Loss to Irish Drops UCLA to 18th in Poll

UCLA dropped from 13th to 18th place today in the Associated Press college basketball poll after the Bruins suffered their first loss of the season Sunday against Notre Dame.

The Bruins (4-1) squandered a 13-point lead at Pauley Pavilion to lose to the Irish, 86-84. (Story, C1.)

The top six teams in the poll remained the same today as last week, but there was a new name toward the bottom of the rankings.

La Salle (4-0) entered the Top 25 for the first time in the 1980s as the Explorers came in at No. 23.

The top of the poll looked very familiar as Syracuse, Kansas, Georgetown, Missouri, Illinois and Michigan stayed in the same spots for the second week in a row.

The Orangemen (7-0) have been in the No. 1 spot for each of the four regular-season polls, and this week they received 35 first-place votes and 1,525 points from the nationwide panel of sportswriters and broadcasters.

Kansas (10-0) was next with 20 first-place votes and 1,484 points, 31 more than Georgetown (7-0), which had seven first-place votes.

Missouri (9-0), with one first-place vote and 1,378 points, held fourth and was followed by Illinois (6-0), 1,279 points, and Michigan (7-1), 1,255 points.

Oklahoma, Louisiana State and Louisville each moved up one spot from last week’s voting. The Sooners (4-0) took seventh this week, followed by Louisiana State (4-1). Louisville (7-1) had 1,052 points to edge Arkansas (5-1) by 23 points.

The Razorbacks, who had been seventh, dropped after losing to Missouri 89-88 on their home court.

Indiana and Duke held their spots in leading the second 10 and were followed by UNLV, Georgia Tech, North Carolina State, Iowa, Memphis State, UCLA, St. John’s and Alabama.

Most teams played only one game last week because of final exams and, in addition to Arkansas and UCLA, the only ones to lose among the ranked teams were Oklahoma State, which lost to Tulsa 95-80 Sunday; Florida, which dropped a 105-94 decision to Texas on Saturday, and Michigan State, which lost its first game as a ranked team to Illinois-Chicago on Monday.

Only Florida dropped from the rankings as the loss to the Longhorns made the Gators 2-2 for the season.

La Salle was quick to take their place as the Explorers had been 27th and 26th in the last two polls.

Although not regulars recently to the rankings, La Salle finished in the Top Ten five times in the final poll since the voting started in 1949.

La Salle has returned to the rankings behind senior star Lionel Simmons, a 6-foot-7 forward who was third in the nation in scoring last season at 28.4 points per game.

THE TOP 25

The top 25 in the AP college basketball poll; first-place votes in parentheses.

1. Syracuse (35) 7-0 2. Kansas (20) 10-0 3. Georgetown (7) 7-0 4. Missouri (1) 9-0 5. Illinois 6-0 6. Michigan 7-1 7. Oklahoma 4-0 8. LSU 4-1 9. Louisville 7-1 10. Arkansas 5-1 11. Indiana 7-0 12. Duke 3-2 13. Nevada Las Vegas 4-2 14. Georgia Tech 5-0 15. N. Carolina State 6-1 16. Iowa 6-0 17. Memphis State 4-1 18. UCLA 4-1 19. St. John’s 8-2 20. Alabama 6-1 21. Oregon State 5-1 22. Arizona 2-2 23. La Salle 4-0 24. Oklahoma State 4-2 25. Michigan State 7-1