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Cats move up to No. 2, receive first place votes
Written by Associated Press   
Monday, 11 January 2010 16:22
Dan Rieffer

altKentucky has moved up from third to second in the AP and Coaches' Polls. After six weeks ranked No. 2, Texas is now where it has never been before: No. 1 in The Associated Press' college basketball poll.
     
Kansas comfortably held the top spot in the preseason poll and for the first eight weeks of the season until Monday, a day after the Jayhawks lost to Tennessee.
     
Now it's Texas' turn at No. 1.
     
"My first thought last night was I didn't know who was No. 1 the second week of January last year, but I do know who won the national championship," Texas coach Rick Barnes said. "It is pretty cool for our guys, though. It shows our program has grown to this point and it is a compliment to our program."
     
In addition to the six weeks at No. 2 this season, Texas was second for five weeks in the 2005-06 season. The Longhorns' first time at No. 1 was a no-doubter.
     
Texas (15-0) received 56 first-place votes from the 65-member national media panel. Kentucky (16-0), which moved up one spot to second and is the only other undefeated Division I team, was No. 1 on nine ballots.
     
Kansas (14-1) fell to third after the 76-68 loss at Tennessee, which followed a midweek scare from Cornell. The nine weeks the Jayhawks spent at No. 1 gave them a total of 51 weeks in the top spot, fifth on the all-time list behind UCLA (134), Duke (111), North Carolina (105) and Kentucky (88). Kansas passed Cincinnati (45) and Indiana (43) with this season's run.
     
There was a lot of movement in the poll following a week in which 15 ranked teams lost at least once, including five members of the top 10.
     
Villanova was ranked No. 4, followed by Syracuse, Purdue, Michigan State, Duke, Tennessee and West Virginia.
     
Georgetown moved up one spot to 11th with North Carolina 12th and Kansas State and Wisconsin tied for 13th. Connecticut was No. 15 followed by Pittsburgh, Gonzaga, BYU, Temple and Georgia Tech.
     
The last five ranked teams were Mississippi, Baylor, Miami, Clemson and Florida State.
     
Baylor, Miami and Clemson moved in this week replacing New Mexico, Texas Tech and Washington.
     
Texas' first game as No. 1 will be at Iowa State on Wednesday.
     
"When you're ranked and go on the road, people get excited regardless," Barnes said. "The energy and emotion are there for the team and crowd. It's something you embrace, to be ready to play every single night. The teams ranked year in year out know they'll get people's best shot."
     
Texas had a chance for another No. 1 last week but the football team lost to Alabama in the BCS championship game. The Longhorns basketball team is a blend of veterans and talented freshmen.
     
"We have senior leadership for the first time since the Final Four team (2003) and Damion James and Justin Mason have really set a tone with the way they go about it every day," Barnes said. "We haven't talked about being No. 2 all season but I will address this with them because they'll have to deal with it, but I won't be surprised if they don't change much,"
     
Baylor (13-1) has won nine straight after its loss to Alabama in the opening round of the Old Spice Classic. The Bears were ranked for seven weeks last season.
     
Miami (15-1) has won seven in a row since losing its Atlantic Coast Conference opener to Boston College. The Hurricanes were ranked for four weeks last season.
     
Clemson (13-3) was ranked in the preseason poll and for the first three weeks of the season before falling out for two weeks, returning for two and dropping out again last week. The Tigers bounced back from a 21-point loss at Duke with a 16-point win over Boston College.
     
New Mexico (14-3) dropped out from No. 15 after losses last week to San Diego State and UNLV. Texas Tech (12-3) fell from 22nd after an 81-52 loss to Oklahoma State. Washington (10-5) dropped out from 24th after losing both games on its Arizona trip last week to fall to 1-3 in the Pac-10.
     
This is the first poll since the final one of 1986-87 that there hasn't been a team from the Pac-10 in the rankings. California and Washington were the only teams from the conference to have been in the Top 25 this season.
     
The Big East and ACC are tied for the most teams in this week's poll with six. The Big East has four in the top 11 - Villanova, Syracuse, West Virginia, Georgetown - while the ACC has four in the final six - Georgia Tech, Miami, Clemson, Florida State.


AP Top 25
 1. Texas (56) 15-0 1,616
 2. Kentucky (9) 16-0 1,569
 3. Kansas 14-1 1,441
 4. Villanova 14-1 1,426
 5. Syracuse 15-1 1,353
 6. Purdue 14-1 1,317
 7. Michigan State 13-3 1,191
 8. Duke 13-2 1,178
 9. Tennessee 12-2 1,030
10. West Virginia 12-2 1,006
11. Georgetown 12-2 934
12. North Carolina 12-4 844
13. Kansas State 13-2 746
13. Wisconsin 13-3 746
15. Connecticut 11-4 633
16. Pittsburgh 13-2 565
17. Gonzaga 12-3 559
18. Brigham Young 16-1 456
19. Temple 13-3 388
20. Georgia Tech 12-3 342
21. Mississippi 12-3 326
22. Baylor 13-1 301
23. Miami (FL) 15-1 189
24. Clemson 13-3 167
25. Florida State 13-3 155
Others Receiving Votes
Texas A&M 126, Northern Iowa 91, Missouri 64, Mississippi State 61, New Mexico 59, Dayton 39, UAB 35, UNLV 28, Oklahoma State 26, Vanderbilt 21, Notre Dame 18, Wake Forest 14, Cornell 12, Butler 10, Texas Tech 10, Marquette 9, Virginia Tech 9, William & Mary 8, Louisiana Tech 2, Florida 2, Harvard 1, Missouri State 1, Siena 1.
Dropped From Rankings
New Mexico 15, Texas Tech 22.


ESPN/USA Today Poll
 1. Texas (30) 15-0 774
 2. Kentucky (1) 16-0 745
 3. Kansas 14-1 697
 4. Villanova 14-1 681
 5. Syracuse 15-1 641
 6. Purdue 14-1 625
 7. Duke 13-2 578
 8. Michigan State 13-3 556
 9. West Virginia 12-2 471
10. Tennessee 12-2 463
11. Georgetown 12-2 439
12. Kansas State 13-2 375
13. North Carolina 12-4 362
14. Gonzaga 12-3 345
15. Connecticut 11-4 293
16. Wisconsin 13-3 289
17. Brigham Young 16-1 285
18. Georgia Tech 12-3 261
19. Clemson 13-3 213
20. Pittsburgh 13-2 201
21. Temple 13-3 151
22. Butler 12-4 106
23. Mississippi 12-3 90
24. Baylor 13-1 66
25. Florida State 13-3 65
Others Receiving Votes
Northern Iowa 62, New Mexico 54, UNLV 26, Saint Mary's 25, Oklahoma State 21, Texas A&M 17, Cornell 16, Dayton 16, UAB 14, Wake Forest 8, Miami (FL) 8, Rhode Island 7, Mississippi State 6, Arizona State 5, Texas Tech 4, William & Mary 4, Missouri 3, Marquette 2, Minnesota 1, San Diego State 1, Notre Dame 1, Washington 1, Vanderbilt 1.
Dropped From Rankings
New Mexico 14, Washington 22.
 

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