UNLV drops out of AP poll after loss to Tar Heels
After losing to North Carolina at Chapel Hill, UNLV dropped out of The Associated Press men's basketball poll on Monday, while Duke remained No. 1.
The Rebels were ranked No. 20 going into Saturday's game, which the unranked Tar Heels won, 79-73.
New Mexico, which won at undefeated Cincinnati to improve to 13-1 on Thursday, returned to the rankings at No. 20 after being out for one week. But the Lobos then promptly got drilled Monday at Saint Louis, 60-46.
Fellow Mountain West school San Diego State (11-2) was ranked 19th.
For the third straight week, Duke was the runaway No. 1 in the poll, and No. 9 Minnesota climbed into the top 10 for the first time since standing No. 3 in the final poll of 1996-97.
The Blue Devils (12-0) received all but two first-place votes from the 65-member media panel. The next five teams - Michigan, Arizona, Louisville, Indiana and Kansas - held their places from last week. Syracuse, Ohio State, Minnesota and Gonzaga rounded out the top 10.
Michigan (13-0) was No. 1 on two ballots for the second straight week.
■ MIAMI - Senior center Reggie Johnson will miss much of the Atlantic Coast Conference season with a broken left thumb. He is expected to be sidelined six to eight weeks,
A starter since his sophomore season, Johnson already has missed four games for the Hurricanes (8-3). He has played in seven games, and is averaging 12.6 points and 10.1 rebounds.
■ WOMEN'S POLL - Connecticut took over No. 1 in the AP women's poll after routing Stanford over the weekend.
The Huskies received 37 first-place votes, while No. 2 Baylor got the other three. UConn last held the top spot at the end of the 2010-11 season.
Duke moved up to third, while Stanford, which held the top place for six weeks after beating Baylor, fell to fourth. Notre Dame was fifth. The Huskies, who beat Stanford 61-35 on Saturday to end the Cardinal's 82-game home winning streak, will host the Irish on Saturday.
