If this were college football, North Carolina might have moved
up and taken the No. 1 seed in the East Regional after its
103-55 blowout of 20th-ranked Florida State last Saturday. But
blessedly, this is hoops, not helmets, and running it up doesn't
count, so Duke, a 72-65 winner over Virginia, stayed atop the
East in our poll.
Meanwhile, Connecticut's loss to St. John's dropped the Huskies
a notch from a No. 2 to a No. 3. No big deal, you say? Consider
this: Only three No. 2s have lost to No. 15 seeds since the
NCAAs expanded to 64 teams in 1985, but 11 No. 3s have lost to
No. 14s.
The week's big losers were Syracuse (beaten by Notre Dame and
UConn) and Iowa (defeated by Michigan State and Missouri), both
of which dropped out of the seedings. Some voters dropped Kansas
to a No. 2 after its loss to Missouri, but the Jayhawks remained
a No. 1 seed on most ballots. The week's big winners were
Arkansas and New Mexico, cracking our poll for the first time.
UCLA benefited from UConn's fall and moved up to a No. 2. And
Michigan held on to a No. 4 seeding despite its loss to
Illinois, but Michigan State, the Big Ten leader at week's end,
is knocking hard at the door.
Finally, everyone is watching this week's Arizona game at
Stanford to see if a new No. 1 will emerge in the West.
EAST
1. Duke
2. UCLA
3. UConn
4. Princeton
SOUTH
1. North Carolina
2. Kentucky
3. Purdue
4. Arkansas
MIDWEST
1. Kansas
2. Stanford
3. South Carolina
4. New Mexico
WEST
1. Arizona
2. Utah
3. Mississippi
4. Michigan
Issue date: February 2, 1998
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