Monday, March 06, 2000UC returns to No. 1 in polls
BY JIM O'CONNELL
AP Basketball WriterCincinnati moved back into the top spot of the AP college basketball poll today, the Bearcats' third stint at No. 1 this season.
They used a thrilling comeback win over DePaul and a rout of Saint Louis that capped an unbeaten season in Conference USA to move up one place and replace Stanford, which lost to UCLA in overtime.
Cincinnati (28-2) received 66 of 70 first-place votes from the national media panel in the AP poll. The Bearcats were unanimous No. 1 in the USA Today/CNN poll, receiving all 31 votes from coaches.
The Bearcats were No. 1 for five weeks early in the season until losing to Xavier. They were out of the top spot for three weeks before moving back in for another six weeks until losing to Temple.
“It's nice to be able to say you finished your senior year No. 1,” Bearcats forward Ryan Fletcher said. “That's a nice accomplishment.”
The final poll of the season will be released next Monday, the day after the field for the NCAA tournament is announced.
Stanford (25-2) was No. 1 for the last two weeks and was a unanimous choice last week. But the Cardinal had their 13-game winning streak snapped by UCLA on Saturday. They received two first-place votes and 1,634 points.
Duke moved up one place to third, while Big Ten co-champions Ohio State, which received the other two first-place votes, and Michigan State each moved up two spots to fourth and fifth.
Temple, which lost to St. Joseph's last week, dropped from fifth to sixth and Iowa State, the Big 12 champion, moved from No. 10 to seventh.
Tennessee also moved up three spots to eighth, while Arizona, which lost at Oregon State and Oregon last week without injured center Loren Woods, fell from third to No. 9.
LSU moved from 12th to No. 10, its first appearance in the Top Ten since being ranked ninth on Nov. 25, 1991.
Florida led the Second Ten and was followed by Syracuse, Texas, Tulsa, Oklahoma, Kentucky, Oklahoma State, Indiana, St. John's and Maryland.
Connecticut, Purdue, Miami, Kansas and Illinois completed the Top 25.
Miami, which beat St. John's 74-70 in overtime Sunday to earn a share of the Big East regular-season title with Syracuse, moved back into the rankings for the first time since the Preseason Top 25.
The Hurricanes, who have won five in a row, replaced Auburn, which fell from 19th after losing to LSU and Arkansas last week, the Tigers' third and fourth consecutive losses. The last three losses have been without suspended forward Chris Porter.
Auburn, fourth in the preseason poll, got as high as No. 2 this season and had been ranked every week since Dec. 14, 1998.
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