Indiana Remains At No. 1 In Associated Press Top 25 Poll Despite Loss To Illinois
Indiana held onto the No. 1 spot in college basketball despite a heartbreaking last-second loss to Illinois this week.
The Hoosiers topped The Associated Press’ Top 25 rankings for the second consecutive week, the first team in a month to hold onto its top spot.
“I had a good friend tell me that in-season rankings are the barometer of representing what lane you’re in and the direction and how far you are moving towards your goals,” said Indiana coach Tom Crean. “We want to stay in the left lane and keep working on our team and pace, because we know there are quite a few others in the left lane as well.”
The Hoosiers were undone by a late defensive collapse that let Illinois score a basket with 0.9 seconds remaining on Thursday night. But four of the other top five teams also lost on the week — and six of the top 10 — so Indiana was able to hold onto its No. 1 spot.
Until this week, there had been a stretch of five weeks with a new No. 1 team, the first time that had happened since 1993-94. Duke was the first to fall out of the No. 1 spot, then Louisville, Duke again, Michigan, and Indiana.
Duke took the No. 2 spot this week, followed by Miami, Michigan, and Gonzaga at No. 5.
Aside from Indiana taking the No. 1 spot, the poll had some other highlights, CBS Sports noted. Wisconsin, Memphis and Kentucky, all returned to the top 25 rankings, while Colorado State made it first appearance in the poll since March 9, 1954.
