College Basketball: Duke men, UConn women: No. 1 again

Duke is back on top of the Associated Press men's college basketball poll for the first time in just over a month. St. John's is back in the top 25 for the first time in over a decade.

The Blue Devils (25-2) jumped from fifth to No. 1 on Monday after a week that saw the top four teams in the poll all lose. The move to the top is the biggest since Kansas went from sixth to No. 1 in November 2003, the last time the top four all lost in the same week. Temple visits Duke on Wednesday.

The only change near the bottom of the rankings was that St. John's (17-9) moved in at No. 23. The Red Storm were last ranked in November 2000. Temple is 24th.

Honors. Delaware Valley's run to the top of the Freedom Conference standings helped earn senior guard James Jones (Bok) honors as the player of the year while Casey Stitzel was coach of the year. Sophomore center Jeremy Beckett was named to the conference's second team. . . . The Big Five honored Penn's Tyler Bernardini as the player of the week.

 In the nation: Prep Charter product Marcus Morris had 27 points and No. 3 Kansas (26-2, 11-2 Big Twelve) brushed off the suspension of point guard Tyshawn Taylor, romping past Oklahoma State, 92-65, in Lawrence, Kan. Marshall Moses had 27 points for Oklahoma State (16-11, 4-9). Taylor was suspended indefinitely earlier Monday for violating unspecified team rules.

UConn received 37 of the 40 first-places votes in the women's college basketball poll by the Associated Press. Second-ranked Stanford got the other three.

The Huskies spent a record 51 straight weeks at No. 1 before their loss to the Cardinal on Dec. 30 dropped them down a spot. Since falling to second in the poll on Jan. 3, UConn had been moving closer to Baylor before the Bears lost to Texas Tech on Saturday. Baylor fell to third with Tennessee and Texas A&M rounding out the top five.

Xavier remained sixth and has a showdown with Temple on Sunday with the Atlantic Ten championship on the line.

Honors. St. Joseph's guard Michelle Baker was named the Big Five player of the week. . . . Temple guard Ashley Gale was been named co-player of the week in the Atlantic Ten, sharing the honor with Xavier's Ta'Shia Phillips.

In the area: Senior Kristy McGrath netted her 1,000th career point to highlight Gwynedd-Mercy's 61-47 win over Baptist Bible in the first round of the CSAC tournament. The fourth-seeded Griffins (17-9) travel to top-seeded Neumann on Wednesday. Taylour Alston added 12 points, 12 rebounds, and 6 blocks in the win. . . . Immaculata beat Centenary College, 87-59, in the Colonial States Athletic Conference tournament quarterfinals. The Mighty Macs placed three players in double figures, led by Chelsea McTigue's 20 points. Leah Kuczynski registered a double-double for Immaculata with 18 points and 11 rebounds.

In the nation: Meighan Simmons scored 14 points and No. 4 Tennessee (26-2, 14-0) cruised over No. 22 Georgia, 77-44, in Knoxville, Tenn., to win its 16th Southeastern Conference regular-season title. Jasmine James led the Bulldogs (20-7, 10-4) with 11 points.