Arizona is the new No. 1 team in the Coaches Poll released Monday after winning its lone game against Colgate last week in blowout fashion. The Wildcats are the third different No. 1 team this season in the Coaches Poll after the Wildcats jumped previous top-ranked Purdue for the top spot.
The last time the Wildcats held the No. 1 ranking in both the Coaches Poll and AP Top 25 was Jan. 27, 2014. The Wildcats at that time were coming off a win over Utah to improve to 20-0 and had held the No. 1 spot in the rankings for eight consecutive weeks before falling to Cal to end their bid at a perfect season.
This season, under third-year coach Tommy Lloyd, the Wildcats are off to a 7-0 start and have two quality wins over Duke and Michigan State. Arizona has one of the more challenging nonconference schedules in the country and matchups with Purdue, Alabama and FAU are on the horizon before Pac-12 play starts at the end of the month.
Purdue held the No. 1 spot in the rankings for only one week following a 3-0 showing at the Maui Invitational. Kansas started the season by holding the top spot for three consecutive weeks before the Boilermakers recorded wins over Gonzaga, Tennessee and Marquette to become the unanimous top-ranked team.
The Boilermakers suffered their first loss of the season on the road to Northwestern last weekend and dropped three spots to No. 4.
Houston is No. 2 in the poll followed by the Jayhawks at No. 3.
Coaches Poll
- Arizona (26)
- Houston (5)
- Kansas (1)
- Purdue
- UConn
- Baylor
- Marquette
- Gonzaga
- FAU
- North Carolina
- Creighton
- Colorado State
- Tennessee
- BYU
- Miami
- Texas
- Kentucky
- Illinois
- Texas A&M
- Clemson
- Duke
- Oklahoma
- Virginia
- James Madison
- Ohio State
Also receiving votes: Wisconsin 66; Alabama 55; TCU 53; Michigan State 42; Princeton 38; San Diego State 34; Northwestern 24; Ole Miss 23; Iowa State 23; Auburn 21; UCLA 17; Nevada 13; Memphis 9; Florida State 8; Cincinnati 8; Villanova 5; Utah 5; USC 5; Mississippi State 2;
