UCLA Moves Up Spot In Both Polls

By Bruin Basketball Report

After two home victories this week the Bruins climbed a single spot in both rankings to No.12 in the ESPN/USA Coaches poll and No.13 in the AP poll.

UCLA defeated Arizona State 69-60 on Thursday and then beat rival Arizona 84-73 on Saturday. It was the Bruin's first sweep at home of the Arizona schools since the 2000-01 season.

The Bruins moved up at the expense of coach Ben Howland's old team, the Pittsburgh Panthers. Pitt lost both their games last week - although the losses were to No.1 UConn and this week's No.16 ranked Georgetown, to drop below the Bruins in both polls this week.

The first five spots in the polls remained the same with UConn ranked at No.1 and then followed by Duke, Memphis, Villanova, and Gonzaga.

UCLA's upcoming opponent, the Washington Huskies, remain the only other Pac-10 team in the rankings. The Huskies lost last week to cross-state rival Washington St, and dropped to No.23 and No.21 in the Coaches and AP polls, respectively.

Other Pac-10 schools to receive votes in both polls were California and Stanford.

In the Ken Pomeroy RPI rankings, the Bruins are No.10 in RPI and have the No.15 toughest schedule (SOS) in the nation. The official NCAA RPI rankings will be released on Wednesday.

(BruinBasketballReport.com)