Coming off of a week that saw the UCLA men’s basketball
team win convincingly against Arizona State and Arizona, the Bruins
moved up just one spot from No. 14 to No. 13 in the latest
Associated Press poll released Monday.
The Bruins would have moved up more, but most of the teams
ranked ahead were successful last weekend, as Pittsburgh and
Illinois were the only teams ranked ahead of UCLA to lose last
week. The Panthers are ranked No. 14, dropping below the Bruins,
while the Fighting Illini are now ranked No. 10.
The No. 13 ranking for UCLA, meanwhile, is the highest the
Bruins have been ranked since they were the No. 11 team in the
nation four weeks ago. UCLA has been ranked between the top 20 and
top 10 in all the AP polls since the season began, and the
Bruins’ worst ranking of the year was their No. 19 preseason
AP ranking.
For the fifth consecutive week, UCLA and Washington are the only
two Pac-10 teams to be ranked. Washington dropped from No. 16 to
No. 21 after losing to Washington State on Saturday.
California and Stanford were the other Pac-10 teams to get votes
in the AP poll. The Bears and Cardinal received 14 and two votes,
respectively, after both teams won their last four Pac-10
games.
The relative lack of success that the Pac-10 teams are having in
the polls this season has critics saying that the Pac-10 could only
get three teams in the NCAA Tournament. UCLA coach Ben Howland is
more optimistic.
“This league still has potential for six teams to get into
the NCAA Tournament,” Howland said after UCLA’s win
over Arizona. “Right now, our league deserves to have four or
five teams (in the tournament).”
With UCLA’s record and ranking, they are a virtual lock
for the tournament, and Howland mentioned Cal and Washington as
teams he thinks would surely make the field of 64.
Howland expressed confidence in Arizona’s chances, citing
its tough non-conference schedule and ability to win most of its
remaining games. Arizona was the preseason No. 10 team in the
country, but with two losses to the L.A. schools last week, they
have dropped to 13-9.
Howland also said Stanford is “definitely right
there” because of the way they’ve been playing late in
the year.
USC was the other team that Howland had in mind, but the
Trojans’ chances were decreased significantly after it lost
to last place Arizona State soon after Howland’s press
conference. USC’s RPI is an unimpressive 102.