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Rebels gain three spots in AP poll

UNLV began to claw its way back up The Associated Press college basketball poll, moving up three spots to No. 21 on Monday.

The Rebels opened the season at No. 18, but fell six spots after losing to unranked Oregon. UNLV (6-1) beat Hawaii and UC Irvine last week.

Two other Mountain West Conference teams gained ground in the poll. San Diego State (5-1) moved up six spots to No. 17, and New Mexico (8-0) vaulted over UNLV and climbed seven spots to No. 18.

Indiana, Duke and Michigan remained the top three teams. Look all the way to the bottom, and you won't see Kentucky's name for the first time since John Calipari became coach of the Wildcats.

Indiana, No. 1 since the preseason poll, saw its lead over Duke shrink. The Hoosiers (8-0) received 45 first-place votes Monday from the 65-member national media panel, two fewer than last week.

Duke (8-0) had the other first-place votes for the second straight week. The Blue Devils beat Ohio State last week, giving them wins over teams ranked second, third and fourth in a span of 15 days. The other such run was Arizona beating teams ranked first, fourth and fifth from the regional semifinals to the NCAA championship game in 1997, a span of 11 days.

Ranked No. 8 last week, Kentucky (4-3) lost to Notre Dame and Baylor, the latter snapping the Wildcats' 55-game home winning streak, the longest in the nation. The Wildcats had been ranked in the last 61 polls, including 11 at No. 1. The run started with the preseason poll of 2009-10, the start of the Calipari Era, when the Wildcats started young lineups which usually were gutted the next season by the NBA Draft.

The Wildcats won Kentucky's eighth national championship in April, then had six players taken in the draft, including Anthony Davis and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist as the first two picks.

■ ARKANSAS - Coach Mike Anderson said his son was suspended indefinitely from his job as the team's video coordinator following his third arrest on alcohol-related charges - and second while with the Razorbacks.

Michael Anderson, 27, was booked at 8 a.m. Sunday after his arrest by Fayetteville, Ark., police on charges of driving while intoxicated. He was released later that morning on $2,000 bond.

Anderson also was arrested by Fayetteville police in January on suspicion of drunken driving. A police report at the time said his blood-alcohol level was 0.10 percent, above the 0.08 limit for driving.

■ CONNECTICUT - Jim Calhoun had surgery in May to remove an apparent cancerous growth from his lungs, the former UConn coach told the YES Network in New York. Calhoun said doctors removed the growth, concerned it might be related to a previous skin cancer.

Calhoun, who also had spinal surgery in February, retired in September, weeks after having surgery to repair a fractured hip suffered in a bicycling accident.

■ EX-KENTUCKY PLAYER DIES - John Lloyd Crigler, a forward on Kentucky's 1958 national championship team, died Saturday in Georgetown, Ky.

Crigler, 76, played under coach Adolph Rupp and scored 14 points in the 1958 championship game against Elgin Baylor's Seattle team. Crigler played with teammates Johnny Cox, Ed Beck, Vernon Hatton and Adrian Smith.

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