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Wednesday, December 13, 2000
Stanford moves up to No. 3 in AP poll



Duke, which won its two games last week by a total of 85 points, was No. 1 in The Associated Press' college basketball poll for the third straight week Monday, while three teams made their first appearance in the Top 25 this season.

The Blue Devils (9-0), who beat Davidson 102-60 and Michigan 104-61 in their final games before breaking for exams, received 60 first-place votes and 1,716 points from the national media panel.

Defending national champion Michigan State (7-0) stayed No. 2 after victories over Florida and Loyola, Illinois, and was No. 1 on nine ballots with 1,653 points.

The newcomers to the rankings were Iowa, Mississippi and Georgetown at Nos. 22-24.

Stanford (6-0), which was off last week, moved up one place to No. 3, while Tennessee (8-0) used wins over Memphis and Southern Methodist to jump from sixth to fourth.

Illinois (7-2), the only team in the top six to lose this season, moved from ninth to fifth after rallying from 21 points down to hand Seton Hall its first loss of the season.

Wake Forest (7-0), which beat then-No. 3 Kansas 84-53 Tuesday, had the week's biggest jump, going from 11th to No. 6. The ranking is the highest for the Demon Deacons since they were No. 4 on Feb. 24, 1997, during Tim Duncan's senior season.

Arizona, which dropped two places after losing at Connecticut, was seventh and was followed in the Top 10 by Florida, Seton Hall and Kansas.

Connecticut moved up four spots to lead the second 10 and was followed by Syracuse, Southern California, Virginia, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Cincinnati, Oklahoma, Alabama and Maryland.

The final five ranked teams were Notre Dame, Iowa, Mississippi, Georgetown and Arkansas.

Notre Dame, which lost at home to Indiana and Miami of Ohio last week, had the biggest drop in falling from 10th to No. 21. The Top Ten ranking was the Fighting Irish's first since the 1985-86 season.

The teams that fell out from last week were Utah, St. John's and Iowa State.

The three newcomers all have 7-0 records.

Iowa, which beat Iowa State on Saturday, was ranked for two weeks early last season after an impressive showing in the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic.

Mississippi, the only team to beat Oklahoma this season, was in the Top 25 the entire 1997-98 season, getting as high as No. 10.

Georgetown, which has beaten College of Charleston and Minnesota this season, was last ranked in 1995-96. The Hoyas were in the Top 25 that whole season, getting as high as No. 4.

Utah (4-4) lost to Utah State and Weber State last week to extend its losing streak to three games and dropped out from 22nd. The loss to Weber State snapped the Utes' 54-game home winning streak, what had been the longest in the nation. Coach Rick Majerus, who is rehabilitating from knee surgery, isn't expected to rejoin his team until January.

St. John's (4-3) fell from 24th after losing to Fordham in its only game last week, while Iowa (6-1) dropped from No. 25 after the loss to Iowa.

This week's only matchup of ranked teams will be Saturday when Arizona plays Illinois at Chicago.


ALSO SEE
Associated Press Top 25 poll

Undefeateds Iowa, Georgetown crack coaches poll

ESPN.com's Sweet 16

AthletesDirect: Mike Krzyzewski's official Web site




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