UCLA Poll Watch: Men's Volleyball Tops the AVCA Coaches Poll

Steve Alford's Bruins may be unpredictable, but the voters' reaction to UCLA's loss to Southern Cal last week was completely predictable: the Bruins received no votes in both the Associated Press Poll and the USA Today Coaches Poll. Unless UCLA wins both games on its Oregon road trip this week, it's unlikely to receive votes in next week's polls either. Given the poor road record of Steve Alford's teams this year and last, it may be a long time before the Bruins are back in the top-25.

Southern Cal (21st in the AP Poll, 25th in the USA Today Coaches Poll) joins Arizona (12th and 11th) as the only Pac-12 teams ranked in the national polls.

Although UCLA Women's Basketball could only manage a split on last week's road trip to Washington, the Bruins dropped just three spots to 20th in the AP Poll, and two places to 25th in the USA Today Coaches Poll.. However, with a tough homestand this week against previously-ranked California and #12 Stanford, UCLA will have to earn at least a split to stay in the top-25.

Arizona State (8th, 11th), Oregon State (11th, 8th) and Stanford (12th, 14th) continue to represent the Pac-12 in the top-15 of the polls, and three other conference teams (Washington, California, and USC) are receiving votes.

Last but certainly not least, UCLA Men's Volleyball is the new number one team in the nation. Wins against #4 UC Irvine and UCSD last week coupled with a loss by previously top-ranked BYU propelled the Bruins to the top of the AVCA Coaches Poll. The undefeated Bruins collected 19 (of 20) first place votes, ahead of MPSF foes #2 Long Beach State, #3 BYU, and #4 UC Irvine.

With a pair of very winnable matches slated for this week, including a weekend showdown with the 15th-ranked Trojans, UCLA has an excellent chance of holding onto its #1 ranking for at least another week.

Men's Basketball

Last Week: UCLA lost to USC 89-75.

Associated Press Poll (January 18, 2016)

RANK	TEAM	RECORD	POINTS	PREVIOUS
1	Oklahoma (65)	15-1	1,625	2
2	North Carolina	16-2	1,515	5
3	Kansas	15-2	1,499	1
4	Villanova	16-2	1,403	6
5	Xavier	16-1	1,321	7
6	West Virginia	15-2	1,278	11
7	Maryland	16-2	1,259	3
8	SMU	17-0	1,179	10
9	Iowa	14-3	1,167	16
10	Texas A&M	15-2	994	15
11	Michigan State	16-3	950	4
12	Arizona	15-3	801	18
13	Virginia	13-4	649	22
13	Baylor	14-3	649	13
15	Miami (FL)	13-3	645	8
16	Providence	15-3	609	12
17	Louisville	14-3	608	21
18	Butler	13-4	439	23
19	Iowa State	13-4	411	17
20	Duke	14-4	375	9
21	USC	15-3	338	NR
22	Purdue	15-3	322	24
23	Kentucky	13-4	276	14
24	South Carolina	16-1	252	19
25	Indiana	15-3	210	NR

UCLA (11-7, 2-3) received 0 points.

USA Today Coaches Poll (January 18, 2016)

RANK	TEAM	RECORD	POINTS	PREVIOUS
1	Oklahoma (26)	15-1	763	2
2	North Carolina (4)	16-2	727	5
3	Kansas (1)	15-2	700	1
4	Villanova	16-2	674	7
5	Maryland	16-2	629	3
6	Xavier	16-1	616	8
7	West Virginia	15-2	585	10
8	Texas A&M	15-2	532	14
9	Iowa	14-3	494	19
10	Michigan State	16-3	461	4
11	Arizona	15-3	438	16
12	Duke	14-4	360	6
13	Virginia	13-4	340	11
14	Miami (FL)	13-3	319	9
15	Baylor	14-3	306	22
16	Louisville	14-3	288	20
17	Providence	15-3	269	12
18	South Carolina	16-1	231	15
19	Kentucky	13-4	206	13
20	Pittsburgh	15-2	179	17
21	Iowa State	13-4	173	18
22	Purdue	15-3	167	24
23	Indiana	15-3	162	25
24	Butler	13-4	156	13
25	USC	15-3	103	NR

UCLA (11-7, 2-3) received 0 points.

Women's Basketball

Last Week: UCLA lost to Washington 64-56, and defeated Washington State 75-73.

Associated Press Poll (January 18, 2016)

RANK	TEAM	RECORD	POINTS	PREVIOUS
1	Connecticut (32)	16-0	800	1
2	South Carolina	17-0	766	2
3	Notre Dame	16-1	738	3
4	Baylor	18-1	700	6
5	Maryland	16-2	655	8
6	Texas	16-1	653	4
7	Ohio State	13-4	568	5
8	Arizona State	15-3	558	10
9	Kentucky	14-2	548	9
10	Mississippi State	16-2	530	7
11	Oregon State	14-3	493	12
12	Stanford	14-4	411	11
13	Texas A&M	13-5	399	15
14	Florida State	14-4	397	16
15	South Florida	12-4	326	19
16	Miami (FL)	17-2	267	21
17	Louisville	14-5	254	23
18	Tennessee	11-5	235	13
19	Oklahoma	12-4	191	14
20	UCLA	12-5	160	17
21	Michigan State	13-4	151	18
22	Florida	15-3	104	20
23	Missouri	15-3	103	24
24	DePaul	14-6	82	NR
25	West Virginia	15-4	54	NR

USA Today Coaches Poll (January 18, 2016)

RANK	TEAM	RECORD	POINTS	PREVIOUS
1	Connecticut (32)	16-0	800	1
2	South Carolina	17-0	768	2
3	Notre Dame	17-1	735	3
4	Baylor	18-1	696	7
5	Maryland	16-2	656	8
6	Texas	16-1	653	4
7	Ohio State	13-4	565	5
8	Oregon State	14-3	558	10
9	Kentucky	14-2	523	9
10	Mississippi State	17-2	511	6
11	Arizona State	15-3	491	13
12	Texas A&M	13-5	440	11
13	Florida State	14-4	397	14
14	Stanford	14-4	379	12
15	South Florida	12-4	344	16
16	Miami (FL)	17-2	318	20
17	Louisville	14-5	246	22
18	Michigan State	13-4	186	18
19	Oklahoma	12-4	173	17
20	Northwestern	13-5	136	24
21	DePaul	14-6	130	25
22	Tennessee	11-6	127	15
23	Florida	15-3	98	21
24	Syracuse	14-4	87	NR
25	UCLA	12-5	72	23

Men's Volleyball

Last Week: UCLA defeated #4 UC Irvine 3-1, and defeated UC San Diego 3-0.

AVCA Coaches Preseason Poll (January 18, 2016)

RANK	TEAM	POINTS	RECORD	PREVIOUS
1	UCLA (19)	299	5-0	2
2	Long Beach State (1)	272	5-0	3
3	BYU	264	3-1	1
4	UC Irvine	222	2-2	4
5	Loyola-Chicago	213	3-2	6
6	Hawai'i	204	4-1	5
7	Ohio State	179	4-2	7
8	Stanford	162	3-1	11
9	UC Santa Barbara	131	5-2	8
10	Penn State	119	2-2	10
11	Pepperdine	113	2-1	12
12	CSUN	80	6-0	14
13	Lewis	64	3-3	9
14	Ball State	43	3-1	15
15	Southern California	13	0-4	13

This Week In UCLA Sports

Wednesday, January 20

• #14 UCLA Men's Tennis vs. San Francisco in Los Angeles, CA (2:00 PM PST)
• #1 UCLA Men's Volleyball vs. Cal Baptist in Riverside, CA (7:00 PM PST)
• UCLA Men's Basketball vs. Oregon State in Corvallis, OR (8:00 PM PST)

Friday, January 22

• UCLA Track & Field at the DeLoss Dodds Invitational in Manhattan, KS (8:00 AM PST)
• #9 UCLA Women's Tennis vs. UC Irvine in Los Angeles, CA (TBA)
• #20 UCLA Women's Basketball vs. California (6:00 PM PST)

Saturday, January 23

• UCLA Track & Field at the DeLoss Dodds Invitational in Manhattan, KS (7:00 AM PST)
• #9 UCLA Women's Tennis vs. TBD in Los Angeles, CA (TBA)
• #14 UCLA Men's Tennis vs. SMU in Los Angeles, CA (12:00 PM PST)
• #5 UCLA Women's Gymnastics vs. Arizona in Tucson, AZ (12:00 PM PST)
• UCLA Men's Basketball vs. Oregon in Eugene, OR (1:00 PM PST)
• #2 UCLA Women's Water Polo vs. #7 Hawai'i in Santa Barbara, CA (1:30 PM PST)
• #1 UCLA Men's Volleyball vs. #15 USC at Pauley Pavilion (3:00 PM PST)
• #2 UCLA Women's Water Polo vs. #14 Santa Barbara in Santa Barbara, CA (6:00 PM PST)