Bruins Ranked No.17, Connecticut New No.1

By Bruin Basketball Report

Voters at both college basketball polls agree on one thing: the West Virginia Mountaineers are an excellent team.

After routing cross town rival USC and then rallying but losing to West Virginia last week, the UCLA Bruins (15-4, 5-2) are ranked No.17 in both the ESPN/USA Today and Associated Press (AP) polls this week.

The Bruins moved down only one spot from No. 16 in the ESPN/USA Today poll, but AP voters rewarded the Bruins with a move up one spot from No.18 last week.

UCLA defeated USC 66-45 last Wednesday; and were beaten by West Virginia on Saturday 60-56 after trailing by 17 points at halftime.

The Bruin's RPI rating is No.18 this week; while their SOS (Strength of Schedule) is 12th best in the nation.

West Virginia (14-3), with their twelve game winning streak, moved into the top 10 on the AP poll at No.9; and moved up four spots to No.13 on the ESPN/USA Today poll.

The Washington Huskies (16-2, 5-2) remained the only other Pac-10 team in the rankings at No.10 in both polls. Although, Arizona (12-6, 5-3) did receive 9 votes from ESPN/USA Today and 3 votes from the AP.

College basketball has a new No.1 ranked team with Connecticut (16-1) sitting atop the polls after previously undefeated No.1 Duke and No.2 Florida both lost on Saturday.

Duke (17-1) is now ranked No.2 in both polls; and Florida (17-1) is ranked No.4 in the AP and No.5 in ESPN/USA Today polls.

The Bruins travel up to the northwest and do battle with both Oregon schools this week.

(BruinBasketbllReport.com)