Fast Break
Men’s basketball
New heights for No. 4 Cougars
Washington State kept winning and benefited from last week’s three big-time matchups.
All of that caused plenty of movement in the Associated Press college poll Monday, including putting the Cougars at their highest position in school history at No. 4.
The Cougars (11-0) beat The Citadel on Thursday in Seattle, 67-45, and then traveled to Pocatello on Sunday and whipped Idaho State 75-45.
Washington State’s previous highest ranking was sixth earlier this season.
For the fourth straight week, North Carolina, Memphis and Kansas were the top three teams in the rankings. Then came the changes courtesy of the high-profile games that handed three teams their first loss of the season.
Pittsburgh’s 65-64 victory over Duke in overtime Thursday was the first of the marquee matchups with Memphis’ 85-71 win over Georgetown and Michigan State’s 78-72 victory over Texas, both Saturday, capping the early season treats in a month usually reserved for mismatches.
North Carolina, which beat Nicholls State and UC Santa Barbara last week, held the No. 1 spot as it has since the preseason poll. The Tar Heels (11-0) received 47 first-place votes and 1,774 points from the 72-member national media panel, ahead of Memphis (10-0), which was No. 1 on 24 ballots and had 1,740 points.
The Tigers’ big home win over Georgetown got them five more first-place votes from last week. They took one each from North Carolina and Kansas and picked up two from Texas and one from Georgetown.
Kansas (12-0), which beat Georgia Tech and Miami of Ohio last week, had the only other first-place vote.
After Washington State is UCLA, Pittsburgh, Michigan State, Georgetown, Texas and Duke.
Gonzaga (9-3), which lost 72-68 to Oklahoma last week, its second loss in three games, and fell out of the Top 25 for the first time this season. The Bulldogs, who were 14th in the preseason poll, fell out from No. 18.
Women’s basketball
UConn back in top spot
After nearly a four-year absence, Connecticut is back at No. 1 in the Associated Press rankings.
The Huskies (9-0) received 49 of the 50 first-place votes Monday after being ranked second all season. Tennessee had been No. 1 since the preseason poll, but lost to Stanford 73-69 in overtime Saturday night.
The Lady Vols (10-1) fell to No. 3, while the Cardinal (10-1) received the other first-place vote and moved up to No. 2. Stanford moved up to its highest spot in the poll since finishing the 2004-05 season at No. 1.
It’s the first time Connecticut has held the top spot since Feb. 23, 2004.
Arizona State (6-5) is out of the Top 25 for the first time since the final poll of the 2004-05 season.