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Polls and Rankings Update: Virginia moves up to #3 in AP and Coaches Polls

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Jack Salt and Devon Hall celebrate UVA's #3 ranking
Jack Salt and Devon Hall celebrate UVA's #3 ranking
Amber Searls-USA TODAY Sports

After a "bye" week that featured an easy home win over NC State and a weekend off, the Virginia Cavaliers took advantage of chaos in the top-ten to move up to #3 in the Associated Press Poll and USA Today Coaches Poll. (Virginia tied with Oklahoma in the AP edition). Villanova held on to the top position in both polls, followed by Kansas.

Ranked at #7 last week, Virginia jumped (or tied, in OU's case) Oklahoma, Iowa, UNC, and Maryland who all suffered defeats. (UNC lost to Duke and Oklahoma fell to a dangerous Texas Tech squad, while Iowa and Maryland fell on the road to teams in the basement of the Big Ten in Penn State and Minnesota, respectively).

AP Poll Coaches Poll
1 Villanova (45) Villanova (25)
2 Kansas (20) Kansas (7)
3 Virginia (Tie - 3) Virginia
4 Oklahoma (Tie - 3) Oklahoma
5 Xavier Xavier
6 Michigan State North Carolina
7 North Carolina Michigan State
8 Iowa Iowa
9 Arizona Maryland
10 Maryland Arizona
11 Louisville Miami
12 Miami West Virginia
13 Oregon Oregon
14 West Virginia Kentucky
15 Duke Indiana
16 Kentucky Baylor
17 Iowa State Iowa State
18 Indiana Duke
19 Baylor Purdue
20 Purdue Notre Dame
21 Texas A&M Texas A&M
22 Utah Dayton
23 Notre Dame Utah
24 SMU Providence
25 Texas Texas

Some notes on the AP Poll:

  • Six ACC teams are currently ranked. After Virginia, UNC is #5, Louisville is #11 (a big leap from 18th last week), Miami is #12, Duke is #15,and Notre Dame is #23.
  • The Hoos continue to hold two top-15 out-of-conference wins over the #1 Wildcats and #14 West Virginia
  • Villanova earned 45 of 65 first-place votes, one more than last week.
  • Virginia's four remaining regular season games include three teams ranked in the top 12 in the polls, headed into the ACC Tournament.

The computers also have Virginia as a consensus top-five team.

Virginia Computer Rankings:
KenPom: #2 (14th in offensive efficiency, 6th in defensive efficiency)
Sagarin: #5 (#8 in "Predictor," but #2 in model that emphasizes recent performance)
ESPN BPI: #3
RPI: #5

Virginia is a projected #1 seed on Bracket Matrix, and has jumped Oklahoma as the #3 overall seed.