Duke strengthens its hold on AP poll lead

Duke’s runaway win over Texas kept the Blue Devils a runaway No. 1 in the Associated Press men’s college basketball poll on Monday.

The next three places in the Top 25 were Big East schools – Connecticut, Villanova and Louisville. The only newcomer was Houston, ranked for the first time in almost 13 years.

Duke (9-0) beat Texas 97-66 on Saturday, the third-biggest margin ever in a 1-vs.-2 matchup. The Blue Devils received 66 first-place votes, 13 more than last week, and 1,793 points from the national media panel.

Houston (4-1) moved in at No. 25 a week after the Cougars beat then-No. 25 LSU 84-83 and then-No. 15 Arizona 69-65. Houston was ranked 25th in the Jan. 18, 1993 poll. The last time the Cougars were ranked for more than one week was the 1983-84 season, when they were in the top eight all season, climbing as high as No. 2.

“Being ranked is important for recruiting and credibility and later on when they pick teams in March, the committee tends to look at that as some sort of barometer,” Houston coach Tom Penders said Monday. “It’s a sleeping giant here. It’s been down since Guy Lewis retired in 1986, but it’s a tradition-rich school with five Final Fours and banners all over the place.”

Gonzaga dropped a spot in the AP poll to 10th and remained 11th in the USA Today/ESPN coaches poll. University of Washington climbed two places in both polls, to No. 11 in the AP balloting and passing GU for 10th in the coaches poll.

This is the 172nd consecutive time Duke has been ranked, tied for the second-longest run in the history of the AP poll that started in the 1948-49 season. UCLA holds the record at 221 consecutive polls, from the preseason of 1966-67 through Jan. 8, 1980. North Carolina was also in 172 consecutive polls, from the preseason voting of 1990-91 through Jan. 17, 2000.

Kentucky has the second-longest current streak at 85 polls, a run that started on Feb. 12, 2001.

Connecticut, Villanova and Louisville moved up one place apiece with Texas’ drop to sixth. Memphis moved up two places to fifth, its highest ranking since 1996.

The only game involving two ranked teams this week will be Louisville at Kentucky on Saturday.

Women

Tennessee’s support as the No. 1 women’s team is growing.

The Lady Vols (8-0) led the AP poll by an even-wider margin over No. 2 Duke on Monday, receiving 31 of 45 first-place votes from a national media panel and finishing with 1,109 points.

Duke (7-0) had 12 first-place votes and trailed Tennessee by 21 points. A week ago, Tennessee had a 26-18 edge in first-place votes and a 13-point lead.

LSU (4-0) remained third with two first-place votes and 1,014 points.

There were no newcomers after a relatively light week as players began taking final exams in the classroom. Three teams in the Top 25 – LSU, Baylor and Stanford – did not play at all. Nine others, including Tennessee and Duke, played just once.

The top five stayed the same, with Ohio State fourth and Baylor fifth.

No. 12 Arizona State jumped three spots, the highest ranking for the Sun Devils since they were 12th in the final poll of the 1982-83 season.