Tuesday, December 19, 2006
ASSOCIATED PRESS
An eight-day run that Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan called a "huge week" has the Badgers at their highest ranking ever.
A road win over ranked rival Marquette started the stretch and it ended with Saturday's decisive 89-75 victory over then-No. 2 Pittsburgh. The two wins -- along with a midweek victory over Wisconsin-Milwaukee -- helped the Badgers (11-1) jump from seventh to No. 4 in The Associated Press poll released Monday.
"We've never had any better week than that," Ryan said Monday. "There's a lot more basketball to play, but it's pretty exciting and I feel good for our guys."
Wisconsin's previous best ranking came on Dec. 4, 1962, when the Badgers were sixth.
They dropped to No. 7 the next week and then were out of the polls for 12 years.
"Hopefully that won't happen again," Ryan said.
Other rankings
UCLA (9-0) remained No. 1 for the fourth straight week. The Bruins, who beat Oakland, Mich., 74-53 in their only game last week, received 68 No. 1 votes and 1,796 points from the 72-member national media panel.
North Carolina and Ohio State both moved up one spot to second and third, respectively, in a week that saw the same teams remain in the Top 25 with very little movement.
The Tar Heels (8-1), who beat North Carolina-Asheville 93-62 in their only game last week, received one first-place vote and 1,710 points.
Ohio State (9-1), which lost to North Carolina earlier in the season before freshman center Greg Oden made his debut after recovering from offseason wrist surgery, won its only game last week, 72-50 over Cincinnati. The Buckeyes got the other three No. 1 votes.
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