College basketball: Hoosiers take over No. 1 after seven-week absence
by Michael Marot, Associated Press
Feb 05, 2013 | 424 views | 0 0 comments | 2 2 recommendations | email to a friend | print
Indiana’s Christian Watford (2) is fouled by Michigan’s Tim Hardaway Jr. during a recent game. (File / AP)
Indiana’s Christian Watford (2) is fouled by Michigan’s Tim Hardaway Jr. during a recent game. (File / AP)
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Tom Crean’s whirlwind week got even crazier Monday.

Upon returning home from the Super Bowl, the Indiana coach found out he’s leading America’s No. 1 college basketball team. Again.

It was another crowning moment in a week full of big wins for the Crean clan. Indiana beat No. 13 Michigan State, archrival Purdue and No. 1 Michigan in a seven-day span, before Crean headed to New Orleans. There, he watched one brother-in-law beat his other brother-in-law for the Super Bowl title. Finally, he saw the Hoosiers reclaim the top spot in The Associated Press poll after seven weeks.

“Our guys appreciate winning. They appreciate the task that it is, and I think because our older guys have been through so many hard times, they appreciate it that much more,” a weary-sounding Crean said during Monday’s weekly Big Ten conference call. “And I think our younger guys were raised on winning. Guys like Yogi (Ferrell), Cody (Zeller), Remy Abell, those guys were really raised on winning, and that helps.”

It’s the fifth straight week there is a new No. 1 team.

Duke started the current streak and was followed by Louisville, Duke again, Michigan and now Indiana. The last time there were five No. 1s in as many weeks was the last five polls of 2008-09, when it was Connecticut, Pittsburgh, Connecticut again, North Carolina and Louisville.

The Hoosiers, the preseason No. 1, held the top spot for the first five weeks of the regular season. They moved up two spots Monday after their win over the Wolverines and then-No. 2 Kansas’ loss to Oklahoma State.

They received 58 first-place votes from the 65-member national media panel, while Florida, which jumped two spots to second, got the other seven.

Michigan, which made its first appearance atop the Top 25 in more than two decades last week, dropped two spots to No. 3 and was followed by Duke, Kansas, Gonzaga, Arizona, Miami, Syracuse and Ohio State.

The change at the top of the poll came as no surprise in Bloomington.

Even before Saturday’s game ended, fans were chanting “No. 1, No. 1.”

“We’ve been playing with a chip on our shoulder since the day I got here,” junior swingman Victor Oladipo said Saturday. “We’ve got to continue to play with that chip because it can be taken away at any time.”

Indiana found that out the hard way with an overtime loss to then-unranked Butler on Dec. 15.

For the next seven weeks, the Hoosiers were trying to get back to No. 1.

The only stumble was a home loss to Wisconsin. But last week, they played their best basketball all season, leading almost from start to finish in all three games and handing Purdue its worst home loss ever.

For Crean, that was just the start of the whirlwind weekend.

He flew on a private plane Sunday morning to New Orleans, where he watched the Super Bowl with his wife, Joani, the sister of John and Jim Harbaugh.

“It’s really hard certainly for Joani and her parents because you’ve got such great joy for one and such pride,” Crean said.

He received a text message Sunday from Celtics coach Doc Rivers, who has had three children play college sports, that Crean showed to his father-in-law late that night.

“He said as a parent, you’re only as happy as your unhappiest child, and I think it’s an amazing statement and one of the most profound things that I’ve ever heard, and it probably fits what Joani’s parents are going through,” Crean said. “But in a sense, it could be a once-in-a-lifetime thing, so there’s incredible joy in being able to be a part of it and see it.”

There were four newcomers to the poll this week: Georgetown, Oklahoma State, Pittsburgh and Notre Dame, all of whom were ranked at some point this season.

They replaced Wichita State and Mississippi, which both lost two games last week and fell from 15th and 16th; North Carolina State, which was No. 6 in the preseason poll and also lost twice last week; and San Diego State.

AP TOP 25 POLL

The top 25 teams in The Associated Press’ college basketball poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through Feb. 3, total points based on 25 points for a first-place vote through one point for a 25th-place vote and last week’s ranking:

Record Pts Prv

1. Indiana (58) 20-2 1,615 3

2. Florida (7) 18-2 1,536 4

3. Michigan 20-2 1,490 1

4. Duke 19-2 1,413 5

5. Kansas 19-2 1,350 2

6. Gonzaga 21-2 1,249 7

7. Arizona 19-2 1,248 8

8. Miami 17-3 1,132 14

9. Syracuse 18-3 1,091 6

10. Ohio St. 17-4 1,033 11

11. Louisville 18-4 1,018 12

12. Michigan St. 18-4 994 13

13. Kansas St. 17-4 782 18

14. Butler 18-4 774 9

15. New Mexico 19-3 660 20

16. Creighton 20-3 578 21

17. Cincinnati 18-4 552 24

18. Minnesota 17-5 454 23

19. Oregon 18-4 390 10

20. Georgetown 16-4 364 —

21. Missouri 16-5 245 17

22. Oklahoma St. 15-5 235 —

23. Pittsburgh 18-5 207 —

24. Marquette 15-5 137 25

25. Notre Dame 18-4 132 —

Others receiving votes: Mississippi 75, NC State 64, Colorado St. 49, Wichita St. 49, Memphis 44, Wisconsin 28, Saint Mary’s (Cal) 27, Louisiana Tech 24, Kentucky 21, San Diego St. 17, UNLV 13, Saint Louis 8, UCLA 8, VCU 8, Akron 4, Virginia 4, UConn 2, Belmont 1.

USA TODAY/ESPN TOP 25 POLL

The top 25 teams in the USA Today men’s college basketball poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through Feb. 3, points based on 25 points for a first-place vote through one point for a 25th-place vote and last week’s ranking:

Record Pts Pvs

1. Indiana (25) 20-2 766 3

2. Florida (6) 18-2 742 4

3. Michigan 20-2 690 2

4. Duke 19-2 683 5

5. Kansas 19-2 654 1

6. Gonzaga 21-2 614 7

7. Arizona 20-2 601 8

8. Michigan State 18-4 518 9

9. Syracuse 18-3 514 6

10. Ohio State 17-4 502 11

11. Miami 17-3 485 15

12. Louisville 18-4 470 13

13. Creighton 20-3 369 17

14. Butler 18-4 325 10

15. Kansas State 17-4 314 21

16. New Mexico 19-3 295 22

17. Cincinnati 18-4 265 23

18. Minnesota 17-5 194 24

19. Oregon 18-4 179 12

20. Missouri 16-5 143 18

21. Georgetown 16-4 138 —

22. Wichita State 19-4 83 14

23. Mississippi 17-4 69 16

24. Oklahoma State 15-5 57 —

25. Pittsburgh 18-5 54 —

25. San Diego State 16-5 54 20

Others receiving votes: Notre Dame 47, Colorado State 38, Marquette 38, VCU 33, Wisconsin 25, N.C. State 24, Memphis 19, Saint Mary’s 18, Southern Miss. 13, UNLV 12, Belmont 7, Louisiana Tech 6, Kentucky 4, Middle Tennessee 4, UCLA 4, Akron 2, Oklahoma 2, Saint Louis 1.
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