Tennessee Reaches the Summit of Men’s Basketball

New York, NY (Sports Network) – Tennessee is the top-ranked team in men’s basketball for the first time in the program’s history, earning the distinction in the latest Associated Press poll.

The Volunteers (25-2), ranked second last week, unseated Memphis for the top spot following a 66-62 win over the previously-unbeaten Tigers on Saturday night at FedEx Forum. Tennessee received 69 first-place votes and 1,797 total points from a nationwide media panel.

Until recently, notoriety for Tennessee basketball had come from the women’s team — a seven-time national champion powerhouse guided by Pat Summitt. Bruce Pearl, however, has transformed the men’s squad into a contender.

Tennessee will have a stern first test as the nation’s top team, with a Tuesday visit to No. 18 Vanderbilt.

Memphis (26-1), which had been the top-ranked team for the previous five weeks and a unanimous selection for three straight polls, slipped to No. 2.

North Carolina remained third, despite picking up a pair of first-place votes, while UCLA also garnered a No. 1 tally and moved up two spots to fourth.

Texas also vaulted two spots into fifth and is followed this week by Kansas, Duke, Stanford, Xavier and Wisconsin. Kansas and Duke each slipped two spots.

The second 10 consists of Georgetown, Indiana, Louisville, Butler, Connecticut, Purdue, Notre Dame, Vanderbilt, Michigan State and Drake.

Indiana, following the controversy surrounding Kelvin Sampson, moved up three spots, while Louisville vaulted five places. Butler, which lost at home to Drake in a bracket-buster game, tumbled six spots from eighth.

The last five teams ranked this week are Marquette, Washington State, Kent State, Gonzaga and St. Mary’s-CA.

Kent State moved into the poll for the first time thanks to a bracket-buster win at St. Mary’s on Saturday night, while Gonzaga is back in the poll for the first time since mid-December.

Texas A&M and Kansas State dropped from the rankings. The Aggies had been ranked all season, but have lost three in a row, while the Wildcats saw a four-week run come to an end thanks to losses last week against Nebraska and Baylor.

In addition to Tuesday’s Tennessee/Vandy tilt, six other games this week pit ranked teams against each other.

Thursday’s schedule has Notre Dame visiting Louisville in the Big East and Wisconsin hosting Michigan State in the Big Ten. On Saturday, another Big East tussle pits Georgetown at Marquette, while Stanford welcomes Washington State in the Pac-10. West Coast Conference supremacy is on the line Saturday night when Gonzaga hosts St. Mary’s and a Sunday matchup of Big Ten heavyweights is set for East Lansing when Indiana visits Michigan State.

02/25 14:10:27 ET