Buckeyes move up to 9th in men’s poll

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Chris Mooney and the Richmond Spiders set a bunch of goals before the season, including an Atlantic 10 regular-season title and their first NCAA tournament bid in six years.

After two road victories last week moved the Spiders into first place in the conference, they accomplished another goal Monday: making the Top 25 for the first time in 24 years.

In a week when Kansas State climbed to No. 7, its highest ranking in nearly five decades, the Spiders joined the AP poll at No. 25 for the first time since January 1986. It’s just the fourth time in school history that the small, private school has been in the poll.

Kansas (24-1) was again a runaway No. 1, receiving 62 first-place votes from the 65-member national media panel to hold the top spot for the third week in a row. Kentucky (24-1), which had the other No. 1 nods, moved up one spot to No. 2.

Villanova moved up one place to No. 3, with Purdue gaining two places to fourth, the sixth week this season the Boilermakers have reached that spot.

Syracuse, which had its 11-game winning streak stopped by Louisville on Sunday, dropped from second to fifth. Duke strengthened its lead in the Atlantic Coast Conference with a win over Maryland on Saturday and jumped from eighth to sixth.

Kansas State (20-4) achieved its highest ranking since it was sixth in the final poll of the 1961-62 season. West Virginia, which lost to Villanova and Pitt last week, fell to No. 8, followed by Ohio State and Georgetown, an upset victim of Rutgers on Sunday.

Women’s poll

North Carolina’s streak of Top 25 appearances is over.

The Tar Heels fell out of The Associated Press women’s basketball poll Monday for the first time in 163 weeks, while Connecticut pushed its run at No. 1 to 39 straight weeks.

Stanford, Nebraska, Notre Dame and Tennessee followed the Huskies in the top 5. Nebraska (23-0) created a bigger gap between itself and No. 4 Notre Dame. Last week the Cornhuskers moved past the Irish into third by two points. This week they are 10 points ahead.

Xavier, Ohio State, Duke, West Virginia and Florida State rounded out the top 10 — no changes from last week. It was only the third time in the last 15 years that the top 10 remained the same for two straight weeks.