North Carolina became the third team to hold the No. 1 position in The Associated Press college basketball poll this season when the Tar Heels moved up one spot today to the top of the rankings.
The No. 1 position is far from new to the Tar Heels (4-0) as they held it for five weeks last season, including the final poll heading into the NCAA tournament. Over the past 20 years, no school has been No. 1 more than North Carolina's 53 weeks at the top. Duke was second over that period with 46 weeks.
The third change at No. 1 came about when Massachusetts lost the first game it played as a top-ranked team, 81-75 to then-No. 7 Kansas in the Wooden Classic. North Carolina, meanwhile, won the Tournament of Champions in Charlotte, N.C., with victories over South Carolina and then-No. 10 Cincinnati.
Six different schools were voted into the No. 1 position last
season.
The Tar Heels received 54 first-place votes and 1,633 points from the 66-member national media panel, well ahead of UCLA, which had five first-place votes and 1,501 points. The Bruins (2-0) improved three spots with an 82-81 victory over then-No. 3 Kentucky in the other game at the Wooden Classic.
Arkansas (3-1), which was No. 1 in the preseason poll until losing to Massachusetts in the opener, moved up from fourth to third. Kansas (2-0) jumped from seventh to fourth.
Massachusetts (1-1) dropped to fifth, while Florida (3-0), which received the other first-place vote, jumped from eighth to sixth.
Kentucky was seventh and was followed by Arizona, Duke and " Connecticut, the latter two a weird voting since Connecticut, which was 16th last week, beat then-No. 6 Duke in the Great Eight.
Maryland's Terrapins led the Second Ten for the second straight week.
AP POLL
The top 25 teams in The Associated Press' college basketball poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, record through Dec. 4.
... ... ... ... ... ... Record ... ... ... Pts ... ... ... Prv
1. N. Carolina (54) .. 4-0 ... ... ... ... 1,633 ... ... ... 2
2. UCLA (5) ... ... .. 2-0 ... ... ... ... 1,501 ... ... ... 3
3. Arkansas (3) ... .. 3-1 ... ... ... ... 1,471 ... ... ... 4
4. Kansas (3) .. .. .. 2-0 ... ... ... ... 1,464 ... ... ... 7
5. Massachusetts .. .. 1-1 ... ... ... ... 1,378 ... ... ... 1
6. Florida (1) ... ... 3-0 ... ... ... ... 1,275 ... ... ... 8
7. Kentucky ... ... .. 2-1 ... ... ... ... 1,266 ... ... ... 3
8. Arizona ... ... .. 3-1 ... ... .. .. .. 1,130 ... ... ... 9
9. Duke ... ... ... . 3-1 ... ... .. .. .. 1,079 ... ... ... 6
10. Connecticut .. .. 3-0 ... ... .. .. .. 9871 ... ... .... 6
11. Maryland ... ... 4-1 ... ... .. .. .. 9811 ... ... ..... 1
12. Minnesota ... .. 5-0 ... ... ... .. .. 893 ... ... .. .. 15
13. Cincinnati ... .. 3-1 ... ... .. .. .. 835 ... ... .. .. 10
14. Wisconsin ... ... 3-0 ... ... ... .. .773 ... ... ... .. 13
15. Michigan St. ... 2-0 ... ... ... .. . 684 ... ... ... .. 18
16. Arizona St. ... . 4-1 ... ... ... .. 542 ... ... ... ... 12
17. Georgia Tech .. ..4-0 ... ... ... .. 511 ... ... ... ... 20
18. Georgetown ... .. 2-1 ... ... ... .. 439 ... ... ... ... 19
19. Syracuse ... ... 3-1 ... ... ... ... 358 ... ... ... ... 22
20. Virginia ... ... 3-1 ... ... ... ... 318 ... ... ... ... 23
21. Ohio U. ... ... 5-2 ... ... ... ... 282 ... ... ... .... 14
22. New Mexico St. .. 5-1 ... ... ... . 268 ... ... ... .... 25
23. Michigan ... ... 3-2 ... ... ... .. 262 ... ... ... .... 17
24. Villanova ... .. 3-1 ... ... ... . 255 ... ... ... ..... 24
25. Wake Forest ... . 2-1 ... ... ... . 150 ... ... ... .... 21
Others receiving votes: Texas 96, Iowa 87, Illinois 84, Tulane 71, Mississippi St. 66, George Washington 59, Alabama 53, Oklahoma St. 30, St. John's 28, Iowa St. 24, LSU 23, Brigham Young 18, California 16, Texas Tech 9, N.C. Charlotte 7, Utah 7, New Mexico 6, W. Kentucky 5, Marquette 4, St. Louis 4, Indiana 3, Memphis 3, Oklahoma 3, Penn 3, Missouri 2, Purdue 2, Hawaii 1, Temple 1.