Syracuse rises to No. 1 in coaches' poll

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Syracuse kept winning last week while Kansas, Kentucky and Purdue lost. The results were enough to boost the Orange to the No. 1 spot in the ESPN/USA Today coaches' poll released Monday.

Former No. 1 Kansas fell to No. 2, followed by No. 3 Kentucky, No. 4 Duke and No. 5 Kansas State.

The Orange (27-2) beat Providence and then-No. 8 Villanova last week, with the latter win coming in front of an NCAA on-campus record crowd of 34,616 at the Carrier Dome. Meanwhile, Kansas and former No. 2 Kentucky dropped decisions on the road at Oklahoma State and Tennessee, respectively.

Syracuse earned 23 available first-place votes from the panel of 31 Division I coaches. Kansas got 7 first-place votes and Duke received 1.

Kansas State climbed one spot to No. 5, while Purdue fell three places to No. 6 after a tough week, in which the Boilermakers lost forward Robbie Hummel for the season to a knee injury and fell to Michigan State at home.

Ohio State, West Virginia, Villanova and New Mexico round out the top 10. The Lobos climbed into the top 10 with a win over Mountain West Conference rival BYU, which fell four spots to No. 15.

Butler dropped one spot to No. 11, while No. 12 Michigan State and No. 13 Tennessee rose up the poll with their wins. They're followed by Gonzaga, BYU, Temple, Wisconsin, Pittsburgh, Vanderbilt and Georgetown.

UTEP, Baylor, Maryland, Texas A&M and Texas round out the top 25.

Tennessee's win over Kentucky vaulted the Volunteers four places to No. 13, while Georgetown fell seven spots to No. 20 after a home loss to Notre Dame. The Hoyas play Monday night on ESPN at No. 8 West Virginia (7 p.m. ET), followed by No. 25 Texas hosting Oklahoma (9 p.m. ET).

No. 22 Baylor and No. 23 Maryland entered the poll Monday, while former No. 22 Northern Iowa and former No. 24 Richmond dropped out.

Source: http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=4956590