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Cougs attain highest ranking, 6th

Taylor Rochestie, driving against Air Force, has been a key player in Washington State's 6-0 start. Associated Press (Ingrid Barrentine Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)
From Staff and Wire Reports The Spokesman-Review
Taylor Rochestie, driving against Air Force, has been a key player in Washington State's 6-0 start. Associated Press (Ingrid Barrentine Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)

Washington State’s 6-0 start was rewarded by voters in the men’s college basketball polls this week.

The Cougars moved up to sixth – their highest ranking ever – in both the Associated Press writers’ poll and ESPN/USA Today coaches poll Monday.

“I would be really excited by it if it helped us at Baylor, but that’s not the case,” said WSU coach Tony Bennett, referring to Friday night’s game in Waco, Texas, in the Pac-10 vs. Big 12 series.

“Polls during the season are such fluid things,” Bennett said.

WSU’s previous highest ranking was ninth, which last week’s ranking matched.

The Cougars opened the season ranked 10th in both polls. Friday’s game should be their toughest test so far. The Bears are 5-0 and won the Paradise Jam, defeating Wichita State, Notre Dame and Winthrop.

WSU’s climb was one of several changes behind the top five in the AP poll, which remained the same, after 13 ranked teams lost last week.

Gonzaga was one of them. The Bulldogs slipped to 19th this week from 14th.

North Carolina (5-0) retained a slim lead over UCLA (6-0), with Memphis (5-0), Kansas (5-0) and Georgetown (3-0) remaining third through fifth.

Five schools fell out of the Top 25 while others, like WSU and GU, made significant jumps or falls.

Behind Washington State, Duke, Texas and Texas A&M jumped to take seventh through ninth, while Michigan State stayed No. 10.

Texas (5-0) and Texas A&M (6-0) won the Legends Classic and NIT Season Tip-Off, respectively, and both moved up seven places.

The five newcomers move in as a block from 20th through 24th: Wisconsin, BYU, Southern California, Xavier and North Carolina State.

Teams that fell out were Southern Illinois, Villanova, Syracuse, Virginia and Florida.

Tennessee, which lost to Texas 97-78 in the Legends Classic final, dropped four spots to 11th and was followed by Louisville, Marquette, Pittsburgh, Indiana, Butler, Oregon, Clemson, Gonzaga and Wisconsin.

The last five ranked teams are BYU, Southern Cal, Xavier, North Carolina State and Kansas State.

The biggest drops were by Indiana and Kansas State, which both fell seven places. Indiana (4-1) dropped to 15th after an 80-65 loss to Xavier. Kansas State (5-1) fell to 25th after losing its first-round game in the Old Spice Classic, 87-77, to George Mason.

Louisville, which started the week with the news senior center David Padgett would miss significant time with a knee injury, dropped to 12th after a 78-76 loss to BYU.

Southern Illinois and Villanova both lost in tournament championship games, the Salukis to Southern California in the Anaheim Classic and the Wildcats to North Carolina State at the Old Spice Classic.

Syracuse lost to Ohio State in the semifinals of the NIT Season Tip-Off, Virginia lost to Seton Hall, and two-time defending national champion Florida fell to its arch rival, Florida State.

Of the five newcomers, only Wisconsin didn’t beat a ranked team. The Badgers (5-0) had easy wins over Colorado and Georgia last week.

Southern Cal and North Carolina State both returned after a week out of the Top 25. The other three newcomers were all ranked at some point last season.