UMass, UConn Hold Top Spots After Week of Shuffling in Poll
Massachusetts and Connecticut, schools only 40 miles apart, were 81 points apart at the top of the college basketball poll on Monday.
The Minutemen (8-1) reached the No. 1 spot for the second time this season, climbing from fourth after last week’s top three teams--North Carolina, UCLA and Arkansas--all lost in a week that saw 15 ranked teams lose at least one game.
UMass received 44 first-place votes and 1,615 points from the national media panel, and Connecticut (10-0), one of two unbeaten Division I teams, jumped from sixth to second and was No. 1 on 17 ballots with 1,534 points.
The other unbeaten team is Clemson, ranked 18th.
Kansas (10-1), which beat Massachusetts, moved from fifth to third and had two first-place votes, as did North Carolina (10-1), whose five-week run at No. 1 ended with a loss at North Carolina State.
Arkansas was fifth and UCLA sixth. Kentucky, which also had one first-place vote, was seventh and was followed by Syracuse, Maryland and Georgetown.
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