NCAA Basketball Rankings: Pac-10 Creepin In The Polls

The Associated Press released its Week 2 NCAA basketball rankings and the results are more or less similar to the USA Today/Coaches Poll with Duke ruling the roost at number one.

Washington represents the Pac-10 here as well, although it is a couple spots down at No. 13. California is once again getting one vote while Stanford gets no votes. One note on both polls is that UCLA and Arizona are both receiving votes this week. That gives the Pac-10 four representatives in the polls in some form or fashion.

It will be interesting to see how many teams in the Pac-10 end up in the poll or even just getting votes when April comes around. Nobody in the Pac-10 was even receiving votes after last year’s NCAA tournament, although Washington did have a nice little run last March.

This year the Pac-10 has some young talent, but there are a lot of question marks throughout the conference. Washington is getting some respect regionally (preseason No. 1 in conference) and nationally (given their poll rankings), but otherwise there are a lot of unknowns in the conference. That might make early season respect hard to come by, but it could make for an interesting season.

The full rankings:

1. Duke
2. Michigan State
3. Ohio State
4. Kansas State
5. Pittsburgh
6. Kansas
7. Villanova
8. Kentucky
9. Syracuse
10. Purdue
11. Missouri
12. Baylor
13. Washington
14. Memphis
15. Minnesota
16. Florida
17. Georgetown
18. San Diego State
19. Illinois
20. Texas
21. Temple
22. Gonzaga
23. Brigham Young
24. Tennessee
25. North Carolina

NCAA Basketball Rankings: Cal Getting Votes In USA Today Coaches' Poll

The Week 2 NCAA basketball rankings are starting to be released today, and we begin with the USA Today/Coaches Poll. The Bay Area is not represented in the Top 25, although Cal is getting a vote and Stanford has a chance to get into the polls with a solid run this week in the 76 Classic down in Anaheim. The Pac-10 is represented by a Washington Huskies squad that has climbed up to No. 11 in the rankings, from No. 15 last week. Of course, Washington's two wins thus far are over McNeese State and Eastern Washington so let's not get ahead of ourselves yet. They next face a Virginia team that was beaten down handily by a young Stanford Cardinal team. Washington actually has a pretty weak non-conference schedule this season. When you factor in a rather weak Pac-10 in 2010-2011 (for now at least), I sense that Washington could end up being a team that gets a high seed in March and gets knocked off early in the tournament.

The Golden Bears are now receiving a single vote after soundly defeating Cal State-Northridge and New Mexico State. The Lobos were picked third in a fairly strong Mountain West conference (editor's note: I'm from Las Vegas and a HUGE UNLV fan), so I think that win is fairly significant for the Bears. Cal has a big test this week as they face No. 20 Temple on Thanksgiving. They then will face either Georgia or Notre Dame, both of whom would present a solid challenge. If Cal can win out this weekend they could make up some serious ground in the Receiving Votes category.

Stanford is not receiving votes, but has a chance to make an impact with the voters this week. Stanford is currently 3-0 with wins over San Diego, Virginia, and Arkansas-Pine Bluff. However, Stanford faces a big week starting on Thanksgiving at the 76 Classic in Anaheim. Stanford faces a veteran tourney team in the Murray State Racers on Thanksgiving. They would then face either Tulsa or UNLV on Friday and then a third team on Sunday. They won't climb into the Top 25 with three wins, but they'd definitely be worthy of votes and some sense of excitement if they can win those games.

Here are the complete rankings, with last week's ranking in parenthesis.