The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB Among "Others" In AP Poll
11/8/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 8, 2004
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The UAB men's basketball team is two-for-two in preseason polls now. Mike Anderson and the Blazers, hot off a 2003-04 campaign in which they won a share of the Conference USA title and made an NCAA Sweet 16 appearance, received votes in the inaugural Associated Press men's basketball rankings Monday. The Blazers would be ranked 36th if the listing were taken beyond 25 spots.
UAB was also among the "Others receiving votes" listing in the inaugural ESPN/USA Today Coaches poll which came out last week.
"UAB means a lot more now that it did in the past," Anderson said. "We know that instead of being the hunters this year, we're going to be the ones being hunted. It's going to force us to take our basketball team to another level, which is only going to be good for our program."
Conference USA has two teams ranked in the preseason A.P. rankings. Louisville is ranked 14th in the poll, while Memphis is 24th. Four other Conference USA teams are among those receiving votes, including Charlotte (28), Cincinnati (32), the Blazers (36) and DePaul (48). All six of those schools advanced to the NCAA Tournament last March.
Among UAB's non-conference foes for the 2004-05 season, Oklahoma State is ranked No. 7 and Virginia Commonwealth is also receiving votes.
The Blazers open play Thursday night with an exhibition contest against Montevallo. Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m. CT in Bartow Arena.
Preseason Associated Press Poll 1. Kansas 2. Wake Forest 3. Georgia Tech 4. North Carolina 5. Illinois 6. Syracuse 7. Oklahoma State 8. Connecticut 9. Kentucky 10. Arizona 11. Duke 12. Mississippi State 13. Michigan State 14. Louisville 15. Maryland 16. Texas 17. Pittsburgh 18. Alabama 19. North Carolina State 20. Notre Dame 21. Wisconsin 22. Washington 23. Florida 24. Memphis 25. Gonzaga
ARV: Stanford 90; Michigan 74; Charlotte 37; Providence 32; Southern Illinois 31; Utah 31; Cincinnati 30; Oklahoma 28; Boston College 7; UTEP 7: UAB 6; George Washington 6; Xavier 5; East Tennessee State 4; LSU 4; Tennessee 4; Toledo 4; UCLA 4; UNLV 4; Iowa State 2; Oregon 2: Rice 2; DePaul 1; Indiana 1; Virginia Commonwealth 1; Vanderbilt 1; Vermont 1.
