Top 25: Jayhawks suffer short slide, remain in the top 10.
The up and down week for the Kansas Jayhawks didn't hurt them much in the rankings, as a loss on short rest to rival Kansas State on the road was largely canceled out by beating the ranked Baylor Bears at home with only 7 scholarship players. With both polls being released, the Jayhawks stayed in the top 10, dropping to 6th in the AP Poll and 7th in the Coaches Poll.
Despite all the big upsets towards the top of the rankings, the biggest news of the poll release is that the Indiana State Sycamores are ranked for the first time since the 1978-79 season. They debuted at 23rd in the AP Poll and 24th in the Coaches Poll.
UConn and Purdue are the only two teams to maintain their positions in both of the polls, with Houston and Marquette slotting in third and fourth, respectively. The next three spots were comprised of the same teams in both polls, although the orders were different, with just Arizona ahead of Kansas in the AP Poll, and North Carolina staying above both of the in the Coaches Poll.
The Big 12 maintained the count from last week, with six total squads placing in both polls. In addition to Houston and Kansas, the Iowa State Cyclones (10th AP/10th Coaches), Baylor Bears (12th/13th), BYU Cougars (19th/17th) and Oklahoma Sooners (25th/T-21st) all represent the conference. Also receiving votes this week are the Texas Tech Red Raiders (both polls), the TCU Horned Frogs (both polls) and the Texas Longhorns (AP Poll only).
The biggest jump up in the polls came outside the Top 6 conferences, as the Saint Mary's Gaels leaped up to 18th in the AP Poll and 19th in the Coaches Poll after receiving votes last week. In the Coaches poll, there were also large jumps from Oklahoma, who re-entered the poll at 21st, and South Carolina, who moved up 9 spots to 11th to match the big leap from last week in the AP Poll for the Gamecocks.
There were two notable big drops this week, as the losses that are piling up have finally caught up with both the Wisconsin Badgers and the Kentucky Wildcats. Wisconsin dropped 9 spots in the AP Poll and 12 spots in the Coaches Poll, while Kentucky fell 5 spots in each poll.
Once again we have multiple teams that are involved in two ranked-on-ranked games this week, with one from the Big 12 (Oklahoma) and the other from the SEC (Auburn).
- On Tuesday, #25 Oklahoma heads to #12 Baylor for a game to keep pace in the Big 12 race. Tipoff is scheduled for 8pm Central on ESPN2.
- Wednesday sees #11 South Carolina head to #13 Auburn for a crucial SEC matchup. The game will be on the SEC Network at 7:30pm Central.
- #4 Marquette visits #1 UConn for Top-5 matchup in Hartford on Saturday. The game will be on FOX, starting at 2pm.
- #6 Kansas heads down to Norman to take on Oklahoma in a return game, with tipoff coming at 3pm on ESPN.
- #22 Kentucky will try to get back on track at Auburn in a game that tips at 5pm Saturday on ESPN.
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