Stanford is as close to the top as it has been in almost two years.
As Associated Press Top 25 Poll rankings were released Monday, the Cardinal, which remains undefeated, found itself at No. 2, behind Duke.
Stanford (14-0 overall, 5-0 Pacific-10 Conference) is one of just three teams that remains undefeated, alongside St. Joseph’s and Cincinnati. The Cardinal’s No. 2 ranking is the highest Stanford has been ranked since it was No. 1 on March 5, 2001.
“I think if you had said we were going to be No. 2 in the country in January, that (would have been) surprising,” Stanford head coach Mike Montgomery said. “We haven’t been trying to do anything but play basketball and win games.”
Seven weeks ago, Stanford was ranked 21st in the nation. And in seven weeks, the Cardinal has jumped from 17th to second in the USA Today/ESPN poll.
Stanford is currently beating its opponents by an average of 15.3 points per game, and the Cardinal has won 18 of its last 19 home games.
“Most of these kids have been through this a time or two with the rankings,” Montgomery said. “We’re a good solid basketball team who enjoys playing together right now. We’re not too worried about what all that other stuff is right now. If we can keep our heads straight and do what we’ve been doing we’ll be fine.”
Stanford hasn’t had success with just one star player; it has been a team effort. Four of Stanford’s five starters are averaging more than 10 points a game with senior guard Matt Lottich leading at 14 points and 3 rebounds per game.
“It makes it harder to guard us in terms of the feeling of taking one guy out and then that being the end of Stanford,” Montgomery said. “We can score inside, we can score outside, we’ve got some slashers, we’ve got some depth, but the reality of it is we’re winning with defense and rebounding.”

Diogu domination
Forward Ike Diogu of Arizona State is in his sophomore year, but he is already one of the most dominating players in the Pac-10.
Diogu is the conference leader in points, averaging 23.1 per game, and he and ranks third in rebounding with 8.7 per game.
“He’s been developing very well,” Arizona State head coach Rob Evans said. “He is critical to our basketball team. He’s barely into his sophomore year but he’s gotten better from last year as far as his ability to step away from inside.”
Diogu has led the Sun Devils in scoring in 10 of 16 games this season. He is currently in a streak of 46 straight games of double-digit scoring, which leads the nation. Diogu has not failed to score in double-digits in his collegiate career.
In Arizona State’s 100-85 win over USC on Saturday, Diogu led his team with 27 points. He shot a career best 3 for 3 from the three-point line and was a perfect 12 for 12 from the free-throw line.
“We can’t have just me scoring,” Diogu said. “Everybody on this team is capable of scoring. There’s no reason for us not to come out and play like this all the time.”

Arizona dropping in polls
As the Associated Press rankings were released for week 10, Arizona again found itself further down the list than the previous week.
The Wildcats ranked in at No. 14 on Monday. In week nine, Arizona was ranked No. 7. The week prior, the Wildcats were ranked as high as No. 3.
Arizona head coach Lute Olson isn’t worried because the NCAA Tournament in March decides which teams go where.
“As far as national polls in basketball, it doesn’t make any difference,” Olson said.
The Wildcats (11-3, 3-2) are in a tie for third in the conference with Oregon. Arizona had its way in a 97-72 victory against UCLA on Saturday, but prior to the Bruin matchup, the Wildcats had lost two straight to then-No. 4 Stanford and USC.
“We’re still a work in progress,” Olson said. “By the time we get to the end of March, we’ll be a consistently good ball club.”