Gamecocks reach highest AP men’s ranking since 1998
South Carolina continued to appear in the Top 25 polls, ranking No. 22 in The Associated Press and No. 20 in the USA Today/coaches’ poll on Monday.
USC (13-0) rose two spots in the AP and didn’t move in the USA Today poll from last week. It’s the Gamecocks’ highest ranking since 1998, when they reached a high of No. 5 and finished No. 14.
USC was ranked in every AP poll of the 1997-98 season, when it reached its second NCAA tournament under coach Eddie Fogler. Excusing this year, the Gamecocks’ AP Top 25 appearances have been limited to six weeks, all in 2004. That was USC’s last NCAA tournament appearance.
The Gamecocks won two games last week, over Francis Marion and Memphis. They begin SEC play this week with games at Auburn on Tuesday and hosting Vanderbilt on Saturday.
AP TOP 25
The top 25 teams in The Associated Press' college basketball poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through Jan. 3, total points based on 25 points for a first-place vote through one point for a 25th-place vote and previous ranking:
Record | Prv | |
1. Kansas (44) | 12-1 | 2 |
2. Oklahoma (21) | 12-0 | 3 |
3. Maryland | 13-1 | 4 |
4. Virginia | 12-1 | 5 |
5. Michigan State | 14-1 | 1 |
6. North Carolina | 13-2 | 7 |
7. Arizona | 13-1 | 8 |
8. Providence | 14-1 | 12 |
9. Kentucky | 11-2 | 10 |
10. Xavier | 13-1 | 6 |
11. Villanova | 12-2 | 16 |
12. Miami | 12-1 | 13 |
13. Iowa State | 11-2 | 11 |
14. Duke | 12-2 | 15 |
15. SMU | 13-0 | 17 |
16. Louisville | 12-2 | 18 |
17. West Virginia | 12-1 | 19 |
18. Butler | 11-3 | 9 |
19. Iowa | 11-3 | — |
20. Purdue | 13-2 | 14 |
21. Texas A&M | 11-2 | 20 |
22. South Carolina | 13-0 | 24 |
23. Connecticut | 10-3 | — |
24. Pittsburgh | 12-1 | — |
25. Dayton | 11-2 | — |
This story was originally published January 4, 2016 at 2:09 PM.