Dayton Cracks Top 25

MCLEAN, Virginia (Ticker) -- Dayton's stunning upset of then-No. 6 Pittsburgh catapulted the Flyers into the top 25 for the first time this season. Riding a 10-game winning streak, Dayton (11-1) climbed to 23rd in the latest USA Today/ESPN coaches' poll released Monday.

The Flyers handed Pittsburgh (11-1) its first loss of the season with a surprisingly easy 80-55 victory on Saturday. Brian Roberts scored 31 points for Dayton, which held Pittsburgh to 30 percent shooting. The Panthers dropped seven spots to 13th, the biggest fall of any team this week. Dayton is one of two Atlantic-10 Conference teams ranked in the top 25 as Rhode Island (13-1) jumped three spots to No. 22. Wisconsin pulled off the week's other major upset surprising then-No.9 Texas, 67-66, on Saturday. The Badgers (10-2) moved into the poll at No. 24, tied with St. Mary's (12-1), which also was ranked 24th for one week earlier in the season. Texas (11-2) slipped five spots to No. 14.

The top five remained unchanged, with North Carolina (13-0) receiving 23 of 31 first-place votes and 764 points to hold the top spot for the fourth straight week. The Tar Heels have a slim lead over No. 2 Memphis (11-0), which garnered seven first-place votes and 749 points. Kansas (13-0), which collected the final first-place vote, is third, with Washington State (12-0) and UCLA (12-1) completing the top five. Michigan State (12-1), Georgetown (9-1), Duke (10-1), Tennessee (12-1) and Texas A&M (12-1) round out the top 10.

Marquette (10-1) starts the second time, followed by Indiana (11-1), Pittsburgh, Texas, Vanderbilt (12-0). Villanova (10-1), Butler (12-1), Mississippi (12-0), Clemson (11-1) and Stanford (11-1). Completing the poll are Arizona (9-3), Rhode Island, Dayton, St. Mary's and Wisconsin. No. 19 Miami (12-1), No. 21 Brigham Young (10-3) and No. 23 West Virginia (10-2) all dropped out. Miami suffered its first loss of the season to Winthrop, 76-70, while West Virginia dropped a 88-82 double-overtime heartbreaker to Oklahoma.