Florida, Wichita St. remain 1-2; UK falls out
Florida, which finished an unbeaten period in the Southeastern Conference, and Wichita State, which finished an unbeaten routine period and gained its conference competition, are the leading two groups in The Associated Press poll for the third straight week.
The Gators (29-2), who got 50 first-place votes from the 65-member national media panel Monday, open play in the SEC event Friday. The Surprises (34-0) obtained the 15 other No. 1 ballots. They succeeded the Missouri Valley Conference tournament Sunday and will certainly be the first string to enter into the NCAA competition without a loss because UNLV in 1991.
Villanova relocated from sixth to third, while Arizona went down one place to 4th. Louisville leapt from 11th to fifth, complied with by Virginia and Fight it out. San Diego State and Michigan linked for 8th, and Kansas was 10th.
The No. 3 ranking for Villanova, which gained the straight-out Big East regular-season title for the first time given that 1981-82, is the Wildcats' greatest given that they were No. 2 in January 2009.
Kentucky, which has actually lost three of four, left from 25th, the fourth preseason No. 1 to result of the poll in the very same season. If the Wildcats can not return into next week's final pre-tournament poll, they will certainly be the first team because UCLA in 1965-66 to be preseason No. 1 and finish unranked (AP simply rated 10 groups back then).
The Wildcats held the leading place for one week just before losing to Michigan State in an early-season No. 1 verse No. 2 competition. The Wildcats were out of the leading 10 3 weeks later.
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The various other preseason No. Ones to fall out of the rankings were Loyola of Chicago in 1963-64, UCLA in 1965-66 and Indiana in 1979-80. Loyola and UCLA were in surveys that had just 10 teams, and Indiana belonged to a top 20. All three returned to the ranks at some time in those periods.
VCU (24-7) returned to the Top 25 for the initial time given that the second poll of the season. The Rams, ranked 23rd, were No. 14 in the preseason poll but left after beginning the period 3-3. They return in on a four-game winning streak.
Ohio State (23-8) is back in at No. 24 after running out the survey for two of the past five weeks. The Buckeyes were No. 11 in the preseason poll and got as superior as No. 3 after they establisheded the period with 15 straight wins. They defeat Michigan State on Sunday after successive losses.
This is Florida's 13th week overall as No. 1 in the AP poll, connecting the Gators at with North Carolina State at No. 19 on the all-time checklist. The Wolfpack had all those top positions from 1958-59 to 1974-75.
UCLA has the all-time lead with 134 weeks at No. 1 from 1963-64 to 2006-07.
