Stanford Women No. 1

Defeating the No. 2 team made Stanford a unanimous No. 1 in The Associated Press women’s basketball poll.

Stanford opened the season with a 74-65 victory over Alabama in the Tip-Off Classic on Sunday and received all 42 first-place votes from a national media panel in the first regular-season poll.

In the preseason poll last week, Stanford had 35 firstplace votes and Alabama, which was second then, had seven. ‘Bama dropped to fourth Monday.

In just over two years, Rick Barnes has Clemson fans crazy about something other than college football - college basketball.

Since Barnes took over for Cliff Ellis in 1994, attendance is up, excitement is up and, after the Tigers reached No. 12 in the latest rankings, respect is up.

Clemson beat defending champion Kentucky 79-71 in overtime Friday night, rising from 20th and dropping the Wildcats five spots to No. 8.

The No. 8 ranking is the lowest for Kentucky since the middle of the 1994-95 season.