UConn leaps into poll at No. 7 after Maui wins

Connecticut made the second-most impressive jump onto the

Associated Press

poll in 21 years, moving in at No. 7.

The Huskies (5-0) beat then-No. 2 Michigan State and then-No. 8 Kentucky on the way to winning the Maui Invitational last week. Since the poll expanded to 25 teams in 1989, the only more impressive entrance was Kansas' jump to No. 4 after beating No. 2 LSU, No. 1 UNLV and No. 25 St. John's on the way to winning the 1989 Preseason NIT.

"It's tough to imagine something like that even though everybody says they don't pay attention to the polls," Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun said. "It's nice to be there at this point of the season but I always tell my teams 'Don't let yesterday take up too much of today.' "

Duke (6-0) remained No. 1, receiving all 65 first-place votes from the national media panel. Wins over Marquette, Kansas State and Oregon made the Blue Devils the first unanimous No. 1 since Kentucky did it for 1 week last season.

UNLV (6-0), which won the 76 Classic, and Notre Dame (7-0), which won the Old Spice Classic, were this week's other newcomers to the poll at No. 24 and 25. Both were ranked last season.

Temple, Gonzaga and North Carolina dropped out of the rankings.

A lot of movement was expected in the poll after half of the top 10 lost a game last week, while three other ranked teams lost, including Washington and Temple dropping two games each.

Ohio State moved up one spot to second and Pittsburgh and Kansas both moved up two places to third and fourth. Kansas State, which lost to Duke in the CBE Classic final, dropped one place to fifth, while Michigan State, which lost to Connecticut in the semifinals at Maui, fell four spots to sixth. Connecticut, Syracuse, Missouri and Kentucky rounded out the top 10.

Baylor moved up one place to 11th and was followed by Villanova, Tennessee, Memphis, Minnesota, Georgetown, San Diego State, Florida, Texas and Illinois. The last five ranked teams were BYU, Purdue, Washington, UNLV and Notre Dame.

Connecticut also is back as the unanimous No. 1 in the women's poll and is atop the rankings for the 47th straight week. The Huskies have won 84 straight games, an NCAA women's basketball record.

Baylor and Stanford remained second and third, followed by Xavier, Duke, Ohio State, Texas A&M, Kentucky, Tennessee and West Virginia.

* At Kansas State, Jacob Pullen broke the school record for career three-pointers, hitting four, to lead the No. 5 Wildcats to an 85-61 victory over Division II Emporia State. The senior guard scored 20 points as the Wildcats (6-1) cruised.

* At Minnesota, Mustapha Farrakhan scored a career-high 23 points and Mike Scott had 17 points and 12 rebounds to lead Virginia to an 87-79 victory over the No. 15 Golden Gophers. Joe Harris scored 24 points and the Cavaliers (4-3) made 10 of 13 three-pointers to erase a 13-point first-half deficit and hand Minnesota (6-1) its first loss of the season.

Trevor Mbakwe had 18 points, 11 rebounds and five blocks for Minnesota, which saw the return of guard Devoe Joseph from a six-game suspension for violating unspecified team rules.

* At Baylor, LaceDarius Dunn had 20 points and Perry Jones III added 16 points and 13 rebounds as the No. 11 Bears (5-0) pounded Prairie View A & M, 90-45.

* At Seton Hall, Jordan Theodore paced a balanced scoring attack with 11 points and Jeff Robinson added 10, leading the Pirates (3-3) to a 69-49 victory over fellow New Jersey rival Saint Peter's.

* At Cleveland State, Norris Cole had 29 points and five steals as the Vikings (8-0) held off Robert Morris, 58-53. *