Tar Heels Stay on Top

North Carolina, which finished a four-game trip with two wins last week, remained the No. 1 team in The Associated Press’ college basketball poll Monday, and Hawaii made its first appearance in the rankings in 24 years.

The Tar Heels (15-0), who beat Bethune-Cookman and Clemson last week after beating Florida State and Georgia the week before, were on top of the poll for the fourth week in a row after receiving 68 first-place votes and 1,748 points from a national media panel.

Duke, which won at Maryland by 32 points Saturday, moved up one spot to No. 2. The Blue Devils (12-1) had the other two first-place votes and 1,675 points.

Utah (12-0) moved up from fourth to third, and Kansas (17-2), which lost to Hawaii 76-65 in the championship game of the Rainbow Classic, dropped from second to fourth. Arizona, which opened its Pacific 10 season with a victory over UCLA, moved from eighth to No. 5 and was followed by Kentucky, Stanford, Connecticut, Purdue and UCLA.

Hawaii (11-1) was 21st.

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Jermaine Tate, a starter for Ohio State before being sidelined because of a heart ailment, plans to resume his career at Cincinnati and will have two years of eligibility, beginning in December.

Bearcat Coach Bob Huggins said the ailment, diagnosed as cardiomyopathy, is not expected to prevent Tate from playing.

Tate, a 6-foot-8, 220-pound junior, started 41 of his 43 games at Ohio State and was averaging 14.1 points and 6.4 rebounds for the Buckeyes a year ago when the heart problem was detected.

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Saint Louis University recruit Justin Tatum says test anxiety caused his low score on a college admission test, and he’s asking a federal judge to let him play.

Tatum, from Christian Brothers College High in St. Louis, didn’t score well enough on his ACT test to satisfy NCAA eligibility requirements.

His lawyer, William Hellmich, told U.S. District Judge Donald J. Stohr that Tatum suffers from test anxiety and depression, diagnosed after his first round of ACT tests.

When Tatum took the ACT test in an untimed setting, his scores improved enough to meet the NCAA’s guidelines. But the there has been no decision on whether to accept the untimed scores.

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Robert B. Fleet, 78, the father-in-law of Alabama Coach David Hobbs died in an auto wreck when his car was hit by another vehicle that ran a red light near Richmond, according to Virginia state police.

WOMEN / Utah Is Historic 22nd

Off to its best start and with some good victories on the road, Utah broke into The Associated Press women’s basketball poll for the first time.

The Utes (11-0) were voted No. 22 by a national media panel, which again made Tennessee a unanimous choice at No. 1. Utah became only the third Western Athletic Conference team to gain a national ranking, following Brigham Young and San Diego State.

Tennessee (15-0) received all 38 first-place votes after beating Arkansas by 30 points and beat Connecticut by 15.

Second was Old Dominion (10-0), with Connecticut (12-1) third and Louisiana Tech (10-4) fourth. Then came Texas Tech, Vanderbilt, Washington, North Carolina, Virginia and Arizona.