Kansas-Missouri Match-Up to Decide No. 1

Kansas and Missouri switched places today as the top teams in the college basketball poll.

The two meet Tuesday night at Lawrence, Kan., with first place in the Big Eight at stake as well as the top spot nationally. Missouri won the first meeting this season, Kansas’ only loss and one that ended the Jayhawks’ two-week stay as No. 1.

The 1-2 match-up is the first since top-ranked North Carolina beat No. 2 Georgia Tech 78-77 on the road on Feb. 4, 1986.

Kansas (24-1) received 58 first-place votes and 1,570 points from the nationwide panel of sportswriters and broadcasters, while Missouri was named No. 1 on four ballots.

Missouri had been No. 1 for three weeks until losing at Kansas State 65-58 Thursday. The Tigers rebounded with a 107-85 win over Nebraska on Saturday.

Kansas won both its games last week--conference wins over Oklahoma State and Iowa State.

Georgetown and Syracuse, both of the Big East, each moved up two spots from last week to third and fourth.

The Hoyas (19-2) had 1,423 points, while Syracuse (18-3) received the only other first-place vote and 1,379 points.

Michigan (18-4) also moved up two spots to No. 5 with 1,249 points, while Duke (19-4) dropped the same distance to sixth with 1,170 points after losing to Virginia and being taken into overtime before beating Maryland.

UNLV (19-4) was seventh with 1,161 points after being ninth last week. Arkansas, which dropped to 20-3 after losing its first Southwest Conference game of the season--82-77 to Baylor--was eighth after having jumped to third last week.

The Razorbacks had 1,147 points, 50 more than Louisiana State (19-4), which moved from 11th to 9th.

Connecticut closed out the Top 10 with 940 points. The Huskies (20-4) had been eighth, but the team had a 10-game winning streak snapped by Syracuse 90-86 at the Carrier Dome.

Oklahoma (17-3) led the Second 10 with 911 points and was followed by Purdue, Georgia Tech, La Salle, Illinois, Oregon State, Minnesota, Louisville, Loyola Marymount and Arizona.

The final five were Michigan State, Xavier of Ohio, UCLA, St. John’s and newcomer New Mexico State.

The Aggies (20-2) had not been ranked since Lou Henson was the coach and they made a Final Four appearance in 1970. New Mexico State, which beat UNLV at home earlier in the season and faces the Runnin’ Rebels again Thursday night, reached the 20-victory plateau with Big West wins over Cal-Irvine and Cal-Santa Barbara last week.

THE TOP 25

The top 25 teams in the AP college basketball poll, with first-place votes in parentheses. 1. Kansas (58):24-1 2. Missouri (4):22-2 3. Georgetown: 19-2 4. Syracuse (1): 18-3 5. Michigan: 18-4 6. Duke: 19-4 7. Nevada Las Vegas: 19-4 8. Arkansas: 20-3 9. LSU:19-4 10. Connecticut: 20-4 11. Oklahoma: 17-3 12. Purdue:17-4 13. Georgia Tech: 16-4 14. La Salle: 19-1 15. Illinois: 17-5 16. Oregon State: 18-3 17. Minnesota: 16-5 18. Louisville: 18-5 19. Loyola Marymount: 19-4 20. Arizona: 16-4 21. Michigan State: 19-5 22. Xavier (Ohio): 19-2 23. UCLA: 16-5 24. St. John’s: 19-6 25. New Mexico State: 20-2