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By DAVE SKRETTA, AP Basketball Author
It is laborious to resolve who has been extra dominant in males’s school basketball this season: Gonzaga or the Large Ten Convention.
The Bulldogs remained the clear-cut No. 1 on Monday, incomes 62 of 64 first-place votes in The Related Press ballot after their newest win over a High 25 foe, whereas the Large Ten positioned 9 groups within the ballot, with Wisconsin and Iowa within the high 10.
Gonzaga blitzed then-No. 16 Virginia 98-75 on Saturday for essentially the most lopsided win over a ranked crew within the Mark Few period, giving the Bulldogs a poll-record fourth win over a High 25 crew in a crew’s first seven video games of a season. Kansas, Iowa and West Virginia even have fallen to Corey Kispert & Co., all of them on impartial flooring.
“They’re so potent offensively,” Cavaliers coach Tony Bennett mentioned. “They’re so well-coached. They’ve such expertise. Our lack of athleticism confirmed. They’ve such athletic guys, they usually’re veterans in all spots, I believe.”
Second-ranked Baylor acquired the opposite two first-place votes and the Jayhawks remained No. three after their rout of then-No. 7 West Virginia. Villanova and Houston every moved up a spot after Iowa’s extra time loss to Minnesota.
After that? Properly, it just about reads just like the Large Ten standings.
The sixth-ranked Badgers started a run of High 25 groups from the league, leaping three spots after wins over Nebraska and then-No. 12 Michigan State. The Hawkeyes dropped from fourth to 10th whereas shocking Rutgers started a run of 4 extra Large Ten groups at No. 14 — Illinois, Michigan and the Spartans had been proper behind the Scarlet Knights.
No. 19 Northwestern and No. 21 Minnesota had been newcomers to the ballot and Ohio State rounded out the High 25.
“You have a look at our schedule, this can be a heck of per week for us from an power standpoint,” mentioned Wildcats coach Chris Collins, whose crew is ranked for the primary time since Nov. 13, 2017. “To must play Michigan State, at Indiana, then come house and play an actual robust Ohio State crew and to win all three video games, it reveals so much in regards to the grit of our crew.”
The league’s newcomers can have their palms full over the subsequent couple of weeks.
Northwestern’s subsequent 5 video games start with journeys to Iowa and Michigan, a house sport in opposition to Illinois, a visit to Ohio State and the return sport in opposition to the Hawkeyes. In reality, eight of their subsequent 9 are in opposition to ranked opponents.
Minnesota, whose lone loss got here to Illinois and which was final ranked on Dec. 4, 2017, performs its subsequent six in opposition to High 25 groups: Michigan State, at Wisconsin, Ohio State, at Michigan, at Iowa and the Wolverines at house.
“We’re a fairly motivated crew,” Golden Gophers coach Richard Pitino mentioned. “We simply talked about what Illinois did to us and we did not get destructive or lose hope. It was one sport and we needed to get again to work, which is what we did. We did not even watch movie on it. We addressed it and moved on … and we beat a crew that individuals suppose can go to the Closing 4.
“We’ll flip the web page and look in the direction of the subsequent one,” he added. “We’re not a get too-high-or-too-low-type of program.”
Whereas the Large Ten leads the way in which in amount, the Large 12 simply would possibly lead in high quality. Baylor and Kansas are joined by No. Eight Texas and ninth-ranked West Virginia to provide the league 4 groups within the high 10. No. 13 Texas Tech is not far behind.
Tennessee climbed one spot to No. 7 forward of its sport Wednesday night time at No. 12 Missouri, which climbed two spots after remaining unbeaten final week. Creighton additionally rose two spots to No. 11 after beating then-No. 22 Xavier.
Florida State was the best-ranked crew from the ACC at No. 18. Duke held regular at No. 20, and Virginia tumbled to No. 23 with Virginia Tech proper behind, giving the convention 4 groups squeezed into the High 25.
No. 21 Oregon was the one crew from the Pac-10. The Geese climbed 4 spots after pushing their successful streak to 6.
Xavier was the primary crew exterior the High 25, falling 4 locations after its loss to Creighton. North Carolina was the most important loser, tumbling from No. 17 out of the ballot after the Tar Heels misplaced a detailed sport at North Carolina State.
San Diego State has been hanging round simply exterior the High 25 for weeks, however the Aztecs will not have an opportunity to assist their trigger till taking part in Nevada on Jan. 7 — they’d two video games in opposition to UNLV this weekend postponed. Arkansas (8-0) and Georgia (7-0) are also making a push towards becoming a member of SEC brethren Tennessee and Missouri within the High 25.
Extra AP school basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/Faculty-basketball and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25
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