UCLA Poll Watch: Men's Volleyball Spikes at #2

It's been a rough week for Bruins basketball. On Sunday night, a disjointed performance by UCLA Women's basketball led to its first Pac-12 loss of the season. Worse yet, the defeat came at the hands of the Trojans.

Three days later, Steve Alford's Bruins produced a lackluster defensive effort that resulted in an ugly 14 point loss to our crosstown rivals. Two losses to Southern Cal in the space of four days is an awfully painful way to start the week.

Thankfully our men's volleyball team looks set to compete for a national title this season. Although Coach Speraw has a young team, it made a statement on its season-opening east coast road trip with wins over #14 George Mason, #6 Ohio State, and #10 Penn State. The Bruins not only picked up three good wins and valuable experience against top teams, Coach Speraw also managed to give several of his bench players significant playing time. The fact that the Bruins were able to defeat the Buckeyes and the Nittany Lions without super sophomore JT Hatch on the court shows the depth of talent that Coach Speraw has developed in his squad.

A pair of home wins over the Arizona schools was not enough to lift our men's basketball team back into the top-25. Of course, that was before the Bruins lost to the Trojans, so it seems highly probable that UCLA will be even further adrift of the top-25 in next week's polls. Only one Pac-12 team (#17 Arizona) earned a spot in the AP Poll this week.

UCLA Women's Basketball started last week with an impressive 71-51 win over #11 Oregon State before dropping their Sunday game against Southern Cal. As a result, Coach Close's Bruins fell only two spots in each of this week's polls. Three Pac-12 teams (#10 Arizona State, #11 Oregon State, and #12 Stanford) are ahead of UCLA in this week's AP Poll, while #25 USC debuts in the poll after its win over the Bruins.

Both of UCLA's tennis teams are in the top-15 in the preseason ITA rankings. UCLA Women's Tennis debuts at #9 in the initial ITA rankings of 2016, while the men start at #14. Among Pac-12 schools, only Southern Cal at #8 is ranked higher than UCLA in men's tennis. On the women's side, three Pac-12 schools are ranked ahead of the Bruins: #2 USC, #6 California, and #8 Stanford.

Men's Basketball

Last Week: UCLA defeated #7 Arizona 87-84, and defeated Arizona State 81-74.

Associated Press Poll (January 11, 2016)

RANK	TEAM	RECORD	POINTS	PREVIOUS
1	Kansas (63)	14-1	1,621	1
2	Oklahoma (1)	13-1	1,551	2
3	Maryland	15-1	1,472	3
4	Michigan State (1)	16-1	1,446	5
5	North Carolina	15-2	1,371	6
6	Villanova	14-2	1,246	11
7	Xavier	14-1	1,200	10
8	Miami (Fla.)	13-1	1,139	12
9	Duke	14-2	1,100	14
10	SMU	15-0	1,040	15
11	West Virginia	14-1	867	17
12	Providence	14-2	862	8
13	Virginia	12-3	818	4
14	Kentucky	12-3	698	9
15	Texas A&M	13-2	668	21
16	Iowa	12-3	656	19
17	Iowa State	12-3	555	13
18	Arizona	13-3	537	7
19	South Carolina	15-0	527	22
20	Pittsburgh	14-1	334	24
21	Louisville	13-3	330	16
22	Baylor	12-3	325	NR
23	Butler	12-4	302	18
24	Purdue	14-3	145	20
25	Gonzaga	13-3	101	26

UCLA (11-6, 2-2) received 21 points.

USA Today Coaches Poll (January 11, 2016)

RANK	TEAM	RECORD	POINTS	PREVIOUS
1	Kansas (32)	14-1	800	2
2	Oklahoma	13-1	743	1
3	Maryland	15-1	742	3
4	Michigan State	16-1	694	5
5	North Carolina	15-2	673	7
6	Duke	14-2	596	10
7	Villanova	14-2	557	13
8	Xavier	14-1	555	12
9	Miami (FL)	13-1	551	11
10	West Virginia	14-1	477	15
11	Virginia	12-3	426	4
12	Providence	14-2	400	9
13	Kentucky	12-3	393	8
14	Texas A&M	13-2	383	17
15	South Carolina	15-0	361	20
16	Arizona	13-3	337	6
17	Pittsburgh	14-1	263	21
18	Iowa State	12-3	253	14
19	Iowa	12-3	226	23
20	Louisville	13-3	205	16
21	Gonzaga	13-3	173	22
22	Baylor	12-3	156	25
23	Butler	12-4	147	19
24	Purdue	14-3	122	18
25	Indiana	14-3	38	NR

UCLA (11-6, 2-2) received 12 points.

Women's Basketball

Last Week: UCLA defeated #11 Oregon State 71-51, and lost to Southern Cal 71-68.

Associated Press Poll (January 11, 2016)

RANK	TEAM	RECORD	POINTS	PREVIOUS
1	UConn (32)	14-0	800	1
2	South Carolina	15-0	765	2
3	Notre Dame	15-1	735	3
4	Texas	15-0	706	4
5	Ohio State	12-3	640	5
6	Baylor	16-1	632	6
7	Mississippi State	16-1	621	7
8	Maryland	14-2	592	8
9	Kentucky	13-1	543	10
10	Arizona State	13-3	502	14
11	Stanford	13-3	447	9
12	Oregon State	12-3	406	11
13	Tennessee	11-4	371	12
14	Oklahoma	12-3	358	17
15	Texas A&M	12-4	301	13
16	Florida State	11-4	293	19
17	UCLA	11-4	287	15
18	Michigan State	12-3	265	23
19	South Florida	10-4	234	22
20	Florida	14-2	134	NR
21	Miami (Fla.)	15-2	121	NR
22	Duke	12-5	116	18
23	Louisville	12-5	111	NR
24	Missouri	14-2	99	20
25	Southern Cal	14-2	69	NR

USA Today Coaches Poll (January 11, 2016)

RANK	TEAM	RECORD	POINTS	PREVIOUS
1	Connecticut (32)	14-0	800	1
2	South Carolina	15-0	768	2
3	Notre Dame	15-1	732	3
4	Texas	15-0	708	4
5	Ohio State	12-3	655	5
6	Mississippi State	16-1	625	6
7	Baylor	16-1	618	7
8	Maryland	14-2	587	8
9	Kentucky	13-1	528	9
10	Oregon State	12-3	481	12
11	Texas A&M	12-4	454	10
12	Stanford	13-3	436	13
13	Arizona State	13-3	419	14
14	Florida State	12-4	370	15
15	Tennessee	11-4	322	11
16	South Florida	10-4	278	18
17	Oklahoma	12-3	263	19
18	Michigan State	12-3	259	22
19	Duke	12-5	175	16
20	Miami (FL)	15-2	150	NR
21	Florida	14-2	112	NR
22	Louisville	12-5	96	NR
23	UCLA	11-4	93	21
24	Northwestern	12-4	81	17
25	Duquesne	15-1	65	24
25	DePaul	12-6	65	NR

Men's Volleyball

Last Week: UCLA defeated #14 George Mason 3-0, defeated #6 Ohio State 3-1, and defeated #10 Penn State 3-2.

AVCA Coaches Preseason Poll (January 11, 2016)

RANK	TEAM	POINTS	RECORD	PREVIOUS
1	BYU (20)	300	2-0	1
2	UCLA	262	3-0	5
3	Long Beach State	256	3-0	4
4	UC Irvine	226	1-1	2
5	Hawai'i	203	3-0	7
6	Loyola-Chicago	193	1-2	3
7	Ohio State	175	2-2	6
8	UC Santa Barbara	158	4-1	9
9	Lewis	148	3-1	8
10	Penn State	144	1-1	10
11	Stanford	104	2-0	13
12	Pepperdine	101	1-0	11
13	Southern California	34	0-2	12
14	CSUN	32	4-0	NR
15	Ball State	19	1-1	T-14

Men's Tennis

Last Week: UCLA was not in action.

ITA Preseason Ranking (January 6, 2016)

RANK	TEAM	2014-15 FINAL RANK
1	Virginia	1
2	Oklahoma	2
3	TCU	4
4	Baylor	3
5	Texas A&M	5
6	Illinois	6
7	Georgia	8
8	USC	7
9	North Carolina	11
10	Ohio State	12
11	Wake Forest	13
12	Texas	9
13	Duke	10
14	UCLA	15
15	South Florida	16
16	Virginia Tech	18
17	Texas Tech	19
18	Columbia	14
19	Mississippi	17
20	Stanford	20
21	California	26
22	San Diego	22
23	Minnesota	21
24	Florida	25
25	Vanderbilt	24

Women's Tennis

Last Week: UCLA was not in action.

ITA Preseason Ranking (January 5, 2016)

RANK	TEAM	2014-15 FINAL RANK
1	Vanderbilt	1
2	USC	2
3	Florida	6
4	North Carolina	4
4	Georgia	5
6	California	7
7	Virginia	9
8	Stanford	11
9	UCLA	3
10	Texas A&M	10
11	Baylor	8
12	Oklahoma State	12
13	Miami	15
14	Michigan	13
15	Alabama	14
16	Duke	19
17	Texas Tech	16
18	Ohio State	21
19	Pepperdine	22
20	Clemson	18
21	LSU	23
22	TCU	17
23	Georgia Tech	20
24	Kentucky	25
25	Mississippi	24

This Week In UCLA Sports

Wednesday, January 13

• #5 UCLA Men's Volleyball vs. #14 George Mason in Fairfax, VA (4:00 PM PST)

Thursday, January 14

• #5 UCLA Men's Volleyball vs. #6 Ohio State in University Park, PA (2:00 PM PST)
• UCLA Men's Basketball vs. #7 Arizona at Pauley Pavilion (6:00 PM PST)

Friday, January 15

• #5 UCLA Men's Volleyball vs. #10 Penn State in University Park, PA (4:30 PM PST)

Saturday, January 16

• UCLA Men's Basketball vs. Arizona State at Pauley Pavilion (2:00 PM PST)