GONZAGA CLIMBS TO NO. 1 RANKING
Gonzaga pulled off what some considered impossible, stopping the Duke juggernaut in the Maui Invitational title game without one of its best players. Now the Zags are No. 1 again.
Third in last week’s poll, Gonzaga leapfrogged No. 2 Kansas to the top spot in The Associated Press Top 25 released Monday. The Zags received 32 first-place votes from a 65-person media panel, edging the Jayhawks by one.
No. 3 Duke received one first-place vote despite losing to Gonzaga in Maui and No. 4 Virginia the other one after winning the Battle 4 Atlantis title.
No. 5 Nevada has its highest ranking ever after winning the Las Vegas Invitational, with Tennessee, Michigan, Auburn, Michigan State and Kentucky rounding out the top 10.
Gonzaga (6-0) is missing do-everything forward Killian Tillie for the first two months of the season because of an ankle injury and was a big underdog heading into the Maui title game last week.
Duke (5-1) and its cache of lotterypick freshmen were an unstoppable force the first four weeks of the season, blowing past then-No. 2 Kentucky in the season opener and winning its first three games in lopsided fashion.
Duke came to Maui undefeated on the Valley Isle, winning five titles in five tries, and opened with two wins to reach the title game.
Gonzaga punched the Blue Devils in the gut early in the championship game and withstood a late charge, relying on its experience to hold off Duke 89-87 to win its second Maui title.
The Zags are No. 1 for the third time, following stints atop the poll in 2016-17, when they reached the national title game, and in 2012-13.
Women’s top two teams to meet.
YORK» Notre Dame and UConn NEW remain the top two teams in The Associated Press women’s basketball poll, setting up a 1-vs.-2 matchup on Sunday.
Both teams faced deficits this past week in holiday tournament games before prevailing. The Irish needed to rally from 14 points down to beat No. 9 Oregon State in the Vancouver Showcase championship game to stay No. 1. The Huskies trailed St. John’s early in the fourth quarter at the Paradise Jam before winning by 10.
Oregon, Baylor and Louisville followed Notre Dame and UConn in the poll voted on by a 31-member national media panel Monday.
The top 10 teams remained unchanged, with Mississippi State, Maryland, Stanford, Oregon State and Texas rounding out the group.
Ex-MSU leader in court.
The former president of Michigan State University made her first court appearance since being charged with lying to investigators about what she knew during the investigation into sexual assault allegations against disgraced former sports doctor Larry Nassar.
Lou Anna Simon, 71, is accused of lying during an interview in May as police tried to figure how Nassar got away with his crimes for so long. She is charged with two felonies and two misdemeanors.
The arraignment in an Eaton County court lasted roughly 10 minutes, during which Simon acknowledged that the felonies carry a maximum punishment of four years in prison but made no further remarks. She has not entered a plea yet and is due back in court on Dec. 18.
Familiar trio at top of rankings.
The Big Three is the year-end top three, something that last happened in 2014.
With Novak Djokovic at No. 1, Rafael Nadal at No. 2 and Roger Federer at No. 3, that trio of tennis greats leads the season’s final ATP rankings for the seventh time.
This is the first time, though, that each of those three men spent some time at No. 1 during the same year.