Tag: USA TODAY Sports coaches poll

Florida baseball drops in Week 7 USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll

Florida’s weekend of comebacks against Mississippi state wasn’t enough to keep the Gators in the No. 6 spot, but they did stay inside the top 10.

A pair of comeback wins at home against Mississippi State wasn’t enough to convince the USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll voters that the Florida Gators are deserving of a top-five spot.

In the week 7 update, Florida fell three spots from No. 6 to No. 9 in the country. A 16-11 record is by far the worst in the top 10. Wake Forest is the only other team with double-digit losses inside the top 25.

What’s keeping Florida inside the top 10 is a perfect series weekend against SEC opponents. Texas A&M is ranked No. 3 overall, LSU is ranked No. 18 and Mississippi State earned the most poll votes without cracking the top 25.

The Gators have one of the toughest remaining schedules in the country. Every series left on the schedule except next week’s road trip to Missouri is against a ranked opponent. Arkansas is ranked No. 1, Tennessee is No. 4,  Vanderbilt is No. 6, Kentucky is No. 16, South Carolina is No. 19 and Georgia is No. 24.

Here is a full look at the Week 7 update.

Rank Team Overall Points (1st) Previous Rank Change
1 Arkansas 23-3 775 (31) 1 —
2 Clemson 24-3 726 3 +1
3 Texas A&M 25-3 711 4 +1
4 Tennessee 24-5 659 5 +1
5 Oregon State 21-4 619 2 -3
6 Vanderbilt 23-6 588 9 +3
7 North Carolina 25-4 540 11 +4
8 Dallas Baptist 23-4 533 10 +2
9 Florida 16-11 515 6 -3
10 Duke 20-8 488 13 +3
11 Virginia 22-6 417 8 -3
12 Florida State 12-4 392 17 +5
13 East Carolina 20-6 373 16 +3
14 Alabama 21-7 359 18 +4
15 Virginia Tech 21-5 355 15 –
16 Kentucky 24-4 319 21 +5
17 UC Irvine 22-3 307 19 +2
18 LSU 20-9 229 7 -11
19 South Carolina 21-7 218 14 -5
20 NC State 18-7 167 22 +2
21 Coastal Carolina 20-7 152 20 -1
22 Wake Forest 17-10 151 12 -10
23 Nebraska 20-5 88 NR +7
24 Georgia 22-6 82 24 –
25 TCU 20-7 61 25 –

Schools Dropped Out

No. 23 Mississippi State;

Others Receiving Votes

Mississippi State 52; UCF 45; Indiana State 36; Oregon 22; Texas 17; Texas Tech 11; Oklahoma State 10; Kansas State 10; Campbell 9; Lamar 8; UC Santa Barbara 6; Louisiana 6; Northeastern 5; Creighton 5; Miami (FL) 4; St. John’s 3; Louisiana Tech 2;

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Clemson jumps to No. 2 in new USA TODAY Sports baseball coaches poll

NCAA Baseball: The Clemson Tigers moved up one spot to No. 2 in the new USA TODAY Sports baseball coaches poll, released Monday, April 1.

Clemson moved up one spot to No. 2 in the new USA TODAY Sports baseball coaches poll, released Monday, April 1. It’s the Tigers’ highest ranking in the coaches poll this season.

Coach Erik Bakich’s team is 24-3 overall and went 2-1 last week after taking two of three games from Miami in ACC play.

The Tigers also moved up one spot to No. 2 in the new D1Baseball Top 25 rankings, in addition to the team’s No. 2 ranking in Baseball America’s Top 25.

Arkansas (23-3) remained at No. 1 after sweeping reigning national champion LSU in a three-game series over the weekend.

With Clemson at No. 2, Texas A&M (No. 3, 25-3), Tennessee (No. 4, 24-5), and Oregon State (No. 5, 21-4) rounded out the top five.

Other ACC schools ranked in this week’s coaches poll are No. 7 North Carolina and No. 9 Duke. Virginia fell three spots from last week to land at No. 11. Florida State moved up five spots to No. 12, and Virginia Tech stayed at No. 15.

NC State (No. 20) and Wake Forest (No. 22) also placed in the top 25. Wake Forest fell 10 spots in the coaches poll after being swept by North Carolina in Winston-Salem.

Clemson is scheduled to face SC Upstate in midweek action Tuesday in Greenville. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m. EDT.

Florida baseball moving back up USA TODAY Sports Coaches poll

Florida’s baseball team moved up to No. 6 on the USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll this week after beating LSU twice on the road.

Florida moved up two spots to No. 6 overall on the USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll following a series win over the LSU Tigers.

The Gators have placed as high as No. 3 and as low as No. 11 on the Coaches Poll. Florida has won every series it’s played this season, except for the St. John’s series which only ended up being one game. The only reason the Orange and Blue aren’t ranked inside the top five is the team’s sketchy midweek results.

Florida fell to Jacksonville this week and has losses against Stetson and UCF. There’s a pitching depth issue on the team, but it’s hard to pick against the Gators in a three-game series based on weekend results.

The SEC continues to reign supreme in college baseball. Arkansas has held onto the No. 1 spot for most of the season, Texas A&M is No. 4 despite a series loss to UF, Tennessee is No. 5 this week, LSU checks in right behind the Gators at No. 7 overall and No. 9 Vanderbilt makes it six SEC teams in the top 10.

South Carolina made its Coaches Poll debut at No. 14 this week following a sweep over Vandy, and Alabama dropped to No. 18 after being swept by Georgia, which broke into the top 25 at No. 24. Kentucky moved up to No. 21, and Mississippi State also made its poll debut at No. 23

To recap, 11 of the 14 SEC teams are ranked inside the top 25, and Auburn only fell to an unofficial No. 28 with 36 poll points. Ole Miss also earned nine poll points, leaving Missouri as the only program in the conference without regional hopes.

Here is a full look at the Week 6 update.

Rank Team Overall Points (1st) Previous Rank Change
1 Arkansas 19-3 742 (24) 1 —
2 Oregon State 21-2 717 2 —
3 Clemson 22-2 690 (1) 5 +2
4 Texas A&M 21-3 637 6 +2
5 Tennessee 21-4 619 7 +2
6 Florida 14-9 565 (1) 8 +2
7 LSU 19-6 542 4 -3
8 Virginia 20-4 527 11 +3
9 Vanderbilt 19-6 508 3 -6
10 Dallas Baptist 19-4 448 16 +6
11 North Carolina 21-4 405 17 +6
12 Wake Forest 16-7 399 14 +2
13 Duke 17-7 380 9 -4
14 South Carolina 19-5 292 NR +13
15 Virginia Tech 18-4 289 26 +8
16 East Carolina 16-6 284 13 -3
17 Florida State 19-3 276 12 -5
18 Alabama 18-6 239 10 -8
19 UC Irvine 18-3 224 21 +2
20 Coastal Carolina 18-6 171 15 -5
21 Kentucky 20-4 162 25 +4
22 NC State 15-7 92 NR +6
23 Mississippi State 17-8 76 NR +3
24 Georgia 21-4 68 NR +13
25 TCU 17-7 65 18 -7

Schools Dropped Out

No. 19 Campbell; No. 20 Oklahoma; No. 22 UC Santa Barbara; No. 24 Auburn;

Others Receiving Votes

Oklahoma 64; Kansas State 57; Auburn 36; Campbell 29; Nebraska 22; Texas Tech 20; Indiana State 15; Texas 14; UCF 11; Oregon 9; Ole Miss 9; Oklahoma State 8; Maryland 8; Rutgers 7; Northeastern 7; Lamar 6; Louisiana Tech 5; Creighton 5; UC Santa Barbara 1;

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Auburn checks in at No. 25 in USA TODAY/NFCA Coaches Poll for third straight week

The Tigers hang on to a top 25 ranking ahead of this weekend’s road trip to Texas A&M.

Auburn softball had another tough SEC weekend by dropping two of three at home to Arkansas at Jane B. Moore Field. The series loss, although detrimental to its place in the SEC standings, had zero effect on Auburn’s position in the coaches’ poll rankings.

The Tigers begin the week at No. 25 in the latest USA TODAY/NFCA Top 25 Coaches Poll, a place they have been for the last three weeks. The series win over Auburn boosted Arkansas to No. 18, a two-spot increase from last week’s update.

This week, Auburn travels west to Texas A&M to battle the Aggies, one of the hottest teams in the SEC. The Aggies took two of three from Mississippi State over the weekend to improve its record to 25-3. The series win over the Bulldogs lifts Texas A&M one spot to No. 12.

The SEC remains one of the toughest conferences in the nation, as 11 of its 13 programs hold a spot in this week’s coaches poll.

Complete week seven rankings from USA TODAY/NCFA

Rank Team Record Points Last Week
1 Oklahoma 27-1 794 1
2 LSU 24-1 771 2
3 Texas 24-3 727 3
4 Oklahoma State 24-3 692 4
5 Georgia 23-4 666 5
6 Duke 22-2 637 6
7 Tennessee 22-4 610 8
8 Washington 20-4 584 7
9 Stanford 22-5 545 9
10 Florida 25-4 512 10
11 Clemson 21-6 461 12
12 Texas A&M 25-3 432 13
13 Alabama 22-5 392 14
14 UCLA 17-6 371 15
15 Missouri 22-6 369 11
16 Virginia Tech 21-4-1 306 18
17 Florida State 21-4 293 15
18 Arkansas 22-6 245 20
19 California 21-7 193 17
20 Mississippi State 21-6 190 21
21 Arizona 20-7-1 130 22
22 Baylor 16-8 101 19
23 South Carolina 21-7 78 23
24 Boston University 20-3 66 24
25 Auburn 14-6-1 59 25

Others Receiving Votes

Oregon (55), Louisiana (43), Kansas (40), Kentucky (25), Texas State (19), Miami (6), Grand Canyon (1).

Dropped Out

None

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Alabama moves up one spot in latest USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll

Alabama basketball enters March Madness ranked No. 18 in the latest USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll

Alabama basketball is preparing to bounce back after its recent struggles. There’s no better time to turn things around than the start of the March Madness tournament. After losing in the quarterfinals to Florida, the Crimson Tide managed to move up a spot in the lates USA TODAY Coaches Poll.

Now ranked No. 18 in the poll, the Tide is only focused on one thing: making a run in the NCAA tournament to win a national championship.

Nate Oats and his team are the No. 4 seed in the West Region and will kick things off on Friday in Spokane, Washington against No. 13 seed Charleston.

IT’S BRACKET MADNESS: Enter USA TODAY’S NCAA Tournament bracket contest for a chance at $1 million prize.

Defense has been a big concern for Alabama and has been the main reason for a handful of the losses the Tide has suffered in the 2023-2024 season. When this team is hot, there’s no stopping them. However, if they come out flat-footed, it may be an uphill battle to make the Round of 32.

Roll Tide Wire will continue to follow Alabama basketball as March Madness gets started.

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UConn back at No. 1 in AP, Coaches Top 25 polls

UConn is back in the top spot in both the new AP Top 25 men’s college basketball poll and USA TODAY Sports coaches poll. The Huskies defeated Marquette Saturday night at Madison Square Garden to clinch the Big East Tournament. They also won the …

UConn is back in the top spot in both the new AP Top 25 men’s college basketball poll and USA TODAY Sports coaches poll.

The Huskies defeated Marquette Saturday night at Madison Square Garden to clinch the Big East Tournament. They also won the regular season conference championship and head into the NCAA Tournament as a No. 1 overall seed at 31-3 overall.

UConn is hoping to become the first men’s basketball program to repeat as tournament champions since Florida in 2006 and 2007.

Houston (30-4) fell to No. 2 after being blown out, 69-41, by Iowa State in the Big 12 championship game Saturday night. Iowa State’s win propelled the Cyclones (27-7) to No. 4. They moved up three spots in the AP poll and four spots in the coaches poll.

Purdue (29-4) remained at No. 3 in both polls, and North Carolina (27-7) came in at No. 5. Houston, Purdue, and North Carolina were awarded the other No. 1 seeds in the NCAA Tournament by the selection committee Sunday.

Tennessee (24-8) dropped one spot to No. 6 after suffering a 17-point loss to Mississippi State in the SEC Tournament last week. Auburn (27-7), which won the SEC Tournament Sunday, climbed five spots in both polls to No. 7.

Marquette (25-9), Arizona (25-8), and Big Ten Tournament champion Illinois (26-8) rounded out the top 10 in both polls.

Duke (24-8) was the only ACC team ranked in the top 25 other than North Carolina. The Blue Devils checked in at No. 13 in the AP poll and No. 14 in the coaches poll.

Clemson (21-11) received no votes for consideration in either poll after its loss in the ACC Tournament to Boston College. The Tigers were awarded an at-large berth in the NCAA Tournament as a No. 6 seed and will play No. 11 seed New Mexico Friday at 2:15 p.m. EDT at Memphis’ FedExForum. The game will be televised by truTV.

Vols’ final USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll ranking released ahead of NCAA Tournament

A look at Tennessee basketball’s final USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll ranking ahead of the NCAA Tournament.

No. 2 seed Tennessee (24-8, 14-4 SEC) will open NCAA Tournament play on Thursday.

The Vols will play No. 15 seed Saint Peter’s (19-13, 12-8 MAAC) at Spectrum Center in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Tipoff between Tennessee and the Peacocks is slated for 9:20 p.m. EDT and will be televised by TNT.

The final USA TODAY Sports Men’s Basketball Coaches Poll was released on Monday ahead of the NCAA Tournament. Tennessee is ranked No. 6.

Rank Team Record Points Change
1 UConn 31-3 800 (32) +1
2 Houston 30-4 752 -1
3 Purdue 29-4 740 –
4 Iowa State 27-7 697 +4
5 North Carolina 27-7 672 -1
6 Tennessee 24-8 595 -1
7 Auburn 27-7 573 +5
8 Marquette 25-9 560 +2
9 Arizona 25-8 544 -2
10 Illinois 26-8 508 +4
11 Creighton 23-9 506 -5
12 Kentucky 23-9 415 -3
13 Baylor 23-10 411 –
14 Duke 24-8 400 -3
15 Saint Mary’s 26-7 297 +5
16 Gonzaga 25-7 220 -1
17 South Carolina 26-7 218 -1
18 Alabama 21-11 197 +1
19 Utah State 27-6 193 -1
20 Kansas 22-10 188 -3
21 BYU 23-10 182 –
22 Texas Tech 23-10 134 +1
23 Florida 24-11 130 +6
24 Wisconsin 22-13 110 –
25 San Diego State 24-10 74 +2

Schools dropped out

No. 22 Nevada; No. 24 Dayton; No. 25 Washington State

Others receiving votes

New Mexico 68; Washington State 63; James Madison 30; Dayton 30; Nevada 29; Drake 29; Nebraska 12; North Carolina State 11; Colorado 4; Indiana State 2; Boise State 2; Pittsburgh 1; Michigan State 1; McNeese State 1; Grand Canyon 1

Auburn cracks top 10 of USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll ahead of NCAA Tournament

The Tigers are among the top movers in this week’s poll after winning the SEC Tournament on Sunday.

Auburn basketball battled Florida for the SEC Tournament crown on Sunday and rose from the dust as victors.

Due to its tournament win, the Tigers are among this week’s top movers in the USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll. Auburn will enter the first round of the NCAA Tournament as the No. 7 team in the country, rising five spots from their spot at No. 12 last week.

Auburn’s SEC Tournament final opponent, Florida was this week’s biggest mover by rising six spots to No. 23 after taking down Alabama and Texas A&M before meeting Auburn in the championship game. St. Mary’s joins Auburn by moving up five places from its previous position. Illinois and Iowa State gained ground in this week’s poll by advancing four spots. Creighton suffered the biggest drop of the week by falling five places to No. 11.

The final USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll ahead of the NCAA Tournament features six SEC teams. Tennessee remains the top team in the conference at No. 6, one spot ahead of Auburn. Kentucky is next at No. 12, followed by South Carolina at No. 17 and Alabama at No. 18. The Gators round out the list at No. 23.

A look at the full Coaches Poll powered by USA TODAY Sports:

Rank Team Record Points Change
1 UConn 31-3 800 (32) +1
2 Houston 30-4 752 -1
3 Purdue 29-4 740 –
4 Iowa State 27-7 697 +4
5 North Carolina 27-7 672 -1
6 Tennessee 24-8 595 -1
7 Auburn 27-7 573 +5
8 Marquette 25-9 560 +2
9 Arizona 25-8 544 -2
10 Illinois 26-8 508 +4
11 Creighton 23-9 506 -5
12 Kentucky 23-9 415 -3
13 Baylor 23-10 411 –
14 Duke 24-8 400 -3
15 Saint Mary’s 26-7 297 +5
16 Gonzaga 25-7 220 -1
17 South Carolina 26-7 218 -1
18 Alabama 21-11 197 +1
19 Utah State 27-6 193 -1
20 Kansas 22-10 188 -3
21 BYU 23-10 182 –
22 Texas Tech 23-10 134 +1
23 Florida 24-11 130 +6
24 Wisconsin 22-13 110 –
25 San Diego State 24-10 74 +2

Schools Dropped Out

No. 22 Nevada; No. 24 Dayton; No. 25 Washington State

Others Receiving Votes

New Mexico 68; Washington State 63; James Madison 30; Dayton 30; Nevada 29; Drake 29; Nebraska 12; North Carolina State 11; Colorado 4; Indiana State 2; Boise State 2; Pittsburgh 1; Michigan State 1; McNeese State 1; Grand Canyon 1

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Florida baseball drops out of top 10 in Week 4 USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll

Florida baseball’s 2-2 week means another slide down the USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll. Conference play begins this week.

A 2-2 week against UCF and Saint Mary’s has Florida down four spots to No. 11 on the USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll.

The Week 4 update saw many changes, including a complete shakeup of the top 10. Arkansas is the new team to beat at No. 1, but five teams earned first-place votes this week. LSU stayed put at No. 2, Oregon State only earned on first-place vote but is a solid No. 3 and Oregon State and Texas A&M each jumped up two places to round out the top five.

Tennessee is just 12 points shy of overtaking Wake Forest for a top-five spot, but the Vols are at No. 6 for now. Duke — the team that took two of three from Wake — traded places with Florida, from No. 11 to No. 7. TCU is the other top-10 team that took a four-spot tumble. Clemson and Vanderbilt stayed put in the Nos. 9 and 10 spots.

Checking in on the rest of the SEC, Alabama is No. 12, Auburn is No. 19 and South Carolina is No. 20. All three teams moved up one spot from a week ago.

Florida’s in-state rival, FSU, jumped up three spots to No. 25 after starting the season 14-0, and Georgia is now the unofficial No. 26 team in the country, with 38 points. Miami earned seven points and Kentucky earned 1 point.

Here is a look at the complete Coaches Poll from USA TODAY Sports.

Rank Team Overall Points (1st) Previous Rank Change
1 Arkansas 13-2 750 (18) 3 +23
2 LSU 14-2 710 (6) 2 –
3 Oregon State 15-1 684 (1) 5 +2
4 Texas A&M 16-0 654 (3) 6 +2
5 Wake Forest 12-3 638 (3) 1 -4
6 Tennessee 16-1 626 8 +2
7 Duke 13-2 611 11 +4
8 TCU 14-2 530 4 -4
9 Clemson 13-1 511 9 –
10 Vanderbilt 14-3 507 10 –
11 Florida 10-5 440 7 -4
12 Alabama 15-1 404 13 +1
13 North Carolina 14-2 356 14 +1
14 NC State 12-2 344 15 +1
15 Virginia 13-3 322 12 -3
16 East Carolina 10-4 315 16 –
17 Coastal Carolina 14-2 292 18 +1
18 Dallas Baptist 13-2 234 19 +1
19 Auburn 12-3 224 20 +1
20 UC Irvine 13-1 179 23 +3
20 South Carolina 13-3 179 21 +1
22 Florida State 14-0 120 25 +3
23 Campbell 11-4 104 24 +1
24 Texas 9-6 100 22 -2
25 Texas Tech 11-4 85 17 -8

Others Receiving Votes

Georgia 38; UC Santa Barbara 34; Oklahoma State 11; Virginia Tech 9; Oregon 9; UCLA 7; Miami (FL) 7; California 6; Southern Miss 5; Saint Louis 5; Northeastern 5; Louisiana Tech 5; Indiana State 4; Kansas 3; Indiana 3; Troy 2; UC San Diego 1; Oklahoma 1; Kentucky 1;

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Tennessee basketball ranked top five in USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll

Tennessee basketball is ranked top five in the latest USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll.

The 2023-24 college basketball regular-season has concluded.

The Southeastern Conference Tournament will take place Wednesday-Sunday at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee.

Tennessee (24-7, 14-4 SEC) had SEC regular-season home games against Alabama (W, 91-71), Auburn (W, 92-84), Florida (W, 85-66), Kentucky (L, 85-81), LSU (W, 88-68), Ole Miss (W, 90-64), South Carolina (L, 63-59), Texas A&M (W, 86-51) and Vanderbilt (W, 88-53).

Tennessee’s regular-season road schedule in SEC play consisted of games at Alabama (W, 81-74), Arkansas (W, 92-63), Georgia (W, 85-79), Kentucky (W, 103-92), Mississippi State (L, 77-72), Missouri (W, 72-67), South Carolina (W, 66-59), Texas A&M (L, 85-69) and Vanderbilt (W, 75-62).

The USA TODAY Sports Men’s Basketball Coaches Poll was released on Monday ahead of the SEC Tournament.

Tennessee is ranked No. 5 in the latest top 25 poll. The entire USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll can be viewed here.