AP hoops poll for Dec. 28

Posted by John Rohde

on December 28, 2009M at 6:05 pm

The past two weeks, No. 2 Texas has gradually narrowed the gap between itself and No. 1 Kansas in The Associated Press men’s basketball poll.

This week, KU received 52 first-place votes compared to 11 for Texas. The previous week, the Jayhawks had 55 first-place votes compared to seven for the Longhorns. The week before that, KU had 61 first-place votes compared to one for UT.

Both teams are 11-0, but the Longhorns have a more impressive resume with back-to-back victories over No. 9 North Carolina and No. 11 Michigan State, plus an earlier victory over upstart Southern Cal.

The Jayhawks have yet to beat a ranked opponent. Their most notable victories have been against Memphis, Michigan and California. KU has a much tougher non-conference remaining with games at No. 18 Temple on Jan. 2 and at No. 14 Tennessee on Jan. 10.

Elsewhere in the Big 12, Kansas State remained at No. 12 this week, while Texas Tech moved up three spots to No. 20 after beating Stanford. Texas A&M dropped out of the Top 25 following a loss at Washington.

Here is how I voted in this week’s poll: 1. Kansas; 2. Texas; 3. Kentucky; 4. Purdue; 5. Syracuse; 6. Duke; 7. West Virginia; 8. Villanova; 9. North Carolina; 10. Michigan State; 11. Connecticut;
12. Ohio State; 13. Kansas State; 14. Tennessee; 15. Georgetown;
16. Mississippi; 17. Clemson; 18. Temple; 19. Texas Tech; 20. Washington; 21. Texas A&M; 22. New Mexico; 23. UAB; 24. Butler; 25. Florida.

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