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Duke
leads Top 25 for 12th week as top ranked team
The
Blue Devils were the top-ranked team in The AP college basketball
poll Monday, their 12th week this season leading the Top 25 and
the 88th time in school history they have been No. 1.
Only
UCLA, with 128 weeks, has spent more time on top of the rankings,
which began in January 1949.
Duke
(20-1), which beat rival North Carolina and Clemson last week, received
all 71 first-place votes from the national media panel — its
third straight week and eighth overall this season as a unanimous
pick — to break a tie with Kentucky for the second-most weeks
at No. 1.
Kansas
(19-2), which beat Missouri and Colorado last week, and Maryland
(18-3), which defeated Virginia and North Carolina State, were second
and third for the third straight week.
Otherwise,
there was quite a shake-up in the Top 25 — 21 teams shifted
places after 15 ranked teams lost a total of 20 games during the
past week. It was the fifth straight week at least 14 ranked teams
lost.
New
No. 4 Oklahoma and No. 5 Alabama each moved up two spots, while
Cincinnati, which had its 20-game winning streak snapped Saturday
by Marquette, dropped from fourth to No. 6.
Kentucky,
Florida, Gonzaga and Virginia rounded out the Top Ten.
Olympic
torch enters Utah through Moab
ARCHES
NATIONAL PARK, Utah — A wait of more than three decades ended
at sunrise Monday when the Olympic flame, destined for Salt Lake
City, began its homestretch run toward the start of the 2002 Winter
Games.
Runner
Frank B. Arrowchis, a member of the Northern Ute Tribe, took the
flame through the Delicate Arch, a natural sandstone arch that is
one of Utah’s most enduring natural symbols. He and his granddaughter,
Stephanie Laree Spann, blessed the torch with an eagle
wing.
A
team of runners was to take the torch to Moab, about five miles
away. It also will visit Monument Valley, Bryce Canyon National
Park and Zion National Park and will arrive in Salt Lake City on
Thursday.
The
17-day games begin Friday, when the torch will be used to light
the cauldron at the opening ceremony. The identity of the final
torch carrier has been kept a secret.
Super
Bowl telecast registers the same numbers as 2001
NEW
YORK (AP) — Apparently, a tight game, thrilling finish and
major upset don’t guarantee a Super Bowl ratings bonanza. Not
that Fox is complaining.
The
network’s telecast of the New England Patriots’ 20-17
victory over the St. Louis Rams on Sunday night registered exactly
the same numbers as last year’s game: a 40.4 national rating
and 61 share.
That
means an average of 40.4 percent of the country’s TV homes
were watching at any given moment, and 61 percent of in-use televisions
were tuned to the game.
An
estimated 131.7 million people (about 500,000 more than last year)
watched at least part of Sunday night’s game, the fifth-highest
total for a program — sports or otherwise — in television
history. The top 10 shows on that list are all Super Bowls.
Viewership
was high throughout Fox’s broadcast Sunday, including a 38.3
rating for a halftime show featuring Irish rock band U2. That’s
nearly seven times the 5.6 rating NBC got for its attempt at halftime
counter-programming, a special edition of “Fear Factor”
featuring scantily clad Playboy playmates doing stunts such as walking
a tightrope between
two buildings.
The
audience — which advertisers paid Fox an average of just under
$2 million per 30-second commercial to reach — increased every
30 minutes from kickoff until a slight dip at the start of halftime.
The numbers then increased again straight through to the final play,
Adam Vinatieri’s 48-yard field goal. The rating peaked with
43.6 percent of the country watching from 9:30 to 10 p.m. EST.
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