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The USC Trojan’s men’s basketball team climbed another spot to number 23 in the latest AP Poll rankings. Last week the Trojans were 24th. The Trojans are off to one of their best starts in almost a half a century and should improve to 11-0 on Monday night when they take on the struggling Cornell Big Red.
Several other teams from the Pac-12 Conference appear in this week’s poll. The UCLA Bruins are ranked 2nd in the nation behind only the defending national champion Villanova Wildcats. The Arizona Wildcats came in at number 18. The 10-2 Oregon Ducks came in at number 20.
The USC Trojans are one of only 6 undefeated teams in the top 25 and are by far the lowest ranked of the bunch as the other five all find themselves in the top 10. In fairness the Trojans’ schedule has not been the toughest so far but expect that to change in just over a week when USC will begin Pac-12 play on December 28th against the Oregon State Beavers followed by a matchup with the ranked Ducks on the 30th.
You can see the full poll below:
MBB AP Top 25, December 19, 2016
| RANK | SCHOOL | RECORD | POINTS | PREVIOUS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| RANK | SCHOOL | RECORD | POINTS | PREVIOUS |
| 1 | Villanova (56) | 11-0 | 1,614 | 1 |
| 2 | UCLA (3) | 12-0 | 1,514 | 2 |
| 3 | Kansas | 10-1 | 1,450 | 3 |
| 4 | Baylor (6) | 11-0 | 1,439 | 4 |
| 5 | Duke | 10-1 | 1,385 | 5 |
| 6 | Kentucky | 10-1 | 1,337 | 6 |
| 7 | Gonzaga | 11-0 | 1,211 | 8 |
| 8 | North Carolina | 10-2 | 1,170 | 7 |
| 9 | Creighton | 11-0 | 1,058 | 10 |
| 10 | Louisville | 10-1 | 1,044 | 11 |
| 11 | West Virginia | 9-1 | 937 | 12 |
| 12 | Virginia | 9-1 | 886 | 13 |
| 13 | Butler | 10-1 | 821 | 18 |
| 14 | Wisconsin | 10-2 | 781 | 14 |
| 15 | Purdue | 9-2 | 754 | 15 |
| 16 | Indiana | 8-2 | 719 | 9 |
| 17 | Xavier | 9-2 | 542 | 17 |
| 18 | Arizona | 10-2 | 501 | 19 |
| 19 | Saint Mary's (Calif.) | 8-1 | 389 | 20 |
| 20 | Oregon | 10-2 | 299 | 22 |
| 21 | Florida State | 11-1 | 290 | 23 |
| 22 | South Carolina | 9-1 | 218 | 16 |
| 23 | Southern California | 10-0 | 212 | 24 |
| 24 | Cincinnati | 9-2 | 202 | 25 |
| 25 | Notre Dame | 9-2 | 188 | 21 |
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