Tuesday, January 09, 2001
UC loses both top-25 rankings
Bearcats out of AP poll after 54 weeks
By Michael Perry
The Cincinnati Enquirer
No current University of Cincinnati basketball player had ever taken the court with the team unranked. Until Monday.
For the first time since January 1998, the Bearcats are not in the Associated Press Top 25. They also fell out of the USA Today/ESPN poll.
“That's serious, man,” junior Steve Logan said. “We know we're better than some teams in that Top 25. We've got to show it now. It gives me a chip, personally. I'm going to use it.”
UC, No.25 last week, had been ranked in the AP poll a school-record 54 consecutive weeks. It is now 27th.
Cincinnati has the 26th-most votes in the coaches' poll, ending a streak of 53 straight weeks of being ranked. The Bearcats were 24th last week.
“I was very shocked,” UC junior Antwan Jones said. “I care a lot. I hope all the players take it as motivation. I think we should be in the Top 25, but it's not my decision. All we can do now is keep winning and hopefully we'll be Top 25.”
UC (10-3), which plays at Marquette on Wednesday night, dropped out of both polls despite a big Conference USA victory over Charlotte on Saturday night. Coach Bob Huggins said it was the Dec. 30 loss to Toledo that caused it.
“I explained to them that's what happens when you don't come ready to play,” he said. “We didn't come ready to play against Toledo, and that's what happened to us ... I'm just trying to make sure they understand they've got to come to play every day.”
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UC loses both top-25 rankings