Ohio State No. 1 for 2nd week

3/6/2007

Winthrop's impressive run to another NCAA tournament bid has the Eagles in the Associated Press Top 25 for the first time.

While Ohio State stayed No. 1 for the second straight week yesterday, Winthrop (28-4) moved in at No. 24.

"Nine years of work has been poured into this," Winthrop coach Gregg Marshall said yesterday. "The AP is the original poll, the one I grew up with. This is another stamp of approval."

The victory Saturday over VMI in the Big South tournament championship game gave the Eagles a seventh NCAA berth since 1999.

Ohio State (27-3), which beat Michigan 65-61 to cap its Big Ten regular season, stayed No. 1 with 70 first-place votes from the 72-member national media panel. Kansas (27-4) moved up one spot to No. 2 with the other two No. 1 votes.

Wisconsin moved up one place to third, while UCLA, which won the Pac-10 regular season title but lost to Washington, dropped from second to fourth.

UNLV moved into the poll for the first time this season at No. 25.

Bowling Green won last week but dropped one spot to No. 20 in the Associated Press women's basketball poll.

The Falcons (26-3) defeated Miami 92-62 to close the regular season.

Even with a loss, Duke is still No. 1.

Duke led the poll for the eighth straight week, holding on by a solid margin despite losing for the first time. Montana joined at No. 25 as the only newcomer, its first national ranking in 13 years.

The Blue Devils (30-1) were upset by North Carolina State in the semifinals of the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament, but still received 39 of 50 first-place votes.

Connecticut (28-2) moved up one spot to second and received seven first-place votes, the first time this season the Huskies have been voted No. 1 on any ballots. It's their highest ranking since they led the poll the week of Feb. 23, 2004.

North Carolina is third, followed by Tennessee and Ohio State.