Stanford returns to No. 1 in AP poll

Stanford returns to No. 1 in AP poll <br><br>Stanford is back at No. 1, the fourth change at the top this season in The Associated Press college basketball poll. Stanford held the top spot for three

Monday, February 21st 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

Stanford returns to No. 1 in AP poll

Stanford is back at No. 1, the fourth change at the top this season in The Associated Press college basketball poll. Stanford held the top spot for three weeks earlier this season. Its return Monday came a day after Cincinnati's six-week run at No.1 ended, along with its 16-game winning streak after a 77-69 loss to Temple.

The Cardinal (22-1), ranked No. 2 last week, routed California 101-50 Saturday, the Bears' worst loss in school history. When Stanford received the top ranking in the Dec. 20 poll, it replaced Cincinnati and earned its first No. 1 ranking. The Cardinal stayed there until their only loss of the season, 68-65 to Arizona on Jan. 8.

The only other No. 1 team this season was defending national champion Connecticut. The Huskies lost their season opener to Iowa, and Cincinnati moved into No. 1 for five weeks. The Cardinal received all but one of the 70 first-place votes and 1,749 points from the national media panel this week.

Duke(21-3) moved up one place to No. 2, its highest ranking of the season, with 1,622 points. Cincinnati (24-2) dropped to third, while Arizona (23-4), which had the only other first-place vote, remained fourth after beating Southern California and UCLA last week.

Michigan State and Ohio State each moved up one place to fifth and sixth. Tennessee, which lost at Vanderbilt last week, dropped two spots to seventh. Temple, which has won 11 straight games, jumped from No. 15 to No. 8 following road wins over Dayton and Cincinnati. It's the Owls' highest ranking since they were fifth in the second poll of the regular season.

Florida and Oklahoma State rounded out the Top Ten. Auburn moved up one place to No. 11 and was followed by Tulsa, Syracuse, Texas, LSU, Indiana, Iowa State, Kentucky, Maryland andOklahoma. Purdue, Connecticut, Kansas, Vanderbilt and Utah completed the Top 25.

Vanderbilt (17-6) had dropped out of the rankings last week after a loss to Alabama. The Commodores then lost to Auburn, bu tbeat Tennessee on Saturday, giving them a season sweep of the Volunteers. Seton Hall (18-6) moved into the rankings last week for the first time since the final poll of the 1992-93 season. But the Pirates didn't stay there long following home losses to Connecticut and Notre Dame. The 76-74 loss to the Irish came on a rebound basket in the final second.

Connecticut, which followed the 59-50 win over Seton Hall with a 63-57 home loss to Miami, dropped from No. 18 to No. 22. That's the lowest ranking for a preseason No. 1 since Indiana fell from the then-Top 20 for one week late in the 1979-80 season. The Hoosiers returned to the poll the next week and were seventh in the final rankings.

Temple's jump from No. 15 to No. 8 was the biggest of the week, while Indiana's fall from No. 10 to No. 16 was the biggest drop. The Hoosiers lost their only game last week, 82-71 to Ohio State at home Saturday.