Penn State Ends Long Poll Drought as Massachusetts Remains No. 1 Team

Massachusetts was on top of the college basketball poll Monday, its third consecutive week at No. 1, but the rumbling at the bottom of the poll was Penn State at No. 20, its first national ranking in 31 years.

The Nittany Lions (11-0), one of four unbeaten teams along with Massachusetts, Cincinnati and Clemson, was last ranked in February, 1965, when Bob Weiss was the team’s star player. The Nittany Lions went 20-3 that season and lost in the first round of the NCAA tournament to Princeton and Bill Bradley. The only NCAA bid the school has had since then was in 1991--when it beat UCLA.

Kentucky, Kansas, Cincinnati, Georgetown, Connecticut, Villanova, Wake Forest, Memphis and North Carolina made up the rest of the top 10. UCLA is No. 17.