Kansas, UConn lead polls

ASSOCIATED PRESS

The Mountain West Conference is doing some serious climbing.

A league that has always had to fight for respect as it tries to join the ranks of the power conferences, the 11-year-old Mountain West had three teams in The Associated Press’ Top 25 on Monday, one more than the Atlantic Coast Conference and three more than the Pac-10.

Kansas (22-1) remained the runaway No. 1, receiving 55 first-place votes from the national media panel. Syracuse (23-1), which received eight first-place votes, moved up one spot to become the fourth No. 2 in as many weeks. The ranking is the highest for the Orange since a six-week stretch at No. 1 in 1989-90.

Kentucky (22-1), which was No. 1 on two ballots, moved up one place to No. 3, while Villanova and West Virginia, which met Monday night, were fourth and fifth.

New Mexico, BYU and UNLV, which are in a three-way tie for first place in the Mountain West, give the league three teams in the Top 25 for the first time.

“BYU, New Mexico and UNLV are reaping the benefits of unprecedented national television exposure and enhanced non-conference scheduling,” Mountain West commissioner Craig Thompson said in a statement. “All three teams have really extended their schedules and some very quality wins are now being reflected. It is a real tribute to the coaches to see Top 25 matchups each week in Conference play as well.”

No. 15 New Mexico (21-3) is ranked for the third straight week and seventh overall. BYU (22-3) dropped five places to 17th following its 88-74 loss to UNLV, the game that forged the three-way tie for first and moved the Rebels (19-4) back into the poll at No. 23.

Women’s poll

Nebraska keeps winning and climbing up the Top 25.

The unbeaten Cornhuskers (21-0) moved past Notre Dame to No. 3 on Monday in The Associated Press women’s basketball poll. Nebraska trailed the Irish in the poll by 27 points last week, but were buoyed by victories over then-No. 10 Oklahoma State and 12th-ranked Texas A&M to move two points in front.

“They are still undefeated and are beating some pretty good teams,” said voter Paul Zeise of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, who had Nebraska No. 2 on his ballot this week. “They’ve played a lot of teams that have been ranked in the top 10 and beat them all. They haven’t really had a close game.”

Sounds like a familiar scenario to UConn, which remained No. 1 for a record 38th straight week. The Huskies (23-0) routed West Virginia and Louisville this week. Connecticut has won 62 straight games, all by double digits.

Stanford remained second with Notre Dame falling to fourth — despite winning twice this past week — and Tennessee fifth.

While there wasn’t much surprise at UConn’s continued success, the Cornhuskers didn’t even start the season ranked and didn’t crack the Top 25 until the fourth week of the season. Before this run, Nebraska’s highest ranking had been 12th in 1997.

Nebraska, which will visit Kansas on Wednesday and Missouri on Saturday, has won most of its games by double digits with Miami being the only team to come within five points.