Arizona’s Wildcats Return to No. 1 Spot After Beating Duke

Arizona returned to the top of the college basketball poll today, replacing the team that took over as No. 1 for them two weeks ago.

Oklahoma dropped from first to fourth after a 97-84 loss at Missouri last week after the Sooners had become the first team to hold the No. 1 ranking for consecutive weeks in five weeks.

Arizona’s Wildcats almost assured themselves of the top spot with a gritty 77-75 victory over Duke on Sunday.

Four teams have been ranked No. 1 this season. Duke held the top spot from the preseason poll through the first nine polls of the season.

Illinois went to the top for one week and was followed by Oklahoma and then the Wildcats for their first appearance of the season.

Georgetown and Indiana each moved up one spot to second and third, respectively, as the same teams stayed in the Top 20 with only the order changing.

sh 54 First-Place Votes Arizona, 22-3, received 54 first-place votes and 1,305 points from the nationwide panel of sportswriters and broadcasters to easily outdistance the Hoyas, 22-3, who received five first-place votes and 1,219 points.

Indiana, 23-5, also received five first-place votes and the Hoosiers had 1,122 points, while the Sooners, 24-4, had one No. 1 vote and 1,083 points.

North Carolina, Syracuse and Missouri held the fifth, sixth and seventh spots, respectively.

The Tar Heels, 24-5, had 1,052 points, while the Orangemen, 23-5, had the final first-place vote and 990 points, 49 more than Missouri, 23-6.

Illinois, 23-4, jumped from 10th to eighth with 846 points. Duke, 21-4, stayed ninth with 825 points after beating then-No. 17 North Carolina State and staging a valiant come-form-behind effort against Arizona.

Michigan, 21-6, rounded out the Top Ten with 676 points as the Wolverines jumped from 13th last week.

The Second 10

The Wolverines were followed by Iowa, Seton Hall, Stanford, Louisville, West Virginia, Florida State, St. Mary’s, (California), Nevada-Las Vegas, Ball State and North Carolina State.

Louisville dropped from eighth after losing two of three games last week. The Cardinals, 19-7, sandwiched losses to Memphis State and South Carolina around a victory over Southern Mississippi.

Florida State dropped just four places despite losing to both New Orleans and La Salle last week. The Seminoles, 19-6, have dropped four straight games.

North Carolina State, 18-7, also lost two games last week, dropping Atlantic Coast Conference games to Duke and Virginia after a non-conference victory over North Carolina-Asheville.