Antelope Valley Press

Auburn flies to No. 1 in AP Top 25 for first time

War Eagle is flying high over men’s college basketball for the first time in history.

A barely ranked afterthought to begin the season, Auburn climbed past Gonzaga to No. 1 in the AP Top 25 poll released Monday. The Tigers beat Kentucky over the weekend for their 15th consecutive win, then scooped up 45 of 61 first-place votes to become the nation’s topranked team for the first time since the poll began with the 1948-49 season.

The Bulldogs dropped to No. 2 with 15 first-place votes. Arizona remained third and earned the other No. 1 vote.

“The No. 1 ranking matters because it’s historical,” Tigers coach Bruce Pearl said Monday. “I’m very happy for Auburn. I’m very happy for my coaches and or players to have been been able to achieve that. That said, we got a lot of work to do.”

This week alone, it includes a trip to Missouri on Tuesday night and a showdown with Oklahoma on Saturday.

The Tigers (18-1, 15-0 SEC) spent most of the 1999-2000 season ranked in the top 10, including one week at No. 2. They also spent a week at No. 2 late in the 1998-99 season and another week at No. 2 back in February 1959.

But being No. 1? That’s a whole new experience. The Tigers are the fifth team to reach that spot this season, following two stints by the Bulldogs and runs by Duke, Purdue and defending national champion Baylor.

Baylor rebounded from consecutive losses while it was No. 1 to beat West Virginia and Oklahoma and climb one position to fourth in the latest poll. Big 12 rival Kansas is fifth.

The Boilermakers fell two spots to sixth after losing to Indiana early last week. They were followed by Houston and UCLA, deadlocked at No. 7, with Duke and Michigan State rounding out the top 10.

Ole Miss enters AP women’s poll for 1st time in 15 years

Unbeaten on the road this season, Mississippi entered The Associated Press women’s basketball poll for the first time in 15 years on Monday, coming in at No. 24.

The Rebels (17-2) have won

their first seven games away from home, including a victory over then-No. 23 Kentucky on Sunday. The last Top 25 ranking for Ole Miss was January 2007.

“Fifteen years is crazy,” Mississippi coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin said. “I told them before the Kentucky game that I had been downplaying the whole ranking deal and I apologized to them for that. I didn’t think it was fair of me. I said if you want to get ranked, go ahead and beat Kentucky and be ranked.”

That unblemished mark will be put to the test Thursday when the Rebels visit No. 1 South Carolina in a rescheduled game. The Gamecocks received 29 of the 30 first-place votes from a national media panel to remain the top team in the poll.

Stanford, North Carolina State, Tennessee and Louisville

round out the top five. The Wolfpack rallied in the fourth quarter to beat the Cardinals last Thursday and take command of the ACC.

Indiana remained sixth and was followed by Michigan, Arizona, Texas and UConn. The Longhorns jumped up six spots after beating then-No. 7 Iowa State on Sunday. The Cyclones fell to 13th.

ESPN’s Vitale says he won’t call games for rest of season

BRISTOL, Conn. — Dick Vitale announced Monday that he will not be appearing on ESPN for the remainder of the college basketball season due to ongoing treatment for precancerous dysplasia on his vocal cords.

Vitale first announced in late December that he needed to take a break to rest his ailing voice.

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2022-01-25T08:00:00.0000000Z

2022-01-25T08:00:00.0000000Z

https://avpress.pressreader.com/article/281861531887659

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