Bama, Houston atop last Top 25 before tourney
The general No. 1 seed for March Insanity is No. 1 in the final AP Top 25, too.Alabama, fresh off an SEC tournament title to opt for its regular-season crown, ascended to the leading spot Monday, making 48 of 61 first-place votes to jump Houston, which lost in the American Athletic Conference final without star guard Marcus Sasser. Alabama likewise invested a week at No. 1 last month.Team Tape-record 1. Alabama (48) 29-5 2. Houston (9)31-3 3. Purdue(3
charges for a January shooting, a private investigator has testified star freshman Brandon Miller was asked by Miles to bring the weapon that night and police have also said Jaden Bradley was at the scene.”To beat the groups we had to beat to get here was not easy,”Alabama coach Nate Oats said recently.”So pleased with the men, proud of their effort, proud they had the ability to get truly focused.
Got a great deal of mental toughness. “Houston still received 9 first-place votes and was No. 2 after losing to Memphis in the last of the AAC tourney, where Sasser hurt his groin in the semifinal round. He did not play in the championship and his status will be watched closely leading up to the Cougars’NCAA opener against Northern Kentucky.Purdue, seeded initially in the East Area
, earned three first-place votes and was 3rd in the AP poll after the regular-season Huge 10 champ won its conference tournament, too. Kansas, which expects to have Bill Self back for the NCAA tourney after a medical
scare, was 4th after getting the No. 1 seed in the West.Texas routed the Jayhawks in the finals of the Huge 12 competition and completed the leading five.Editor’s Picks 2 Associated Marquette remained at No. 6 after its Big East tourney title. UCLA earned one first-place vote and was seventh after losing in the Pac-12 tournament last to Arizona, which was No. 8.
Gonzaga and UConn completed the top 10.”We have an unique group. We’re not going to do what our previous groups have done, which was to maybe get caught up in the wallow of losing, “said Huskies coach Dan Hurley, whose team fell to the Golden Eagles in the Big East tourney semifinals.”We’re going to get our minds right really quickly and prepare yourself to make a run next week. “RISING AND FALLING Duke made the greatest jump in the final poll after beating Virginia for the ACC competition title, climbing up 9 areas to
No. 12– the highest heaven Devils have been since the 3rd week of the season. First-year coach Jon Scheyer has them seeded 5th in the East in the NCAA tournament.UCLA, seeded 2nd in the West, fell 5 spots to No. 7 in the last poll.IN AND OUT
Memphis was hardly getting votes last week, however rolling to the AAC tourney title put Penny Hardaway’s team into the poll for the first time this season at No. 24. Florida Atlantic, the Conference U.S.A. regular-season and tourney champ, returned at No. 25 after investing the first four weeks in the poll in school history in January and February.The Tigers and Owls made the AP survey at the expense of Creighton, which was routed by Xavier in the Big East semifinals, and Kentucky, which fell to Vanderbilt in the SEC competition quarterfinal round.CONFERENCE see Extensively considered the hardest league in the nation, the Big 12 had 2 teams in the top five and five in the Leading 25. The league has 7 schools heading to the NCAA tournament after Oklahoma State was left on the bubble.The SEC, which tied the Big Ten for the most NCAA quotes with 8, had 4 teams in the last Leading 25. The Big East and ACC had three each, though the Big East had 2 in the leading 10 and the leading ACC group was Duke at No. 12.