Hawaii Gets Rare Ranking

North Carolina remained the No. 1 team in The Associated Press men’s college basketball poll Monday, while Hawaii made its first appearance in the rankings in 24 years.

The Tar Heels (15-0), who beat Bethune-Cookman and Clemson last week, were on top a fourth straight week after receiving 68 first-place votes and 1,748 points from a national media panel.

Duke, which won at Maryland by 32 Saturday, moved up one spot to No. 2. The Blue Devils (12-1) got the other two first-place votes and had 1,675 points.

Utah (12-0) moved up from fourth to third, while Kansas (17-2), which lost to Hawaii 76-65 in the championship game of the Rainbow Classic, dropped from second to fourth, the Jayhawks’ lowest ranking since they were No. 6 in the final poll of 1995-96.

Arizona, which opened its Pac-10 season with a victory over UCLA, moved from eighth to No. 5 and was followed by Kentucky, Stanford, Connecticut, Purdue and UCLA.

Hawaii (11-1), which enjoyed its biggest victory ever with the win over Kansas, joined the rankings for the first time since the 1973-74 season and for just the third time ever.

(12) New Mexico 98, TCU 77

At Albuquerque, N.M., Clayton Shields tied the school record with eight 3-pointers and finished with a career-high 34 points Monday night as the Lobos (11-1) beat the Horned Frogs (11-4).

TCU, the nation’s highest scoring team, came in averaging just over 104 points a game, but could not match the Lobos’ scoring-by-committee. Six New Mexico players hit 3-pointers.

Lamont Long finished with 27 points and 12 rebounds for the Lobos.

Lee Nailon scored 25 for TCU.

(25) W. Va. 81, Georgetown 70

At Morgantown, W.Va., Damian Owens scored 27 points Monday night as the Mountaineers (13-2, 3-2 Big East) beat Georgetown (8-4, 2-3) and avenged a loss to the Hoyas last week.

Adrian Pledger added 12 points as West Virginia beat Georgetown for the first time since joining the Big East three years ago.

Women’s Top 25

Tennessee (15-0) held its familiar place atop The Associated Press women’s poll. A not-so-familiar face, Utah, gained a spot near the other end of the Top 25.

Unbeaten Utah made the poll for the first time in its history, breaking in at No. 22, and Tulane returned to the rankings at 24th after a two-week absence.

Utah (11-0), off to its best start ever, missed a spot in the Top 25 by only five points last week.

Old Dominion (10-0) is No. 2.

University of Washington (10-0) gained a spot to seventh after opening Pac-10 play with a win over Washington State.