Birds Flying High; Men's Basketball Returns To Top 10

OMAHA, Neb. -- Back-to-back wins over ranked teams helped the Creighton men's basketball team soar five spots to a season-best No. 10 in this week's Associated Press Top 25 poll.

The USA Today/Coaches poll has Creighton 11th this week.

The ascension comes after commanding victories at No. 19 Marquette and over No. 21 Butler last week. CU never trailed in the final 29 minutes against the Golden Eagles and posted a wire-to-wire triumph over the Bulldogs. The victories gave Creighton five top-25 wins this season, and fourth in the month of February. Both are school records.

This is Creighton's highest ranking since the week of January 16, 2017, when the Bluejays were a program-record seventh. Creighton has now been ranked in the top-10 on 11 different occasions -- once each in 2003, 2014 and 2020, as well as eight consecutive weeks in the 2016-17 campaign.

Creighton (22-6, 11-4 BIG EAST) has now been ranked 93 times in program history, with 65 of those under the direction of Greg McDermott. Creighton is 118-45 all-time as a ranked team, including an 84-33 mark under McDermott. Creighton has been ranked at least one week in seven of McDermott's 10 seasons on The Hilltop after doing it just five different seasons in program history before his 2010 arrival. This marks the fifth time this season that Creighton has been ranked, and fourth consecutive week.

The Bluejays are idle until Sunday, when they visit St. John's for an 11 a.m. Central start. That game will be nationally televised by FS1.

CU is one of three BIG EAST teams that are nationally ranked by the AP this week, joining No. 12 Villanova and No. 13 Seton Hall. Kansas took over the top overall spot after beating previous No. 1 Baylor on a wild Saturday that saw three of the nation's top four teams lose.

The NCAA NET ranking has Creighton up to a season-best ninth, the best mark in the BIG EAST.

Associated Press Top 25
February 24, 2020
Rk   School   W-L    PTS
1   Kansas (62)   24-3   1598
2   Baylor (2)   24-2   1532
3   Gonzaga   27-2   1442
4   Dayton   25-2   1413
5   San Diego State   26-1   1287
6   Florida State   23-4   1247
7   Duke   23-4   1186
8   Kentucky   22-5   1130
9   Maryland   22-5   1124
10   Creighton   22-6   986
11   Louisville   23-5   966
12   Villanova   23-5   966
13   Seton Hall   20-7   842
14   Oregon   21-7   653
15   Auburn   23-4   643
16   Penn State   20-7   618
17   BYU   23-7   598
18   Iowa   19-8   489
19   Michigan   18-9   329
20   West Virginia   19-8   313
21   Colorado   21-7   291
22   Texas Tech   18-9   226
23   Ohio State   18-9   210
24   Michigan State   18-9   160
25   Houston   21-7   102
Others receiving votes: Arizona State 95, Illinois 82, Arizona 71, Butler 51, Virginia 50, Marquette 41, Stephen F. Austin 29, LSU 24, East Tennessee State 13, Utah State 9, Florida 8, Wisconsin 7, New Mexico State 2, Northern Iowa 2, Liberty 2, UCLA 1.

USA Today Top 25 Coaches Poll
February 24, 2020
Rk   School   W-L    PTS
1   Kansas (30)   24-3   798
2   Baylor (2)   24-2   760
3   Dayton   25-2   723
4   Gonzaga   27-2   704
5   San Diego State   26-1   631
6   Florida State   23-4   597
7   Duke   23-4   579
8   Maryland   22-5   553
9   Kentucky   22-5   543
10   Louisville   23-5   531
11   Creighton   22-6   462
12   Villanova   21-6   449
13   Seton Hall   20-7   423
14   Penn State   20-7   318
15   Auburn   23-4   316
16   Oregon   21-7   276
17   Iowa   19-8   264
18   BYU   23-7   240
19   West Virginia   19-8   194
20   Colorado   21-7   155
21   Texas Tech   18-9   153
22   Michigan   18-9   139
23   Ohio State   18-9   132
24   Michigan State   18-9   118
   Arizona   19-8   118
Others receiving votes: Houston 58; Butler 48; Arizona State 27; Illinois 25; Marquette 19; Virginia 13; Louisiana State 12; St. Mary's 7; East Tennessee St. 6; Wisconsin 3; Stephen F. Austin 3; Northern Iowa 3.

Birds Flying High; Men's Basketball Returns To Top 10

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