After debuting at No. 6 in the preseason Associated Press Poll
last week, the UCLA men’s basketball team remained at No. 6
in the new poll released Monday. The Bruins’ No. 6 ranking is
their highest preseason ranking since the 2001-2002 season, when
they debuted at No. 5. The Bruins were ranked 19th in the AP poll
to begin last year and did not get into the top 10 until the very
last AP poll of the season. Although the inactive Bruins did not
see their ranking change from week one to week two, there was some
other action that occurred in the top 10. While Florida, North
Carolina, Kansas and Pittsburgh continued to occupy the top-four
spots in the poll, Ohio State moved up two spots to No. 5. The
Buckeyes, expected to be much improved with a highly touted
freshman class this season, opened up their season with three
dominating wins over the Virginia Military Institute, Loyola (Ill.)
and Kent State to take home the BCA Classic Championship. Lousiana
State, which like UCLA was inactive last week, dropped two spots
from No. 5 to No. 7.
AROUND THE PAC-10: There weren’t too many
opening-week shockers in college basketball, but the one preseason
top-10 team to go down came out of the Pac-10. Arizona lost its
season opener in a road game against Virginia, which played its
first-ever game in its new stadium, the John Paul Jones Arena.
Highly touted freshman Chase Budinger debuted in style, scoring 17
points on 7-for-12 shooting, but the Wildcats couldn’t hold
on to a 13-point halftime lead. Arizona moved down five spots from
No. 10 to No. 15 in this week’s AP poll. No. 17 Washington
opened up with a 99-91 win against Pepperdine. Sophomore Jon
Brockman led the Huskies with 25 points and 12 rebounds while
freshman center Spencer Hawes debuted with 12 points, seven
assists, five rebounds and four blocks off the bench. Oregon
freshman guard Tajuan Porter set a new school record with 10
three-pointers and had 38 points in the Ducks’ 116-68 rout of
Portland State. Stanford also scored a victory in its season debut,
defeating Siena 92-72 behind 30 points from sophomore Anthony
Goods. Freshman center Robin Lopez had an impressive debut for the
Cardinal with 14 points, 15 rebounds and six blocks while his twin
brother Brook remained sidelined as he is still recovering from
back surgery. Washington State and Oregon State were the two other
Pac-10 teams that debuted last week. The Cougars debuted with three
impressive wins over University of Alabama, Birmingham,
Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Radford. Oregon State defeated Cal Poly and
Portland but fell to Southeastern Louisiana.
HUH?: UCLA’s first opponent, Brigham
Young, received a vote in the AP poll this week but that might not
be saying much. Harvard, a team which hasn’t won more than 14
games in a season since 1996-1997 in a very average Ivy League
conference, also mysteriously received an AP vote this week.