Local Sports

Illinois Moves Up in Latest College Basketball Polls

Gonzaga and Baylor have remained firmly atop The Associated Press men’s college basketball poll all season while everyone else keeps rotating in and out of the top 10 beneath them as potential challengers.

 

Illinois moved up from No. 22 to No. 19 this week despite not having played since they lost at home to Ohio State last Saturday afternoon. The Illini will get back in action Friday night when they host No. 7 Iowa at the State Farm Center. 

 

Michigan’s rise comes after the school announced a two-week pause in all sports activities due to concerns about a new COVID-19 variant believed to spread at a higher rate. That has led to the postponement of the Wolverines’ next four games through at least Feb. 11.

 

In Villanova’s case, the Wildcats were No. 5 when they beat Marquette on Dec. 23 before pausing team activities due to COVID-19 protocols. They didn’t play again until beating Seton Hall last Tuesday, though they had inched up to No. 3 by that point.

 

Florida State went the other direction. The Seminoles fell out from No. 25 in the midst of having three straight January games postponed. But they’ve won four straight games — three by double-digit margins — since returning and re-entered the poll Monday at No. 16.

 

The Volunteers took the week’s biggest tumble, falling 12 spots after a 26-point loss at Florida followed by the Missouri home loss.

 

There were also six-spot slides for No. 15 Kansas and No. 17 Creighton. The Jayhawks lost at Baylor to start last week then fell at Oklahoma, marking the program’s first three-game skid since February 2013 and dropping them out of the top 10 for the first time in two years.

 

A total of seven teams fell from last week’s poll.

 

No. 24 Oklahoma and No. 25 Louisville joined Florida State as the week’s new additions to this week’s poll. Clemson (No. 20), Oregon (No. 21) and Connecticut (No. 23) fell out of the rankings.

 

 

 

It was a wacky week in college basketball, with four top-10 teams taking at least one loss and two top-10 teams -- Kansas and Tennessee -- taking two. The result is a big fall for both programs in the latest Coaches Poll released Monday, with KU dipping nine spots to No. 18 and Tennessee dropping a whopping eleven spots to No. 17.

 

Florida State and Alabama, on the other hand, experienced vastly different weeks -- and both trended vastly different directions. The Seminoles beat Louisville and Clemson and jumped nine spots to No. 16 in this week's poll, and Alabama beat LSU and Mississippi State to get to No. 8. It's the highest ranking for the Tide all season and one spot shy of tying FSU's highest ranking in the poll this season.

 

Gonzaga and Baylor were the only teams to garner first-place votes once again this week, with both once again coming in at No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, in the rankings.

 

Illinois moved up from No. 24 to No. 22 in this week's Coaches Poll.

Townhall Top of the Hour News

Local Weather - Sponsored By:

CLINTON WEATHER

Local News

DeWittDN on Facebook