Men's Basketball Returns To Top 10 of Polls
3/4/2024 12:00:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Bluejays are 22-8 and close regular-season at Villanova on Saturday
OMAHA, Neb. -- Double-digit home wins over Seton Hall and Marquette last week helped he Creighton men's basketball team improve to 10th in both the Associated Press and USA Today Coaches polls released on Monday. It's a two-spot jump in both rankings.
The Bluejays also stayed at No. 11 in the updated version of the NET and No. 14 in the KPI.
It's the 17th time in 18 polls this season that Creighton has been included in both the AP and Coaches rankings. The NET ranking matches last week as the team's best position on a Monday since being ninth on December 18th, and the AP poll position of 10th is its best since being eighth on December 11, 2023.
Creighton picked up a pair of double-digit home victories last week, downing Seton Hall (85-64) before handling No. 5 Marquette (89-75). Creighton is now 22-8 on the season and 13-6 in BIG EAST play.
Creighton's best AP ranking in program history is seventh, done five times (Jan. 16, 2017, March 10, 2020, March 18, 2020, Jan. 7, 2021 and Nov. 28, 2022). CU owns 28 weeks in the AP Top 10 in its history, with all but one of those recognitions coming during Greg McDermott's tenure. Creighton's best AP rank this year is eighth, done three times.
Including today's ranking, Creighton has now been ranked by the AP 138 times in program history, with 111 of those under the direction of McDermott. Creighton is 172-71 all-time as a ranked team, including a 138-59 figure under McDermott. Creighton has been ranked at least one week in 10 of McDermott's 14 seasons on The Hilltop after doing it just five different seasons in program history before his 2010 arrival.
Creighton is one of three BIG EAST Conference schools in the top 25, joining No. 3 Connecticut and No. 8 Marquette. The top five teams in the AP poll are Houston, Purdue, Connecticut, Tennessee and Arizona.
Creighton is also one of five schools in the country with both its men's and women's teams ranked in this week's AP Top 25, joining Baylor, Connecticut, Gonzaga and South Carolina.
The Bluejays close the regular-season on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. Central when it visits Villanova for a game that will be nationally-televised on FOX.
Associated Press Top 25
March 4, 2024
Rk   School   W-L    PTS
1Â Â Â Houston (52)Â Â Â 26-3Â Â Â 1539
2Â Â Â Connecticut (6)Â Â Â 26-3Â Â Â 1462
3Â Â Â Purdue (4)Â Â Â 26-3Â Â Â 1459
4   Tennessee   23-6   1364
5   Arizona   23-6   1252
6   Iowa State   23-6   1212
7   North Carolina   23-6   1201
8   Marquette   22-7   1056
9   Duke   23-6   1051
10   Creighton   22-8   983
11   Baylor   21-8   901
12   Illinois   22-7   834
13   Auburn   22-7   746
14   Kansas   21-8   723
15   Kentucky   21-8   711
16   Alabama   20-9   592
17   South Carolina   24-5   579
18   Washington State   23-7   484
19   Gonzaga   24-6   396
20Â Â Â BYUÂ Â Â 21-8Â Â Â 343
21   San Diego State   22-7   338
22   Utah State   24-5   285
23   Saint Mary's   24-7   268
24   South Florida   22-5   154
25   Dayton   22-6   50
Others receiving votes:Â Nevada 42, Florida 39, Boise State 26, Texas 10, Texas Tech 10, Indiana State 9, Appalachian State 6, New Mexico 5, FAU 4, James Madison 4, Princeton 3, Michigan State 2, Villanova 2, Colorado State 2, McNeese State 2, Richmond 1.
USA Today Top 25 Coaches Poll
March 4, 2024
Rk   School   W-L    PTS
1Â Â Â Houston (28)Â Â Â 26-3Â Â Â 795
2Â Â Â Connecticut (3)Â Â Â 26-3Â Â Â 757
3Â Â Â Purdue (1)Â Â Â 26-3Â Â Â 745
4   Tenessee   23-6   705
5   Arizona   23-6   644
6   Iowa State   23-6   644
7   North Carolina   23-6   628
8   Duke   23-6   541
9   Marquette   27-7   531
10   Creighton   22-8   487
11   Baylor   21-8   452
12   Illinois   22-7   423
13   Kentucky   21-8   396
14   Auburn   22-7   376
15   Kansas   21-8   366
16   South Carolina   24-5   298
17   Alabama   20-9   289
18   Gonzaga   24-6   215
19   San Diego State   22-7   194
20   Washington State   23-7   182
21   Saint Mary's   24-7   175
22   Utah State   24-5   151
23Â Â Â BYUÂ Â Â 21-8Â Â Â 140
24   South Florida   22-5   88
25   Florida   20-9   42
Others receiving votes: Dayton 31; Texas Tech 24; Nevada 24; Boise State 16; Appalachian State 13; James Madison 10; Oklahoma 8; Northwestern 7; Clemson 5; Indiana State 5; TCU 4; Wake Forest 3; Nebraska 1.
