The first USA TODAY Sports Men’s Basketball Coaches Poll of March was released on Monday. There were five Big Ten Conference teams with No. 14 Purdue having the biggest drop.
The Boilermakers dropped six spots after losing their last two games, which makes them the lowest Big Ten that is ranked. No. 11 Illinois remained the same, but No. 9 Nebraska moved up one and No. 8 Michigan State climbed five ranks. No. 3 Michigan stayed put with No. 2 Arizona and No. 1 Duke ahead of them.
No. 4 UCONN and No. 5 Florida swapped places with No. 6 Houston and No. 7 Iowa State. Another team outside of the Big Ten to shift significantly was No. 10 Texas Tech, who moved up six spots to take the enter the top-10.
The big moves outside of the top-10 was No. 20 Miami (OH) moving up five ranks, No. 21 Saint Mary’s ascending 10 spots and No. 23 Miami (FL) shifting up eight spots.
Louisville and BYU dropped out of the poll, but both received votes with the Cougars earning 35 and the Cardinals getting 31. The other teams to receive votes were Wisconsin with 23, Villanova had 17, Missouri received 10, Utah State had nine, Clemson took eight, Kentucky had five, UCF received three and Georgia got one.
This article originally appeared on UCLA Wire: Purdue falls in March’s first USA TODAY Sports MBB Coaches Poll
Reporting by Ryan Lorenz, UCLA Wire / UCLA Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
