Top 25 Polls: UNC Drops to 3rd, While Pitt is #1

    
January 5th, 2009 by Matthew Ryter
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The Story: After North Carolina and Connecticut both lost this week, unbeaten Pittsburgh has jumped up to No. 1 in both polls. The Panthers are ranked No. 1 for the first time in 101 seasons. Pitt received 30 out of 31 first place votes in the Coaches’ Top 25 poll. The Tarheels, who received the only other first place vote this week, fell to No. 3 in both polls after being upset by Boston College in Chapel Hill. UNC had previously been the unanimous selection at the top spot every week this season. Connecticut fell to No. 5 after losing to Georgetown earlier in the week. Duke moved up to No. 2 and unbeaten Wake Forest is No. 4 this week. Wake will play host to UNC this Sunday. Ohio State, Michigan, and Gonzaga all dropped from the rankings this week. The Zags have dropped their last 3 including a New Year’s Eve loss to Utah. Replacing those teams are Marquette, West Virginia, and Boston College. 

 

AP Top 25


1. Pittsburgh (70) 14-0 1,798
2. Duke 12-1 1,660
3. North Carolina (2) 13-1 1,651
4. Wake Forest 13-0 1,553
5. Connecticut 12-1 1,474
6. Oklahoma 13-1 1,358
7. Texas 11-2 1,348
8. Michigan State 11-2 1,269
9. Georgetown 10-2 1,208
10. UCLA 12-2 1,162
11. Syracuse 14-1 1,113
12. Clemson 14-0 968
13. Notre Dame 10-3 802
14. Purdue 11-3 774
15. Tennessee 9-3 533
16. Xavier 11-2 483
17. Boston College 13-2 453
18. Marquette 13-2 436
18. Villanova 12-2 436
20. Arizona State 12-2 374
21. Butler 12-1 341
22. Minnesota 13-1 290
23. Baylor 12-2 289
23. Louisville 9-3 289
25. West Virginia 11-2 230


Others Receiving Votes
Michigan 153, California 122, Arkansas 109, Illinois 108, Gonzaga 86, Wisconsin 86, Memphis 67, Davidson 56, Saint Mary's 50, UNLV 43, Illinois State 39, Kansas 37, Ohio State 28, Texas A&M 27, Maryland 25, Dayton 22, Florida 13, Florida State 13, Brigham Young 12, Miami (FL) 8, Missouri 4.


Dropped From Rankings
Gonzaga 16, Michigan 23, Ohio State 24.

ESPN/USA Today Poll


1. Pittsburgh (30) 14-0 774
2. Duke 12-1 714
3. North Carolina (1) 13-1 707
4. Wake Forest 13-0 687
5. Connecticut 12-1 630
6. Oklahoma 13-1 593
7. Texas 11-2 546
7. UCLA 12-2 546
9. Syracuse 14-1 526
10. Georgetown 10-2 506
11. Clemson 14-0 480
12. Michigan State 11-2 452
13. Notre Dame 10-3 277
14. Purdue 11-3 261
15. Marquette 13-2 251
16. Arizona State 12-2 238
17. Villanova 12-2 225
18. Xavier 11-2 217
19. Minnesota 13-1 183
20. Butler 12-1 147
21. Louisville 9-3 136
22. West Virginia 11-2 132
23. Baylor 12-2 98
24. Boston College 13-2 90
25. Tennessee 9-3 85


Others Receiving Votes
Dayton 54, Illinois State 50, Michigan 49, Saint Mary's 43, Ohio State 40, Memphis 37, Illinois 34, Brigham Young 34, California 31, Davidson 31, Arkansas 27, Gonzaga 27, Wisconsin 26, Texas A&M 22, Missouri 21, Florida 11, UNLV 11, LSU 10, Kansas 7, Stanford 5, Maryland 1, Florida State 1, Utah State 1, Washington 1.


Dropped From Rankings
Gonzaga 17, Ohio State 23, Michigan 24.

Ryter’s Block: Pittsburgh definitely deserves the No. 1 spot in the Top 25 polls. The only other unbeaten teams are Wake Forest, Clemson, and Illinois State. The ACC is stating its case that they may be the best conference in all of college basketball. They have 5 teams ranked in the Top 25, 3 of which are in the top 5, and two of those teams are unbeaten. Boston College made a statement by beating UNC at Chapel Hill. No one outside of Chestnut Hill saw this coming. BC showed a lot of heart and determination winning on the road like that. I don’t understand how they are No. 24 in the Coaches’ poll. Once again the Coaches’ poll continues to not be on the same page as the AP poll. The AP is more accurate with the No. 17 ranking that was given to BC; good for the Eagles, they deserve it. After the top 7 teams, both polls seem to go their separate ways. Wake Forest should be ranked No. 2. Wake beat BYU on the road which ended the nation’s longest home winning streak at 53. I think No. 13 Notre Dame should have fallen a few more spots after losing to St. John’s this week.

Here is a look at some games this week that will be sure to shake up next week’s rankings…

Monday, January 5:                   No. 10 Georgetown at No. 13 Notre Dame

Tuesday, January 6:                  No. 5 Connecticut at No. 22 West Virginia

Wednesday, January 7:             Gonzaga at No. 25 Tennessee

Saturday, January 10:                No. 21 Louisville at No. 17 Villanova

                                                Miami (Fl) at No. 24 Boston College

                                                Kansas at No. 12 Michigan State

Sunday, January 11:                  No. 3 North Carolina at No. 4 Wake Forest

                                                No. 7 UCLA at USC

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