Florida newest No. 1 in AP poll

Gators third team in three weeks to occupy top spot

Three weeks, three Number Ones.

Florida moved into the top spot in the Associated Press college basketball poll Monday, the third straight week there has been a new No. 1 team.

The Gators (5-0) moved up one spot and replaced Kansas University, which lost, 64-58, Saturday to Stanford. The Jayhawks (3-1), who dropped to fifth, were No. 1 for one week after replacing Connecticut.

The Huskies were on top for the preseason and the first two weeks of the regular season.

Stanford had the biggest jump, moving from 21st to 13th.

The last time there were three No. 1 teams in three weeks was the end of the 1999-00 season, when Stanford, Cincinnati and Duke each had a stay on top in the final three polls.

The record for consecutive polls with a different No. 1 is seven. From Jan. 3 to Feb. 14, 1994, the top teams were: Arkansas, North Carolina, Kansas, UCLA, Duke, North Carolina and Arkansas.

“To be honest, we don’t really care about polls right now,” KU coach Bill Self said Monday. “We’re just trying to get better every day.

“To me, Oklahoma probably deserves to be up there,” Self said of the Sooners, ranked 11th after Saturday’s win over Michigan State. “They won at the Palace (in suburban Detroit). Stanford deserves to be up there. They kicked our butt. That is how I look at that. We fell to fifth, but certainly Georgia Tech (7-0, ranked 10th) has done a lot more than we have.”

Florida plays host Wednesday to Maryland, then plays Saturday at Louisville.

“It’s very early in the season, and I feel like we’re still learning who we are as a team,” Florida coach Billy Donovan said, whose Gators received 46 first-place votes and 1,732 points from the national media panel.

No. 2 Connecticut (6-1) and No. 3 Missouri (3-0) each moved up one place in the rankings. Duke (5-1) moved up two places to fourth.

Kansas, Texas, North Carolina, Kentucky, Arizona and Georgia Tech rounded out the Top 10.

The biggest drop was by Michigan State, from No. 5 to No. 21. The Spartans (3-3) lost to Duke and Oklahoma last week, and it doesn’t get easier this week with a game against Kentucky.

“Early, the rankings are based on what the preseason polls are,” Self said.

“They probably shouldn’t even have polls taken until after Christmas. Then we get a pretty good idea where teams should be.”