[TomWilkinson]

The Duke Blue Devils were #1 for the seventh straight week in the Associated Press college basketball poll. Duke has been ranked in the poll 173 straight times, second only to UCLA’s run of 221 from 1966 to 1980.

While one streak kept going another one ended. Arizona dropped out of the Top 25 after being ranked in 312 polls. The Wildcats (5-3) had been ranked in every poll since the start of the 1987-88 season except for the preseason polls in 1995 and 2002. Arizona was in 329 of 331 polls in that span, including 28 weeks at No. 1. "Obviously we're disappointed," Wildcats coach Lute Olson said. "We feel like we've played a tough schedule to this point, and we'll just have to work on starting another streak."

Tennessee and Ohio State moved into the rankings for the first time this season, while Louisville and Texas dropped seven and nine places, respectively. Duke (10-0), which beat Valparaiso 104-77 in its only game last week, received 66 first-place votes and 1,793 points from the national media panel. Connecticut (8-0) and Villanova (7-0) held second and third, receiving five and one No. 1 votes, respectively.

Memphis moved up one spot to replace Louisville at No. 4, and Florida jumped from seventh to fifth, passing Texas. Louisville (6-1) lost 73-61 to Kentucky on Saturday and dropped to 11th, while the Longhorns (8-2) were beaten 95-78 by Tennessee in their first game since the 97-66 loss to Duke. Texas dropped from second to sixth after the first loss and to 15th after the second. Illinois moved from ninth to No. 6 and was followed by Oklahoma, Gonzaga, Washington and Michigan State.

Following Louisville were UCLA, George Washington, Boston College, Texas, Maryland, North Carolina, Indiana, Kentucky and Nevada. The last five ranked teams were North Carolina State, Wake Forest, Tennessee, Ohio State and Iowa.

Tennessee (6-0) is ranked for the first time since late in the 2000-01 season. The Volunteers' victory at Texas certainly garnered national attention. "We'll see whether it was lightning in a bottle or something we can build on," first-year Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl said Monday. "The stars were aligned for us and Texas was still hung over from the game with Duke. That game was circled on our calendar all along as a big game and Texas has so many big games.
"For our players at this point, being ranked is a recognition of being off to a good start, but it's not how you start but how you finish."