NCAA Top 25: Indiana remains at the top

The Indiana Hoosiers kept the top spot on all the week 3 NCAA Division 1 Polls with three wins last week over North Dakota State 87-61, Sam Houston St. 99-45, and Georgia 66-53. The Hoosiers picked up 46 of 65 first place votes in the Associated Press Top 25 poll (1,602 total points) and 25 of 31 first place votes in the USA Today Coaches Poll (770 total points). Louisville stayed in the second spot in both polls with 19 first place votes in the AP Poll (1,579 points) and 5 in the Coaches Poll (745 votes).

The big drop of the week came from Kentucky who fell from the number three spot to the eighth spot in the AP Poll and seventh in the Coaches poll due to their 75-68 loss to previously ranked number nine team Duke. The Blue Devils have jumped up from nine to five in the AP poll on wins over Kentucky and Florida Gulf Coast University 88-67.

With the Kentucky drop, Ohio State (3-0) and Michigan (3-0) move up a spot on both polls to third and fourth, respectively.

Syracuse (2-0) used a convincing win over Wagner, 88-57, to move up two spots to sixth.

With Kentucky in the seventh slot on the Coaches poll and eighth in the AP poll, Florida fills up the alternate positions in each poll with some close votes. The AP votes have Florida in seventh with 1,203 votes and Kentucky below them with 1,166, while the Coaches put Kentucky above Florida by a slim margin 747-741.

The North Carolina Tar Heels occupy the ninth slot on both polls, coming off wins over Long Beach State, 78-63 and Mississippi State, 95-49. This week’s position in the poll reflects a two spot jump after Kansas and North Carolina State both fell significantly.

The Wildcats of Arizona are also beneficiaries of the Kansas and NC State tumble, moving from 12th to 10th in both polls after wins against the University of Texas El Paso (UTEP), 72-51, and Long Beach State, 94-72.

Dropping five spots from seventh to 12th on the AP poll and four spots from seventh to 11th on the Coaches poll is the defending National Champion Kansas Jayhawks after a tight 67-64 loss to the Michigan State Spartans. The Spartans got a six place bump in the AP poll (21st to 15th) and moved up three places in the coaches poll (22nd to 19th) with the win over Kansas as well as a 69-41 victory over Texas Southern, which was MSU’s 36th consecutive home-opening win.

North Carolina State suffered the biggest drop in both polls after taking a pounding by Oklahoma State, 76-56. In the AP poll the Wolfpack dropped from sixth to 16th and in the coaches poll they fell nine places from sixth to 15th.

Baylor also has a tough week suffering a close loss to Colorado, 60-58, causing their stock to drop eight places with the AP voters (16th to 24th) and four with the coaches (17th to 21st).

Leading the NCAA in scoring is Kevin Foster, a fifth-year senior, for the Santa Clara Broncos. Foster has scored 27 and 30 points in his first two contests to hold on to a 28.5ppg average, but he’s not just on the hardwood shooting, he’s also holding down a 7.0 assists per game average and leads the NCAA with 5.0 steals per game as well. Foster sports an 18.0ppg average over his career in 97 games. In the second spot is Tennessee Tech’s Jud Dillard who’s put in games of 25, 34 and 25, for a 28.0 average. Dillard is also contributing 10.3 rebounds per game to the Golden Eagles.

After the first two games, Cole Dickerson of the San Francisco Dons has a 17.0 rebounds per game average to sit on top of the NCAA leader board. He’s also tallied 12.5 points per game in those two contests with the Dons.

Arizona State’s Jordan Bachynski has been wreaking havoc in the paint for the Sun Devils in the early season as he leads the country in blocks with a 7.5 blocks per game average. On top of that he’s putting down 15.5 points per game and hauling in 10.0 rebounds per contest. The 218 cm junior has also accumulated those impressive stats on just 27.5 minutes per game.

The Associated Press Top 25 Poll

Rank Team (First Place Votes) Record Votes Previous +/-
1 Indiana (46) 3-0 1602 1
2 Louisville (19) 3-0 1579 2
3 Ohio State 3-0 1404 4 +1
4 Michigan 3-0 1388 5 +1
5 Duke 3-0 1372 9 +4
6 Syracuse 2-0 1291 8 +2
7 Florida 3-0 1203 10 +3
8 Kentucky 2-1 1166 3 -5
9 North Carolina 3-0 1064 11 +2
10 Arizona 2-0 983 12 +2
11 UCLA 3-0 845 13 +2
12 Kansas 2-1 797 7 -5
13 Missouri 3-0 794 14 +1
14 Creighton 3-0 721 15 +1
15 Michigan State 2-1 692 21 +6
16 North Carolina State 3-1 600 6 -10
17 Gonzaga 3-0 559 19 +2
18 UNLV 2-0 556 18
19 Memphis 2-0 548 17 -2
20 Oklahoma State 4-0 449 NR +5
21 Connecticut 4-0 321 23 +2
22 Cincinnati 3-0 265 24 +2
23 Colorado 4-0 237 NR +2
24 Baylor 4-1 202 16 -8
25 San Diego State 2-1 98 25
Others Receiving Votes: Minnesota 93, Wisconsin 60, Pittsburgh 43, Notre Dame 40, Texas 25, Saint Joseph’s 24, Florida State 15, Alabama 13, Marquette 13, Wichita State 13, Saint Mary’s 9, Kansas State 7, Ohio 7, Xavier 7, New Mexico 6, Bucknell 5, Murray State 4, Northern Iowa 2, Tennessee 2, Maryland 1

Division I Coaches’ Top 25 Poll

Rank Team (First Place Votes) Record Votes Previous +/-
1 Indiana (26) 3-0 770 1
2 Louisville (5) 3-0 745 2
3 Ohio State 3-0 666 4 +1
4 Michigan 3-0 643 5 +1
5 Duke 3-0 642 9 +4
6 Syracuse 2-0 603 8 +2
7 Kentucky 2-1 547 3 -4
8 Florida 3-0 541 10 +2
9 North Carolina 3-0 488 11 +2
10 Arizona 2-0 482 12 +2
11 Kansas 2-1 458 7 -4
12 Creighton 3-0 390 13 +1
13 UCLA 3-0 377 14 +1
14 Missouri 3-0 363 15 +1
15 North Carolina State 3-1 323 6 -9
16 Gonzaga 3-0 305 19 +3
17 Memphis 2-0 288 16 -1
18 UNLV 2-0 254 18
19 Michigan State 2-1 239 22 +3
20 Cincinnati 3-0 117 24 +4
21 Baylor 4-1 116 17 -4
22 Oklahoma State 4-0 113 NR +4
23 Connecticut 4-0 101 26 +3
24 Wisconsin 2-1 79 20 -4
25 San Diego State 2-1 77 23 -2
Others Receiving Votes: Texas 61, Colorado 59, Notre Dame 31, Pittsburgh 28, Minnesota 23, Saint Mary’s 18, New Mexico 16, Kansas State 15, Alabama 12, Virginia Commonwealth 12, Florida State 11, Marquette 11, Murray State 10, Bucknell 9, Maryland 9, Ohio 5, Tennessee 5, Stanford 4, Belmont 3, Saint Joseph’s 3, Colorado State 2, South Alabama 1

Comparison Poll

Rank Team Record AP Coaches Avg
1 Indiana 3-0 1.0 1.0 1.0
2 Louisville 3-0 2.0 2.0 2.0
3 Ohio State 3-0 3.0 3.0 3.0
4 Michigan 3-0 4.0 4.0 4.0
5 Duke 3-0 5.0 5.0 5.0
6 Syracuse 2-0 6.0 6.0 6.0
7 Florida 3-0 7.0 8.0 7.5
Kentucky 2-1 8.0 7.0 7.5
9 North Carolina 3-0 9.0 9.0 9.0
10 Arizona 2-0 10.0 10.0 10.0
11 Kansas 2-1 12.0 11.0 11.5
12 UCLA 3-0 11.0 13.0 12.0
13 Creighton 3-0 14.0 12.0 13.0
14 Missouri 3-0 13.0 14.0 13.5
15 North Carolina State 3-1 16.0 15.0 15.5
16 Gonzaga 3-0 17.0 16.0 16.5
17 Michigan State 2-1 15.0 19.0 17.0
18 Memphis 2-0 19.0 17.0 18.0
UNLV 2-0 18.0 18.0 18.0
20 Cincinnati 3-0 22.0 20.0 21.0
Oklahoma State 4-0 20.0 22.0 21.0
22 Connecticut 4-0 21.0 23.0 22.0
23 Baylor 4-1 24.0 21.0 22.5
24 San Diego State 2-1 25.0 25.0 25.0
Colorado 4-0 23.0 27.0 25.0

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