Duke still unanimous No. 1, Louisville in Top 25

[December 07, 2010]  CINCINNATI (AP) -- Another Duke victory over a Top 10 team and the Blue Devils' win in a rematch of last season's national championship game had them a unanimous No. 1 for a second straight week.

The Blue Devils capped a tough two-week stretch by beating Michigan State and Butler, and that meant they again got all 65 first-place votes from the national media panel on Monday.

Duke (8-0) was No. 1 in the preseason poll and has stayed there for the first four polls of the regular season.

Ohio State, Pittsburgh, Kansas and Kansas State, which also lost to Duke, were second through fifth for the second week in a row.

Connecticut, which went from unranked to seventh last week in the second-best inseason poll jump ever, moved up one place to sixth.

Michigan State, Syracuse, Georgetown and Baylor rounded out the top 10.

It is the first-ever appearance in the top 10 for Baylor, which was 11th last week and moved up with wins over Prairie View A&M and Arizona State.

Tennessee jumped two spots to lead the second 10 and was followed by Villanova, Memphis, San Diego State, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, BYU, Purdue and UNLV.

Washington, Minnesota, Notre Dame, Louisville and Texas rounded out the Top 25.

Louisville (6-0) moved into the rankings for the first time this season. The Cardinals' biggest win was over then-No. 16 Butler in the opening game at their new downtown arena. They were ranked for four weeks last season and in 2008-09 they were in the Top 25 all season, reaching No. 1 for the first time in school history in the final poll.

Florida (6-2) lost to Central Florida last week and dropped out from 18th. The Gators, whose other loss was to Ohio State, were No. 9 in the preseason poll and they are the first member of that top 10 to fall out of the rankings.

Louisville is the seventh Big East team in the rankings, while the Big Ten and Big 12 have five each. The Big East has four of the top 10 -- Pittsburgh, Connecticut, Syracuse, Georgetown -- and the Big 12 has three -- Kansas, Kansas State and Baylor.

Georgetown moved into the top 10 for the first time this season, making the week's biggest jump from 16th to No. 9. Kentucky, which lost to North Carolina, and Minnesota, which lost to Virginia, had the week's biggest drops falling seven places to 17th and 22nd, respectively.

The Jimmy V Classic at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday will have Kansas facing Memphis and Syracuse against Michigan State. Notre Dame is at Kentucky on Wednesday and Tennessee is at Pittsburgh on Saturday.

[Associated Press; By JIM O'CONNELL]

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