UCLA Poll Watch: Men's Basketball Sinks, Women's Basketball Soars

I guess it won't come as a surprise to anyone that UCLA Men's Basketball didn't receive a single vote in either the AP Poll or the USA Today Coaches Poll this week after the Bruins lost both games on their Washington road trip. Even though I've been pretty skeptical about Steve Alford's Bruins this season, I fully expected the Bruins to record their first road sweep of the Alford era in Washington.

As far as I'm concerned, those two losses simply a reflection of the Bruins inconsistency, not their ceiling. Unfortunately, poll voters don't like inconsistency; they care about results, not potential. With that in mind, it may be a long time before we see Steve Alford's team receiving votes again.

On the other hand, UCLA Women's Basketball demonstrated last week that it belongs in the top-25 by toppling two previously undefeated teams: Southern Cal and Oregon. As a result, the Bruins jumped 6 spots in the AP Poll and made a first appearance (at #21) in the USA Today Coaches Poll.

The Bruins are very likely to climb even further in next week's polls after slapping the 11th-ranked Beavers yesterday. Of course, UCLA still needs to take care of business on Sunday in a rematch with the Trojans. USC has a good team this season, so the Bruins will have to produce another good performance to keep their Pac-12 record perfect.

Men's Basketball

Last Week: UCLA lost to Washington 96-93 (2 OT), and lost to Washington State 85-78.

Associated Press Poll (January 4, 2016)

RANK	TEAM	RECORD	POINTS	PREVIOUS
1	Kansas (44)	12-1	1,598	2
2	Oklahoma (21)	12-0	1,574	3
3	Maryland	13-1	1,459	4
4	Virginia	12-1	1,409	5
5	Michigan State	14-1	1,400	1
6	North Carolina	14-2	1,275	7
7	Arizona	13-1	1,126	8
8	Providence	14-1	1,108	12
9	Kentucky	11-2	1,039	10
10	Xavier	13-1	1,001	6
11	Villanova	12-2	979	16
12	Miami (Fla.)	12-1	921	13
13	Iowa State	11-2	844	11
14	Duke	12-2	830	15
15	SMU	13-0	731	17
16	Louisville	12-2	568	18
17	West Virginia	12-1	558	19
18	Butler	11-3	516	9
19	Iowa	11-3	456	NR
20	Purdue	13-2	450	20
21	Texas A&M	11-2	420	20
22	South Carolina	13-0	286	24
23	Connecticut	10-3	107	NR
24	Pittsburgh	12-1	103	NR
25	Dayton	11-2	100	NR

UCLA (9-6, 0-2) received 0 votes.

USA Today Coaches Poll (January 4, 2016)

RANK	TEAM	RECORD	POINTS	PREVIOUS
1	Oklahoma (20)	12-0	781	2
2	Kansas (11)	12-1	769	3
3	Maryland	13-1	732	4
4	Virginia	12-1	698	5
5	Michigan State (1)	14-1	676	1
6	Arizona	13-1	618	7
7	North Carolina	13-2	592	8
8	Kentucky	11-2	526	11
9	Providence	14-1	509	13
10	Duke	12-2	487	12
11	Miami (FL)	12-1	444	15
12	Xavier	13-1	442	6
13	Villanova	12-2	434	16
14	Iowa State	11-2	402	9
15	West Virginia	12-1	350	17
16	Louisville	12-2	282	18
17	Texas A&M	11-2	265	19
18	Purdue	13-2	248	14
19	Butler	11-3	238	10
20	South Carolina	13-0	232	20
21	Pittsburgh	12-1	121	25
22	Gonzaga	12-3	112	24
23	Iowa	11-3	110	NR
24	Connecticut	10-3	81	NR
25	Baylor	10-3	61	21

UCLA (9-6, 0-2) received 0 votes.

Women's Basketball

Last Week: UCLA defeated UC Riverside 70-56, defeated USC 78-73, and defeated Oregon 80-69.

Associated Press Poll (January 4, 2016)

RANK	TEAM	RECORD	POINTS	PREVIOUS
1	Connecticut (32)	11-0	800	1
2	South Carolina	13-0	765	2
3	Notre Dame	13-1	735	3
4	Texas	13-0	705	5
5	Ohio State	10-3	630	9
6	Baylor	14-1	627	4
7	Mississippi State	14-1	616	8
8	Maryland	12-2	580	6
9	Stanford	11-2	521	11
10	Kentucky	11-1	502	7
11	Oregon State	10-2	495	10
12	Tennessee	9-3	460	13
13	Texas A&M	11-3	416	16
14	Arizona State	10-3	356	17
15	UCLA	10-3	243	21
16	Northwestern	12-2	235	14
17	Oklahoma	10-3	229	18
18	Duke	11-4	215	12
19	Florida State	10-4	202	15
20	Missouri	13-0	198	23
21	California	9-3	183	19
22	South Florida	8-3	168	20
23	Michigan State	10-3	109	24
24	DePaul	10-5	94	25
25	Seton Hall	13-1	78	NR

USA Today Coaches Poll (January 4, 2016)

RANK	TEAM	RECORD	POINTS	PREVIOUS
1	Connecticut (32)	11-0	800	1
2	South Carolina	13-0	768	2
3	Notre Dame	13-1	732	3
4	Texas	13-0	703	6
5	Ohio State	10-3	625	9
6	Mississippi State	14-1	621	8
7	Baylor	14-1	620	4
8	Maryland	12-2	602	5
9	Kentucky	11-1	516	7
10	Texas A&M	11-3	500	13
11	Tennessee	10-3	426	16
12	Oregon State	10-3	417	10
13	Stanford	11-3	363	11
14	Arizona State	11-3	359	21
15	Florida State	10-4	288	13
16	Duke	11-4	281	12
17	Northwestern	12-2	235	15
18	South Florida	8-3	233	17
19	Oklahoma	10-3	205	19
20	Seton Hall	13-1	201	23
21	UCLA	11-3	181	NR
22	Michigan State	10-3	127	22
23	Iowa	12-2	116	25
24	DePaul	10-5	110	24
25	Syracuse	11-3	92	NR

This Week In UCLA Sports

Tuesday, January 5

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

Thursday, January 7

• #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 8

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

Saturday, January 9

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