Wake Forest Captures No. 1

Unbeaten Wake Forest has taken over the No. 1 ranking in the AP college basketball Top 25. The Demon Deacons (16-0) have replaced previously unbeaten Pittsburgh, which fell to Louisville on Saturday.

Three Atlantic Coast Conference Teams appear in the top 5, with Duke ranked No. 2 and North Carolina ranked No. 5. Big East rivals Connecticut and the aforementioned Pittsburgh occupy the No. 3 and No. 4 positions.

Wake Forest last owned the top spot in the polls in November 2004. The 2004/05 Demon Deacons held the No. 1 ranking for two weeks, but lost their place atop the polls to Illinois after the Illini dismantled them in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.

How fitting then, that on the very day that Wake Forest makes its return to the top of the AP Top 25, Illinois returns to the AP Top 25 for the first time since 2006. With Illinois now ranked No. 25, The Demon Deacons and the Illini bookend the Top 25.

Both Wake Forest and Illinois suffered through two down years in 2007 and 2008, so it's especially sweet both for Wake to sit atop the polls, and for Illinois to be back on the college basketball map. Drive and Dish friends Toki Wartooth (Joe) of Paint the Town Orange and Izzy of Dishing Dimes celebrated their schools' rankings in this week's Top 25 by publishing new blog posts (Toki Wartooth [Joe] and Izzy are members of the class of 2009 at Illinois and Wake Forest, respectively).

Also, after having picked Clemson to beat Wake Forest, Drive and Dish friend The ACC & SEC Blog makes amends by rating each ACC team and opining that the ACC is probably as good as it has been in ten years.

AP Top 25 (1-19-09)

1. Wake Forest (68) 16-0 1,793

2. Duke (4) 16-1 1,721

3. Connecticut 16-1 1,590

4. Pittsburgh 16-1 1,569

5. North Carolina 16-2 1,510

6. Oklahoma 17-1 1,498

7. Michigan State 15-2 1,394

8. Syracuse 17-2 1,146

9. Louisville 13-3 1,090

10. Clemson 16-1 1,043

11. Marquette 16-2 1,003

12. Georgetown 12-4 979

13. UCLA 14-3 897

14. Texas 13-4 858

15. Xavier 15-2 848

16. Butler 16-1 726

17. Arizona State 15-3 671

18. Purdue 14-4 553

19. Notre Dame 12-5 469

20. Villanova 14-3 353

21. Minnesota 16-2 298

22. Memphis 14-3 208

23. Gonzaga 12-4 201

24. Florida 16-2 175

25. Illinois 15-3 159

Others Receiving Votes Baylor 148, Saint Mary's 137, Kentucky 105, California 82, Florida State 34, Kansas 23, Ohio State 20, Missouri 14, Davidson 14, Tennessee 14, Utah State 12, Washington 12, West Virginia 8, Miami (FL) 8, Arkansas 6, Michigan 5, Dayton 4, George Mason 1, LSU 1. Dropped From Rankings Baylor 21, California 22, Tennessee 24, Michigan 25.