3 teams drop out of AP’s Top 25

Monday, Feb. 10, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

The top three teams in the AP college basketball poll lost last week, and only one of them isn't in the same place in the latest voting released today.

Kansas and Wake Forest held on to No. 1 and No. 2 despite losses last week to Missouri and Duke, respectively, while Kentucky, which lost to South Carolina, dropped one place to fourth with Minnesota moving up one spot to third.

There were plenty of other changes in the rankings after a week that saw 17 ranked teams lose a total of 20 games.

Tulsa, Indiana and Iowa all dropped out of the Top 25. They were replaced by Illinois and UCLA, both of whom were ranked earlier in the season, and the College of Charleston, which is making its first appearance in the Top 25.

Kansas (23-1) is on top of the poll for the 11th straight week after the Jayhawks rebounded from the double-overtime loss at Missouri with a road win over Iowa State. They received 67 first-place votes and 1,770 points from the national media panel to easily hold off Wake Forest (19-2) by 101 points.

The Demon Deacons did what Kansas couldn't by winning at Missouri, but that followed the home loss to Duke.

Minnesota (20-2) was No. 1 on four ballots and had 1,621 points, 23 more than Kentucky (22-3), which followed the loss at South Carolina with easy nonconference home wins over Western Carolina and Villanova.

Utah held fifth in the poll and was followed by Duke, Clemson, Cincinnati, Iowa State and Maryland.

Arizona moved up three spots to lead the Second Ten and was followed by South Carolina, New Mexico, Michigan, Colorado, North Carolina, Louisville, Villanova, Xavier and Illinois.

The last five ranked teams were Texas Tech, Stanford, Tulane, UCLA and College of Charleston.

The last time the top three teams all lost in the same week was Jan. 2-8, 1995, when North Carolina, UCLA and Arkansas all fell but held their positions in the next poll.

The three ranked teams that lost two games last week all stayed in the poll. Louisville (18-5) lost to Saint Louis and Memphis to increase their losing streak to three games, and the Cardinals fell from 11th to 18th. Stanford lost at Southern California and UCLA and dropped from 18th to 22nd. Tulane fell from 21st to 23rd after losing on the road to Cincinnati and Arizona.

Illinois (17-6) entered at No. 20 after Sunday's victory over Iowa, the Illini's third straight after a two-game losing streak. Illinois was ranked for two weeks earlier in the season but fell out after losing two of three.

UCLA (13-7) was fifth in the preseason poll, but the firing of coach Jim Harrick got the season off to a rocky beginning and the Bruins were out of the Top 25 five weeks into the season after a 3-3 start. They re-enter the rankings having lost three of their last five games.

The College of Charleston (21-2) has the nation's longest current winning streak, 15 games, and the Cougars' only losses this season were to Kentucky in the championship game of the Great Alaska Shootout and at Oklahoma State.

The Cougars, who were an at-large selection to the NCAA tournament in 1994, have been playing on the Division I level since the 1989-90 season and are members of the Trans America Athletic Conference.

Tulsa (17-6) dropped out from 22nd after a three-week run following a 75-58 loss to Rice.

Indiana (18-7) was 24th and fell out following a 75-67 loss to Iowa, the Hoosiers' third straight, and a 93-76 victory over Ohio State. Indiana had reached as high as No. 8 this season.

Iowa (16-6) followed the win over Indiana with the loss to Illinois and dropped out after a one-week stint at No. 25.