Men's basketball rankings: Gonzaga's AP Top 25 poll streak ends after Santa Clara loss
The last time the Gonzaga Bulldogs weren't ranked in the Associated Press Top 25 poll, the world was a different place.
LeBron James hadn't led the Cleveland Cavaliers to their NBA Finals comeback over the Golden State Warriors yet. Matt Ryan had just been named the NFL's MVP. "Stranger Things" hadn't debuted on Netflix yet, Drake's hit album "Views" hadn't been released and most people were still walking around with wired earbuds because Apple's AirPods weren't a thing either.
Indeed March 2016 feels like a long time ago. A Domantas Sabonis-led Gonzaga team entered the NCAA Tournament as an 11-seed after earning the West Coast Conference's automatic bid. The Bulldogs fell to Final Four-bound Syracuse in the Sweet 16, the final game of Sabonis' college career as well as Kyle Wiltjer's, Eric McClellan's and Kyle Draginis'.
Fast forward eight years, and LeBron James has won a title with the Los Angeles Lakers, Matt Ryan appears as a TV analyst and "Stranger Things" is working on its fifth season. All the while Gonzaga remained a top 25 team in college basketball for 143 consecutive weeks, 39 of those coming at the No. 1 spot. It was an unbelievable run of consistency that obviously wouldn't last forever.
The Bulldogs' streak of AP Top 25 appearances ended Monday after last Thursday's 77-76 loss at Santa Clara. It was the first time the Broncos won a head-to-head meeting since 2011, ending a 26-game losing streak against the WCC's kingpin. Gonzaga (11-5, 2-1 WCC) fell to 50th in the NET as a result with a 0-4 record in Quad 1 games and a 2-1 showing in Quad 2 games after the latest setback.
It wasn't just chaos in the WCC hierarchy though, as 15 of last week's top 25 teams lost including eight of the top 10. As such the rankings flipped on its head, with three teams exiting the top 10 and five programs, including the Bulldogs, falling out of the top 25 altogether.
UConn took the poll's No. 1 spot for the first time in nearly 15 years, as the Huskies received 39 of the 63 first-place votes. Purdue, which fell to Nebraska on the road, dropped to No. 2 with 20 first-place votes, followed by Kansas and North Carolina in the top five. Duke jumped four spots to No. 7, followed by Kentucky, Baylor and Memphis in the top 10.
After an 8-0 start led it to the No. 1 ranking in the poll, Arizona went 4-4 in its last eight games and dropped to No. 12 after a letdown to Washington State in Pullman. Three of the Wildcats' losses have come against unranked opponents.
Here's the complete AP Top 25 poll:
1. UConn (15-2, 5-1 Big East)
2. Purdue (15-2, 4-2 Big Ten)
3. Kansas (14-2, 2-1 Big 12)
4. North Carolina (13-3, 5-0 ACC)
5. Houston (14-2, 1-2 Big 12)
6. Tennessee (12-4, 2-1 SEC)
7. Duke (13-3, 4-1 ACC)
8. Kentucky (12-3, 2-1 SEC)
9. Baylor (14-2, 3-0 Big 12)
10. Memphis (15-2, 4-0 AAC)
11. Wisconsin (13-3, 5-0 Big Ten)
12. Arizona (12-4, 3-2 PAC-12)
13. Auburn (14-2, 3-0 SEC)
14. Illinois (12-4, 3-2 Big Ten)
15. Oklahoma (13-3, 1-2 Big 12)
16. Utah State (16-1, 4-0 Mountain West)
17. Marquette (11-5, 2-3 Big East)
18. Creighton (13-4, 4-2 Big East
19. TCU (13-3, 2-1 Big 12)
20. BYU (13-3, 1-2 Big 12)
21. Dayton (13-2, 3-0 Atlantic 10)
22. Ole Miss (15-1, 2-1 SEC)
23. Florida Atlantic (13-4, 3-1 AAC)
24. Iowa State (13-3, 2-1 Big 12)
25. Texas Tech (14-2, 3-0 Big 12)
