UNLV still out but San Diego State jumps back into Top 25

UNLV remains on the outside looking in at the Top 25 in the college basketball polls released Monday.

But two other Mountain West teams are ranked as schools continue to knock each other off in conference play.

The Rebels (16-4 overall, 3-2 in conference) won their only game last week, beating Wyoming 62-50. But it wasn't enough to propel them back into the Top 25. UNLV got enough votes to be No. 27 in both the Associated Press and USA Today polls.

San Diego State (16-4, 3-2) jumped back into the Top 25 after smotherting New Mexico, 55-34, and beating UNR, 78-57. The Aztecs are ranked No. 22 in the AP poll, voted on by sports writers, and No. 20 in the USA Today poll, voted on by coaches.

New Mexico (17-3, 4-1) did beat Colorado State, 66-61, last week. The Lobos slipped five spots to No. 20 in the AP poll and to No. 22 in the USA Today rankings.

Michigan is ranked No. 1 in the AP poll for the first time since its Fab Five days 20 years ago.

For the second straight week the No. 1 team lost. This time it was Duke, which was routed 90-63 by Miami in the third-worst defeat by a top-ranked team.

Michigan received 51 first-place votes from the 65-member national media panel Monday. Kansas moved up one spot to No. 2 and had 13 first-place votes. They are the only one-loss teams in the poll.

Kansas was No. 1 and Michigan was No. 2 in the USA Today poll.

Indiana, Florida, which drew the other first-place vote, and Duke complete the top five.

The Wolverines advanced from No. 2 to become No. 1 for the fourth time. They were at the top for 10 weeks in 1964-65, eight weeks in 1976-77 and three weeks at the start of 1992-93, the Fab Five's second season together.

That season, Chris Webber, Juwan Howard, Jalen Rose, Jimmy King and Ray Jackson made it to the national championship game for the second straight year.

Michigan is the second Big Ten team to be No. 1 this season. Indiana was the preseason No. 1 and stayed there for the first five weeks of the regular season. Duke moved in for four weeks before Louisville and the Blue Devils both held it for one week.

Rounding out the top 10 are No. 6 Syracuse, followed by Gonzaga, Arizona, Butler and Oregon. Miami rode its win over Duke to a 13-place jump in the poll, from 25th to 14th.

Fourteen ranked teams, including half the top 10, lost at least one game last week. Four teams, including Louisville, which dropped from fifth to 12th, lost twice last week.

San Diego State and Marquette returned to the rankings this week, replacing Virginia Commonwealth, which was 19th, and Notre Dame, which was 24th.