MEN’S BASKETBALL: Creighton Returns To Top Ten, Kansas Is New No. 1
OMAHA–(CU Athletics Feb.24)– Back-to-back wins over ranked teams helped the Creighton men’s basketball team soar five spots to a season-best No. 10 in this week’s Associated Press Top 25 poll.
The USA Today/Coaches poll has Creighton 11th this week.
The ascension comes after commanding victories at No. 19 Marquette and over No. 21 Butler last week. CU never trailed in the final 29 minutes against the Golden Eagles and posted a wire-to-wire triumph over the Bulldogs. The victories gave Creighton five top-25 wins this season, and fourth in the month of February. Both are school records.
This is Creighton’s highest ranking since the week of January 16, 2017, when the Bluejays were a program-record seventh. Creighton has now been ranked in the top-10 on 11 different occasions — once each in 2003, 2014 and 2020, as well as eight consecutive weeks in the 2016-17 campaign.
Creighton (22-6, 11-4 BIG EAST) has now been ranked 93 times in program history, with 65 of those under the direction of Greg McDermott. Creighton is 118-45 all-time as a ranked team, including an 84-33 mark under McDermott. Creighton has been ranked at least one week in seven of McDermott’s 10 seasons on The Hilltop after doing it just five different seasons in program history before his 2010 arrival. This marks the fifth time this season that Creighton has been ranked, and fourth consecutive week.
The Bluejays are idle until Sunday, when they visit St. John’s for an 11 a.m. Central start. That game will be nationally televised by FS1.
CU is one of three BIG EAST teams that are nationally ranked by the AP this week, joining No. 12 Villanova and No. 13 Seton Hall. Kansas took over the top overall spot after beating previous No. 1 Baylor on a wild Saturday that saw three of the nation’s top four teams lose.
The NCAA NET ranking has Creighton up to a season-best ninth, the best mark in the BIG EAST.
Associated Press Top 25
February 24, 2020
Rk School W-L PTS
1 Kansas (62) 24-3 1598
2 Baylor (2) 24-2 1532
3 Gonzaga 27-2 1442
4 Dayton 25-2 1413
5 San Diego State 26-1 1287
6 Florida State 23-4 1247
7 Duke 23-4 1186
8 Kentucky 22-5 1130
9 Maryland 22-5 1124
10 Creighton 22-6 986
11 Louisville 23-5 966
12 Villanova 23-5 966
13 Seton Hall 20-7 842
14 Oregon 21-7 653
15 Auburn 23-4 643
16 Penn State 20-7 618
17 BYU 23-7 598
18 Iowa 19-8 489
19 Michigan 18-9 329
20 West Virginia 19-8 313
21 Colorado 21-7 291
22 Texas Tech 18-9 226
23 Ohio State 18-9 210
24 Michigan State 18-9 160
25 Houston 21-7 102
Others receiving votes: Arizona State 95, Illinois 82, Arizona 71, Butler 51, Virginia 50, Marquette 41, Stephen F. Austin 29, LSU 24, East Tennessee State 13, Utah State 9, Florida 8, Wisconsin 7, New Mexico State 2, Northern Iowa 2, Liberty 2, UCLA 1.