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Indiana back at No. 1

Thanks to a Saturday night win over previously top-ranked Michigan,
Indiana is back at No. 1 in both the newly released Associated Press
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and USA Today coaches polls. The Hoosiers return after holding the
top spot for the first six weeks of the season.
Indiana (20-2) was No. 3 in last week's Associated Press poll and
leapfrogs both Michigan and No. 2 Kansas, a Saturday loser at home to
Oklahoma State. The Hoosiers received 58 of the 65 first place votes
from the Associated Press voters and 25 of the 31 top spot votes from
the Coaches Poll. Florida (18-2) was No. 2 in both polls and the only
other program to receive first place votes.
Rounding out the top five in both polls are Michigan, Duke and Kansas.
This is the fifth straight week that a different team has occupied the
top spot.
Here is the complete top 10 for both polls with first place votes in
parentheses.
The Big Ten landed four teams in the Coaches Poll top 10 and five overall in the top
25 as Minnesota is ranked No. 18 in both polls.
For full polls: Yahoo
Sports
Indiana dropped from the top spot to No. 6  following a December
15th overtime loss to Butler. The Hoosiers fell to No. 6 that week and
the lowest the Hoosiers were ranked was No. 7 in the January 21st poll
following a loss at home to Wisconsin. The last time Indiana spent this
many consecutive weeks in the top 10 was the 1992-93 season.
Following the win over Michigan, senior Jordan Hulls spoke about
returning to No. 1.
"It's great for us to get back to that spot," said Hulls. "We're
excited about it. But we know what we have to do, which is what we've
been doing the whole year, go back to practice and keep getting better
every day."
Saturday's victory marked the second time in two seasons that the
Hoosiers have knocked off the top-ranked team in Assembly Hall. The
game this weekend also was the first ever battle in the building
between two teams ranked among the top three in the country.
Indiana coach Tom Crean addressed the expected return to the top spot
after the big win.
"They truly are learning that those things are nice, but the playing to
improve, playing to be good enough to win a game like this,  be
able to make adjustments, to be able to play through some mistakes and
deal with some adversity and grow up in the games, that's what is most
important," said Crean.
"I don't get the sense that these guys are locked into those rankings
at all because when we were number one in mid-December they know what
was said---I mean they can feel all that. Were we any worse because we
lost by two? We didn't play that great that day. It wasn't like the sky
was falling, and we had to come in here and make sure they understood
that."
This is the 51st time that Indiana has been ranked No. 1 in the
Associated Press poll since that it began in 1949. That's the seventh
most of all time.
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