Arizona Stays on Top of AP Poll, Is No. 1 Seed in Playoff

Arizona held the top spot for the third straight week as the top four teams in the final Associated Press college basketball poll were the same teams the NCAA seeded Nos. 1-4 in its tournament.

Georgetown and Illinois each moved up a spot for second and third, while Oklahoma, which lost 98-86 to Missouri in the Big Eight championship game, fell from second to fourth.

Arizona, 27-3, top seed in the West Regional, received 46 first-place votes and 1,219 points from the nationwide panel of sportswriters and broadcasters after winning the Pac-10 championship with a 73-51 victory over Stanford.

Georgetown, the Big East champion after beating Syracuse, 88-79, and top seed in the East, got 13 first-place votes and 1,155 points. The Hoyas are 26-4.

Illinois, 27-4, top seed in the Midwest after capping its season with an impressive 89-73 victory over Michigan, was named No. 1 on three ballots and had 1,121 points.

Oklahoma, 28-5, received 989 points.

The rest of the Top Ten was North Carolina, Missouri, Syracuse, Indiana, Duke and Michigan.

North Carolina, the Atlantic Coast Conference champions after a 77-74 victory over Duke, and Missouri each jumped four places from last week. The Tar Heels, 27-7, had 976 points; The Tigers, 27-7, had 875.

Syracuse, 27-7; Indiana, 25-7; Duke, 24-7, and Michigan, 24-7, each dropped two places. The Orangemen had 863 points, and the Hoosiers had 834. Duke had 808 points, and Michigan had 666 to round out the Top Ten.

Seton Hall led the Second Ten for the second straight week, followed by Louisville, Stanford, Iowa, Nevada-Las Vegas, Florida State, West Virginia, Ball State, North Carolina State and Alabama.