The Week 10 ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll and AP Poll were released on Monday and the Bay Area has a pair of teams represented in the "Others Receiving Votes" category. The Saint Mary's Gaels are receiving 39 votes and are No. 27 in the Coaches Poll, and receiving 18 votes and ranked No. 31 in the AP Poll. The Stanford Cardinal are receiving five votes and are No. 35 in the Coaches Poll, and receiving nine votes and also No. 35 in the AP Poll.
Saint Mary's continues to gain ground in the rankings since their loss to a ranked Baylor squad, having won four straight, including their first three conference games. The Gaels opened conference play with a 98-82 thrashing of BYU at home and then went on the road to garner some fairly easy wins over Pepperdine and San Diego. The Gaels have a chance to build on that start as they host three WCC games this week against San Francisco, No. 23/21 Gonzaga and Portland. A sweep would likely be enough to get them into the Top 25 in at least the Coaches Poll.
Stanford split their Oregon road trip, losing 78-67 at Oregon and winning 103-101 in four overtimes at Oregon State. The split dropped them in both polls. Given the weakness of the Pac-12 in 2012, just about any loss is going to cost Stanford pretty badly.