Virginia moves to #2 in AP Poll, receives 2 first-place votes

The Virginia Cavaliers rose to #2 in this week's AP Poll, their highest ranking since 1982. Kentucky held their grip on the top spot in the rankings, but UVA picked up 2 first place votes (out of 65).  Look out, Wildcats!  Gonzaga, Duke, and Villanova rounded out the top 5.  The Hoos were #2 in the Coaches Poll as well, picking up one first-place vote.

It was a tumultuous week for the rest of last week's AP top 5.  Unanimous #1 Kentucky played in two overtime games against Ole Miss and Texas A&M, while Duke fell at NC State, Wisconsin lost to Rutgers, and Louisville couldn't handle North Carolina.

Zach Osterman of the Indy Star and John Feinstein of NPR voted the Hoos #1, while Marcus Jackson of the News-Gazette in Illinois was the only voter to put UVA at number 3.

Looking around the ACC, after #2 UVA and #4 Duke comes #6 Louisville, #12 Notre Dame (who moved up a spot after beating UNC and losing to UVA), and #15 UNC (who also moved up after a 1-1 week).  NC State and Syracuse also picked up a couple votes.

Past opponents Maryland and VCU are now 14th and 17th, respectively, with Davidson receiving a vote as well.

The computers concur with the voters - here are Massey's ratings, a compilation of computer rankings that as Virginia at #2.

KenPom has UVA second in the nation, .0008 points behind Kentucky. (Wins by Rutgers over Wisconsin and NC State over Duke helped the cause). The computer ranks the offense 6th and the defense 4th, as the Hoos are the only team in the top-ten on both sides of the ball. Sagarin puts UVA #2 too, as does ESPN's BPI.  KPI, which we list only because it loves us so much, has the Hoos as the best team in the country.  RPI, which we usually like to ignore but the Committee doesn't, has UVA 3rd (behind Kansas!).  It also has Notre Dame behind UMass, so let's not get too worked up.

AP Top 25