Villanova climbs to No. 3 in poll
Posted: Tuesday, March 11, 2014, 3:01 AM
VILLANOVA, WHICH was unranked in the preseason, moved up three spots in the Associated Press poll yesterday to No. 3, the highest it's been this season, behind only Florida and the lone remaining unbeaten, Wichita State.
The teams that were 3, 4 and 5 - Arizona, Duke and Virginia - all lost. The Wildcats (28-3, 16-2 Big East), meanwhile, were completing the best regular season in program history. They'd been as high as fourth on Jan. 20 before losing to No. 14 Creighton (24-6, 14-4) by 28 points in South Philly, the first of two lopsided losses to the Bluejays.
It's the highest ranking for the Wildcats since Feb. 1, 2010, the season after the Final Four, when they were 19-1. That team, which started at No. 5, would lose in the second round of the NCAA Tournament as a 2 seed.
The Wildcats are the top seed in the Big East tourney for the first time since 1997. They'll play either Seton Hall (15-16, 6-12) or Butler (14-16, 4-14), one of the conference's three newcomers, on Thursday afternoon in the opening quarterfinal at Madison Square Garden.
They won their only title in 1995. They haven't made it to the final since 1997. The last time they won more than once in the tourney was 2004.
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