Houston reaches No. 1 in AP poll for first time since 1983

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Make some room, Phi Slama Jama. Another Houston group has reached the head of males’s faculty basketball.

Nearly 4 many years after Clyde Drexler and Akeem Olajuwon led the Cougars to No. 1, the latter group led by Marcus Sasser and freshman Jarace Walker took the No. 1 spot in the AP Top 25 on Monday. They acquired 45 of 63 first-place votes from the nationwide media panel, simply outpacing second-place Texas and third-place Virginia.

“It’s not like we went online and applied for it and waited for a response. We’ve been working on it,” mentioned Houston coach Kelvin Sampson, whose group is coming off a Final Four and Elite Eight journey each seasons. The final. “But remember, it’s a rental. You don’t own it. You’re just renting it because someday someone else is going to be No. 1.”

North Carolina had been No. 1 all season, however the Heels misplaced to Iowa State and a four-overtime thriller to Alabama in the Phil Knight Invitational to drop the No. 1 seed to Houston, which defeated Kent State in the his solely final week. .

The final time the Cougars climbed to No. 1 was the ultimate poll of the 1982-83 season, when “The Glide” and “The Dream” together with coach Guy Lewis had been favorites to win all of it. They cruised via the NCAA match earlier than falling to Jim Valvano and North Carolina State in an iconic championship sport in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

“I’ve never been ranked No. 1,” mentioned Sampson, now in his thirty fourth season as a school basketball coach. (*1*)

Texas acquired eight first-place votes and Virginia acquired two. Arizona moved up from 14th to fourth after rallying from a stacked discipline to win the Maui Invitational. Purdue jumped from twenty fourth to fifth and earned eight first-place votes after defeating West Virginia, Gonzaga and Duke in the Phil Knight Legacy Tournament.

“Our guys are competitive. They’re fun to coach. They get along. They’re out there playing with purpose and that’s what you have to have,” mentioned Boilermakers coach Matt Painter, whose group was about time no. 1 at this time. final season.

“At the beginning of the season, very few teams play with collective purpose,” he mentioned. “I thought our guys played with a purpose.”

Baylor was sixth, Creighton seventh and U Conn moved up from twentieth to eighth after beating Oregon, Alabama and Iowa State to win the Phil Knight Invitational. Kansas dropped from third to ninth after shedding to Tennessee in the Battle 4 Atlantis championship sport, whereas Indiana rounded out the highest 10.

There was a tie for eleventh between SEC rivals Alabama and Arkansas with the Volunteers, one other convention foe, proper behind them. Gonzaga fell from sixth to 14th, its first time exterior the highest 10 since Feb. 5, 2018, and Auburn was fifteenth.

Illinois was adopted by Duke and North Carolina in a tricky week for Tobacco Road. The Blue Devils dropped to eighth after a 75-56 loss to the Boilermakers.

Kentucky and Michigan State joined UCLA, Maryland, Iowa State, San Diego State and Ohio State in rounding out the poll.

ASCENT AND FALL

Purdue made a uncommon 19-point bounce because the poll underwent an enormous shakeup. UConn was up 12 factors, Arizona was up 10, Tennessee was up 9 and Alabama was up seven. On the opposite facet, the Tar Heels dropped 17 factors, Duke dropped 9, Gonzaga dropped eight and San Diego State dropped seven.

INSIDE AND OUTSIDE

Despite all of the motion, Iowa State was the lone newcomer this week, checking in at No. 23 after beating Villanova and North Carolina earlier than falling to UConn. The Cyclones changed Iowa, which went on a one-week layoff following its loss to TCU in the Emerald Coast Classic title sport.

CONFERENCE TIME

There are six differential conferences represented in the highest seven groups in the poll. The Big Ten leads with six in the Top 25 whereas the SEC has 5 and the Big 12 has 4, although three of these are in the highest 10.