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College basketball poll: Longhorns rise to No. 2 in AP ranking behind another Texas school

The Houston Cougars have reached the top of men’s college basketball.

Make some room, Phi Slama Jama. Another Houston team has reached the top of men’s college basketball.

Nearly four decades after Clyde Drexler and Akeem Olajuwon took the Cougars to No. 1, the latest bunch led by Marcus Sasser and star freshman Jarace Walker took over the top spot in the AP Top 25 on Monday. They received 45 of 63 first-place votes from the national media panel, easily outdistancing second-place Texas and third-place Virginia.

“It’s not like we went online and applied for it and waited for a response back. We’ve been working for this,” said Houston coach Kelvin Sampson, whose team is coming off a Final Four and Elite Eight trip the past two seasons. “But remember, it’s a rental. You don’t own it. You’re just renting it because someday somebody else is going to be No. 1.”

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North Carolina had been No. 1 all season, but the Tar Heels lost to Iowa State and in a four-overtime thriller to Alabama at the Phil Knight Invitational to cede the top spot to Houston, which beat Kent State in its only game last week.

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The last time the Cougars ascended to No. 1 was the final poll of the 1982-83 season, when “The Glide” and “The Dream” along with coach Guy Lewis were the favorites to win it all. They rolled through the NCAA Tournament before falling to Jim Valvano and North Carolina State in an iconic championship game in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

“I’ve never been ranked No. 1,” said Sampson, now in his 34th season as a college basketball coach. “We were ranked all 12 years at Oklahoma. I’m sure we were ranked at Indiana. Then we’ve been ranked five or six straight years. We’re used to having a high level of success.”

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Texas received eight first-place votes and Virginia received two. Arizona climbed from 14th to fourth after emerging from a stacked field to win the Maui Invitational. Purdue jumped from 24th all the way to fifth and scooped up eight first-place votes after beating West Virginia, Gonzaga and Duke at the Phil Knight Legacy tourney.

“Our guys are competitive. They’re fun to coach. They get along. They’re out there playing with purpose and that’s what you have to have,” said Boilermakers coach Matt Painter, whose team was briefly No. 1 about this time last season.

“Early in the season, very few teams play with the purpose collectively,” he said. “I thought our guys played with a purpose.”

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Baylor was sixth, Creighton seventh and U Conn climbed from 20th to eighth after beating Oregon, Alabama and Iowa State to win the Phil Knight Invitational. Kansas fell from third to ninth after losing to Tennessee in the championship game of the Battle 4 Atlantis, while Indiana rounded out the top 10.

IN AND OUT: Despite all the movement, Iowa State was the only newcomer this week, checking in at No. 23 after beating Villanova and North Carolina before falling to UConn. The Cyclones replaced Iowa, which dropped out after a one-week stay following its loss to TCU in the title game of the Emerald Coast Classic.

AP Top 25

RANKTEAMPOINTS
1Houston (6-0)1,534 (45)
2Texas (5-0)1,467 (8)
3Virginia (5-0)1,408 (2)
4Arizona (6-0)1,341
5Purdue (6-0)1,307 (8)
6Baylor (5-1)1,111
7Creighton (6-1)1,100
8UConn (8-0)1,099
9Kansas (6-1)990
10Indiana (6-0)938
11Arkansas (5-1)860
11Alabama (6-1)860
13Tennessee (5-1)848
14Gonzaga (5-2)845
15Auburn (7-0)733
16Illinois (5-1)643
17Duke (6-2)614
18North Carolina (5-2)541
19Kentucky (4-2)472
20Michigan State (5-2)469
21UCLA (5-2)346
22Maryland (6-0)282
23Iowa State (5-1)198
24San Diego State (4-2)189
25Ohio State (5-1)108

Others receiving votes: TCU 45, Iowa 31, Charleston 20, West Virginia 14, Mississippi State 12, Texas Tech 11, Michigan 8, Wisconsin 6, UNLV 6, Arizona State 6, Miami (FL) 5, Oklahoma 2, Missouri 2, New Mexico 1, Kansas State 1, St. John’s 1, Virginia Tech 1.

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