The return of James Southerland and a couple of high-profile conference wins have propelled the Syracuse Orange up the national rankings after almost falling out of the top ten last week.
In the latest Associated Press college basketball poll, the Orange are back up to #6. This comes on the heels of their defeats of Notre Dame last Monday and St. John's Sunday afternoon. In the latter victory, SU welcomed senior forward James Southerland back to the active roster after he won his appeal Friday afternoon and was reinstated from academic ineligibility.
The Orange are ranked one slot lower in the coaches poll, coming in at #7 this week.
Here are the top 25 teams in The Associated Press' college basketball poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through Feb. 10, total points based on 25 points for a first-place vote through one point for a 25th-place vote and last week's ranking:
1. Indiana (26) 21-3 1,559 1
2. Duke (20) 21-2 1,515 4
3. Miami (17) 19-3 1,499 8
4. Michigan 21-3 1,428 3
5. Gonzaga (2) 23-2 1,371 6
6. Syracuse 20-3 1,293 9
7. Florida 19-3 1,286 2
8. Michigan St. 20-4 1,178 12
9. Arizona 20-3 1,062 7
10. Kansas St. 19-4 1,012 13
11. Butler 20-4 943 14
12. Louisville 19-5 842 11
13. Ohio St. 17-6 828 10
14. Kansas 19-4 823 5
15. Georgetown 17-4 679 20
16. Pittsburgh 20-5 591 23
17. Oklahoma St. 17-5 587 22
18. Marquette 17-5 493 24
19. New Mexico 20-4 433 15
20. Wisconsin 17-7 305 -
21. Notre Dame 19-5 264 25
22. Memphis 20-3 193 -
23. Oregon 19-5 137 19
24. Colorado St. 19-4 125 -
25. Kentucky 17-6 87 -
Others receiving votes: Minnesota 80, Missouri 69, Cincinnati 68, Saint Mary's (Cal) 62, Creighton 56, San Diego St. 53, Louisiana Tech 43, VCU 35, Saint Louis 34, Illinois 26, NC State 24, Akron 12, UCLA 8, UNLV 6, Indiana St. 5, Virginia 4, Wichita St. 3, Belmont 2, Mississippi 1, Oklahoma 1.
Ballots Online: http://tinyurl.com/43u6jr6
(Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.)
