots to 12th. Notre Dame (6-2) fell six places to 13th following Saturday's loss to Ohio State.

UCLA (5-2) fell five spots to 14th, followed by Memphis (5-1), Syracuse (8-0), Purdue (6-2), Arizona State (7-1), Georgetown (5-1) and Michigan State (5-2).

Ohio State (5-0) entered the poll at No. 21, followed by Davidson (6-1) and defending national champion Kansas (7-1).

Also new to the rankings was No. 24 Marquette (7-1).

Miami (5-2) is 25th while Florida and Wisconsin both fell from the rankings.

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 7, 2008)    TEAM                                   PTS   PVS    ----                                   ---   --- 1. NORTH CAROLINA (31) (8-0)              775     1 2. CONNECTICUT (8-0)                      734     2 3. PITTSBURGH (9-0)                       715     3 4. GONZAGA (6-0)                          674     5 5. OKLAHOMA (8-0)                         632     6 6. TEXAS (6-1)                            601     8 7. DUKE (8-1)                             551     4 8. TENNESSEE (6-1)                        465    13 9. XAVIER (7-0)                           463    1410. LOUISVILLE (4-1)                       446    1111. WAKE FOREST (8-0)                      368    1712. VILLANOVA (8-0)                        362    1613. NOTRE DAME (6-2)                       359     714. UCLA (5-2)                             349     915. MEMPHIS (5-1)                          330    1516. SYRACUSE (8-0)                         317    2017. PURDUE (6-2)                           293    1018. ARIZONA ST (7-1)                       254    1919. GEORGETOWN (5-1)                       246    1820. MICHIGAN ST (5-2)                      190    1221. OHIO ST (5-0)                          173    NR22. DAVIDSON (6-1)                         143    2423. KANSAS (7-1)                           136    2524. MARQUETTE (7-1)                        102    NR25. MIAMI FL (5-2)                          69    22Dropped Out: No. 21 FLORIDA, No. 22 WISCONSINOthers Receiving Votes: BAYLOR 65, DAYTON 57, WISCONSIN 43,BYU 34, CLEMSON 29, MICHIGAN 29, BUTLER 27, FLORIDA 22,SAINT MARYS CA 8, MISSOURI 5, MARYLAND 3, MINNESOTA 2,WASHINGTON ST 2, FLORIDA ST 1, WEST VIRGINIA 1.