Notre Dame men's basketball picks up more votes in AP Top 25
Another two-win week has Notre Dame men’s basketball climbing closer to the AP Top 25.
The Irish received 17 points in Monday’s poll refresh, up from the three they earned a week ago. They’re unofficially tied for 31st in the rankings. Their highest placement on an individual ballot this week was No. 20.
Notre Dame (18-7, 11-3 ACC) beat Louisville 63-57 at home on Feb. 9 and defeated Clemson 76-61 Saturday on the road to remain tied with Duke for first place in the ACC. On its own, beating two teams in the bottom half of the ACC standings isn’t going to cause waves with AP voters. The Irish’s overall trend, though, stands out. They’re 14-2 since a Dec. 18 loss to Indiana, have won four straight games, are 6-1 in their last seven ACC road contests and have held seven consecutive opponents to 65 or fewer points.
The Irish first gained traction with the AP voters in the Jan. 31 poll. They earned a single vote from the 60 writers who determine this year’s rankings, courtesy of the Chicago Sun-Times’ Steve Greenberg, who ranked them No. 22 that week. He slotted Notre Dame 23rd in the Feb. 7 poll.
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He now has company from three others. All told, Notre Dame was 20th on two ballots, 22nd on another, 25th on the last one to include them and absent from 56 individual rankings.
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If Notre Dame never reaches the top 25 this year, head coach Mike Brey would be unbothered. What matters more is his program has the gotta-do-it goal he set last March firmly in view.
“We like hiding in the weeds up here, but I think we’re trending toward the tournament,” Brey said Monday.
Notre Dame has six regular-season games remaining, with a Wednesday home meeting with Boston College (7 p.m. ET, ESPNU) up next. The most challenging is a Feb. 19 trip to Wake Forest, which stands as the last remaining Quadrant 1 game on the schedule.
Feb. 14 AP Top 25
- Gonzaga (21-2) (56)
- Auburn (23-2) (4)
- Arizona (22-2)
- Kentucky (21-4)
- Purdue (22-4)
- Kansas (20-4)
- Baylor (21-4)
- Providence (21-2)
- Duke (21-4)
- Villanova (19-6)
- Texas Tech (19-6)
- Illinois (18-6)
- UCLA (17-5)
- Houston (20-4)
- Wisconsin (19-5)
- Tennessee (18-6)
- USC (21-4)
- Ohio State (15-6)
- Michigan State (18-6)
- Texas (18-7)
- Murray State (24-2)
- Wyoming (21-3)
- Arkansas (19-6)
- UConn (17-7)
- Alabama (16-9)
