USC Men's Basketball

USC men in Top 25; SEC picks Thornwell; women remain No. 3

It was noticed at the time, and it continued to be noticed on Monday.

South Carolina’s back-to-back wins over Top 25 teams last week were lauded by several of the national media, and the Gamecocks were rewarded for beating Michigan and Syracuse in the new Associated Press Top 25. USC checked in at No. 20, its first poll appearance since Feb. 1 of last season.

After not being ranked since April of 2004, coach Frank Martin has led the Gamecocks to seven Top 25 spots in the past 17 weeks. USC reached a high of No. 19 last year.

USC (6-0) has two home games before breaking for exams. The Gamecocks take on Vermont on Thursday and Florida International on Sunday.

Thornwell named Player of the Week

Senior Sindarius Thornwell picked up his first SEC Player of the Week award this season after leading the Gamecocks over Michigan and Syracuse.

The 6-foot-5 guard averaged 18.5 points and eight rebounds in the two wins while shooting 61.6 percent from the floor. He posted his seventh career double-double against the Wolverines and had 16 points, six rebounds, five assists and three steals against the Orange.

Women stay at No. 3

Despite crushing No. 4 Louisville 83-59 in the last of three wins this week, USC’s women’s team stayed at No. 3 in the latest AP Top 25.

Top-ranked Notre Dame and No. 2 Connecticut, like USC, are undefeated. The Gamecocks are at No. 14 Texas on Thursday and at Duke on Sunday.

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AP Men’s Top 25

1. Kentucky (40)

6-0

1590

1

2. Villanova (20)

6-0

1567

2

3. North Carolina (4)

7-0

1497

4

4. Kansas

5-1

1414

5

5. Duke

6-1

1365

6

6. Virginia

6-0

1286

7

7. Xavier

6-0

1181

9

8. Gonzaga

6-0

1112

11

9. Baylor (1)

6-0

1068

20

10. Creighton

6-0

965

12

11. UCLA

7-0

955

14

12. St. Mary’s

5-0

866

15

13. Indiana

4-1

857

3

14. Louisville

5-1

808

10

15. Purdue

5-1

687

17

16. Arizona

5-1

655

8

17. Wisconsin

5-2

555

16

18. Butler

6-0

506

19. Iowa State

5-1

389

21

20. South Carolina

6-0

379

21. Rhode Island

5-1

354

23

22. Syracuse

4-1

229

18

23. Oregon

4-2

189

13

24. Florida

6-1

154

25. West Virginia

4-1

132

19

Others receiving votes: Maryland 126, Notre Dame 85, Cincinnati 49, Michigan State 28, Ohio State 22, Michigan 13, Temple 8, Southern Cal 7, Houston 6, Florida State 5, VCU 5, California 3, Tennessee State 2, Virginia Tech 1, Minnesota 1, Arkansas State 1, Colorado 1, Rutgers 1, San Diego State 1.

Cloninger’s AP Top 25

1. Villanova

2. Kentucky

3. Kansas

4. Duke

5. North Carolina

6. Virginia

7. Xavier

8. Gonzaga

9. UCLA

10. Baylor

11. St. Mary’s

12. Creighton

13. Wisconsin

14. Louisville

15. Indiana

16. Purdue

17. Butler

18. Arizona

19. Notre Dame

20. Iowa State

21. Rhode Island

22. Cincinnati

23. South Carolina

24. Syracuse

25. West Virginia

AP Women’s Top 25

Record

Pts

Prv

1. Notre Dame (16)

6-0

803

1

2. UConn (14)

4-0

797

2

3. South Carolina (3)

5-0

766

3

4. Baylor

7-1

725

5

5. Maryland

6-0

694

6

6. Mississippi State

7-0

636

7

7. Louisville

6-1

634

4

8. Florida State

6-1

551

10

9. Ohio State

5-2

546

8

10. UCLA

5-1

541

9

11. Stanford

6-1

479

11

12. Oklahoma

5-0

445

13

13. Washington

6-1

423

15

14. Texas

2-2

400

14

15. DePaul

5-1

318

18

16. West Virginia

7-0

303

19

17. Kentucky

5-1

276

20

18. Miami

5-1

245

21

19. Florida

4-1

192

16

20. Syracuse

4-3

146

11

21. Colorado

6-0

116

-

22. Tennessee

3-2

99

17

23. Auburn

6-1

70

-

24. Oregon State

3-1

69

22

25. Texas A&M

5-0

68

-

Others receiving votes: South Florida 51, Oregon 49, Arizona State 45, Michigan State 36, Virginia Tech 33, Georgia Tech 30, Marquette 26, Michigan 22, California 20, Northwestern 18, Green Bay 10, Gonzaga 7, Oklahoma State 7, South Dakota State 7, Kansas State 6, Missouri 6, Boise State 5, Duke 5.

Cloninger’s AP Women’s Top 25

1. Notre Dame

2. South Carolina

3. Connecticut

4. Baylor

5. Ohio State

6. Maryland

7. Louisville

8. Mississippi State

9. UCLA

10. Florida State

11. Stanford

12. Oklahoma

13. West Virginia

14. Texas

15. Kentucky

16. Washington

17. Oregon State

18. Miami

19. South Florida

20. Michigan State

21. Texas A&M

22. DePaul

23. Auburn

24. Florida

25. Syracuse

This story was originally published November 28, 2016 at 12:07 PM with the headline "USC men in Top 25; SEC picks Thornwell; women remain No. 3."

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