Iowa State basketball: Cyclones crack top 10 in latest polls

By Brian Spaen | Dec 29, 2014

Just as we expected, Iowa State basketball lands in the top 10 ahead of every other Big 12 school. However, the margin of difference was extremely close in one of the polls.

The Cyclones are ranked ninth in both the Associated Press and Coaches polls released on Monday. Both Texas and Kansas fell after suffering losses last week, and Iowa State had a holiday break off the court. The Longhorns suffered a 74-71 overtime defeat to Stanford last Tuesday but defeated Rice in a rescheduled game earlier today. The Jayhawks had a bad 77-52 loss at Temple last Monday.

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Texas is now ranked 11th in the AP and 10th in the Coaches. Iowa State received 484 points in the Coaches, but the Longhorns were right behind them with 428 points. Utah lands between ISU and Texas in the AP. Kansas fell all the way to 13th in the AP and 14th in the Coaches. Maryland falls between them in the AP while Utah and Notre Dame are added between them in the Coaches.

The top four are identical in both polls: Kentucky, Duke, Virginia, and Wisconsin. The Wildcats have all but one first place on the polls — that’s in the Coaches, where Duke received one. Louisville expectedly didn’t fall far after losing in a close battle to Kentucky on Saturday — fifth in the AP and sixth in the Coaches.

There are three other Big 12 teams ranked in the top 25: West Virginia is 17th in the AP and 15th in the Coaches, Oklahoma is 18th in the AP and 21st in the Coaches, and Baylor is 22nd in the AP and Coaches. TCU was pushed just outside of the top 25 in the AP; Georgetown received 140 points while the Horned Frogs had 132 points. TCU was the only team that dropped from the top 25.

Next: Big 12 power rankings: ISU rises to the top