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Bruce Pearl Excited About Topping New Rankings

Bruce Pearl Excited About Topping New RankingsTags: Men's College Basketball, Tennessee Volunteers

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Bruce Pearl Excited About Topping New Rankings

Best in its own state, and now best in the land by unanimous vote.

By thwarting Memphis' pursuit of a perfect season Saturday with a 66-62 victory, Tennessee wrestled the No. 1 ranking in the ESPN/USA Today coaches' poll away from the Tigers -- its first visit to the top in school history.

"No. 1's great," Tennessee star guard Chris Lofton said Saturday, "but we want to be No. 1 at the end of the year."

The Vols (25-2) received all 31 first-place votes and 775 points in the poll released Monday, while Memphis (26-1) fell back to third.

Based upon The Associated Press writers' poll, only once before in its history had Tennessee beaten a No. 1 team, a 55-54 win at No. 1 South Carolina on Dec. 6, 1969. The game drew a standing room, star-studded crowd of 18,389 at FedExForum in Memphis, where the ceiling on individual tickets touched $4,500.

Poll Positions

The top five teams in the ESPN/USA Today poll:

1.	2.	3.	4.	5.
For complete AP and ESPN/USA Today polls, click here.

In the AP Top 25, Tennessee received 69 of 72 first-place votes at No. 1. The other three first-place votes went to No. 3 North Carolina (two) and No. 4 UCLA. Memphis was ranked second.

The loss halted Memphis' winning streaks of 47 games on its home court -- the Tigers' last home defeat came Jan. 2, 2006 against Texas -- and 45 regular-season games.

And yet Tennessee's challenges are far from over. For the Vols to get a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, they'll still have to win at Vanderbilt (Tuesday, ESPN, 9 p.m. ET), at home against Kentucky, and at Florida -- all before the onset of the SEC tournament in early March.

"Win or lose, we've got to go to Vandy," Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl said after Saturday's victory.

The new rankings signified another reordering of the top five after last week's Nos. 4 and 5, Duke and Kansas, were beaten by unranked opponents.

North Carolina (26-2), back in the ACC lead following Duke's losses to Wake Forest and Miami, took a step up to No. 2, while Pac-10 leader UCLA (24-3) and Big 12 leader Texas (23-4) each jumped two spots to fourth and fifth, knocking Duke (23-3) and Kansas (24-3) to sixth and seventh.

Stanford (22-4), which trails the Bruins by one game in the Pac-10 standings, Big Ten leader Wisconsin (23-4) and Georgetown (22-4) filled out the top 10. The Hoyas and Louisville, which jumped five spots to No. 18, are tied for the Big East lead at 12-3.

Xavier (24-4), which has a lights-out lead in the Atlantic 10 (12-1, with Saint Joseph's second at 8-4) headlined the second 10, followed by Indiana (23-4); Butler (25-3), which took a five-spot tumble following Saturday's loss to Drake; Vanderbilt (23-4), Michigan State (22-5), the Big East triumvirate of Connecticut (21-6), Notre Dame (21-5) and Louisville (22-6); Purdue (21-6) and Drake (24-3).

Marquette (20-6), Washington State (21-6) and Saint Mary's (23-4) occupied the Nos. 21-23 slots, with No. 24 Kent State (23-5) making its first appearance in the coaches' poll since it was 12th in the final, post-tournament poll following the 2001-02 season.

The Golden Flashes also represent the Mid-American Conference's first regular-season poll appearance by a member since Ball State had a four-week run in November/December 2001.

Brigham Young (21-6) also made its Top 25 debut, with Big 12 teams Texas A&M and Kansas State falling to "others receiving votes."