College basketball notes: Virginia Tech women remain No. 9

Virginia Tech remained No. 9 i n the new Associated Press Top 25 women's basketball poll Monday.

Defending NCAA champ LSU (7-1), which will host the Hokies (5-1) on Thursday in a 2023 Final Four rematch as part of the inaugural ACC-SEC Challenge, is tied for seventh with Colorado (6-1).

Virginia Tech center Elizabeth Kitley was named the ACC player of the week on Monday. She had 31 points and 10 rebounds in the team's home win over UNC Greensboro. She had 31 points, 18 rebounds and five blocks in a win over Kansas in the Cayman Islands Classic, becoming the first ACC player in more than 25 seasons to have at least 30 points, 18 rebounds and five blocks in a game. She became the first Hokie to ever have at least 30 points and at least 10 rebounds in back-to-back games.

Kitley ended the week by scoring 18 points and snaring eight rebounds in a win over Tulane in the Cayman Islands Classic.

South Carolina (5-0) remained the unanimous choice at No. 1 in the poll from the 36-member national media panel. South Carolina will host No. 24 North Carolina in the ACC-SEC Challenge.

UCLA (6-0), Stanford (7-0), Iowa (7-1) and North Carolina State (7-0) round out the top five.

UCLA beat UConn for the first time in school history, topping the Huskies in the Cayman Islands Classic.

Iowa beat Kansas State on Sunday night to avenge it lone loss of the season.

The Wolfpack routed then-No. 3 Colorado in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Coach Wes Moore's squad has gone from being unranked in the preseason poll to fifth.

Southern California (5-0) moved up to sixth, its highest mark since the 1994 season.

Texas (7-0) is 10th. The Longhorns host No. 11 UConn (4-2) on Sunday in the Jimmy V Classic. The Huskies, who are once again beset by injuries, dropped out of the top 10 for the first time since Jan. 3, 2022.

Florida State (5-1), coming off a loss to Stanford, is 15th. Notre Dame, which will visit No. 20 Tennessee in the ACC-SEC Challenge, is No. 18. Louisville, which will visit No. 19 Mississippi in the Challenge, is No. 22.

Marquette jumped into the poll at No. 23. Princeton entered at No. 25.

JMU remains No. 22

James Madison (6-0) remained No. 22 in the new AP Top 25 men's basketball poll Monday, while Virginia dropped out of the Top 25 in the wake of its loss to Wisconsin.

Purdue (6-0) ascended to No. 1 after an impressive run through a loaded field at the Maui Invitational. The Boilermakers beat Gonzaga, Tennessee and Marquette in consecutive days, and that was enough to earn 60 of 63 first-place votes from the national panel of Top 25 voters.

Purdue replaced preseason No. 1 Kansas (5-1), which fell to fifth after losing to Marquette in the Maui semifinals before beating Tennessee in the third-place game. Arizona (6-0) moved up one spot to No. 2 with one first-place vote, Marquette (5-1) climbed a spot to third.

UConn (6-0) was fourth with two first-place votes. The defending national champion Huskies play the Jayhawks on Friday night at Allen Fieldhouse.

Houston (7-0) remained sixth, while Duke (5-1) climbed to seventh and Miami (5-0) to eighth.

Florida Atlantic (5-1), which beat Butler, then-No. 12 Texas A&M and Virginia Tech to win the ESPN Events Invitational, jumped six spots to No. 13 — right ahead of the Aggies (6-1).

North Carolina (5-1) is No. 17.

Villanova (6-1) jumped back into the poll at No. 18 after winning the Battle 4 Atlantis. BYU (6-0) jumped into the poll at No. 19 after winning the Vegas Showdown. Colorado State (6-0) cracked the poll at No. 20 after thrashing Creighton to win the Hall of Fame Classic. Oklahoma (6-0) moved into the poll at No. 25 after beating USC.

Mark Berman (540) 981-3125

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