UCLA Poll Watch: The Bruins Go Down Swinging

Last week was pretty brutal for UCLA Athletics in the polls. Only one team managed to move up in the national rankings. UCLA Women's Gymnastics inched up one spot in the rankings after a not particularly impressive performance against Washington.

Two other teams managed to hold on to their spots in the rankings after workmanlike performances against inferior competition. UCLA Women's Water Polo is still the second ranked team in the country after comfortably beating ninth-ranked UC Irvine, and UCLA Men's Tennis stayed put at #4 in the ITA rankings after blanking the Anteaters.

For the rest, it was all downhill. UCLA Men's Basketball is well adrift of the top-25 in what everyone agrees is a subpar season, but losing to Utah at home seriously dented their hopes of an NCAA Tournament invitation this season.

The situation for UCLA Women's Basketball is completely different. The Bruins are in contention for a top-16 seed in the NCAA Tournament which would give them the luxury of playing the first two rounds in Pauley Pavilion. However, UCLA's chances of securing one of those seeds were diminished when they lost to #7 Oregon State in Corvallis. The loss hurt the Bruins in the polls too; UCLA slipped down two places to #14 in the AP Poll and one place to #15 in the USA Today Coaches Poll.

Meanwhile, UCLA Men's Volleyball has only managed a split in each of the past three weeks, and in each instance, it has resulted in the Bruins taking a single step down in the AVCA Coaches Poll for three consecutive weeks. Sunday's loss to Stanford means that UCLA is now #4, and there's a lot of work that will need to be done to regain the top spot.

The Bruins didn't fare any better on the diamond than they did on the hardwood. UCLA Baseball stumbled out of the gate, opening the season with a win and two losses to #21 North Carolina. It wasn't the pair of losses that was troubling, though. It was the nature and magnitude of the defeats. The Bruins certainly didn't look like a top-10 team to me, and the poll voters agree. UCLA dropped six places in this week's Baseball America poll to land at #15.

UCLA Softball did a bit better, finishing the first weekend of the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic with a 3-2 mark. However, the Bruins were blitzed by #4 LSU, and managed to lose to Notre Dame as well. Poll voters responded by dropping the Bruins three spots (to #11) in the NFCA Coaches Poll and in the USA Softball Poll (to #10).

Finally, UCLA Women's Tennis continued its nosedive in the ITA rankings. The Bruins are now ranked 29th after losses to #15 Pepperdine and #1 California. Although I thought the Bruins were too highly ranked in preseason polls considering the number of quality players lost to graduation, I didn't imagine that they would fall quite this far this fast. Let's hope that they can pull things together for the conference season.

Men's Basketball

Last Week: UCLA lost to Utah 75-73, and defeated Colorado 77-53.

Associated Press Poll (February 22, 2016)

RANK	TEAM	RECORD	POINTS	PREVIOUS
1	Villanova (45)	24-3	1,604	1
2	Kansas (20)	23-4	1,580	2
3	Virginia	21-5	1,393	7
3	Oklahoma	21-5	1,393	3
5	Xavier	24-3	1,368	8
6	Michigan State	22-5	1,346	8
7	North Carolina	22-5	1,241	5
8	Iowa	20-6	1,144	4
9	Arizona	22-5	1,028	12
10	Maryland	23-5	976	6
11	Louisville	21-6	902	18
12	Miami (Fla.)	21-5	851	11
13	Oregon	21-6	842	16
14	West Virginia	20-7	772	10
15	Duke	20-7	674	20
16	Kentucky	20-7	627	14
17	Iowa State	19-8	616	13
18	Indiana	22-6	571	22
19	Baylor	20-7	521	25
20	Purdue	21-7	357	17
21	Texas A&M	20-7	283	NR
22	Utah	21-7	253	NR
23	Notre Dame	18-8	185	19
24	SMU	22-4	154	21
25	Texas	17-10	104	24

UCLA (15-12, 6-8) received 0 points.

USA Today Coaches Poll (February 22, 2016)

RANK	TEAM	RECORD	POINTS	PREVIOUS
1	Villanova (25)	24-3	792	1
2	Kansas (7)	23-4	751	2
3	Virginia	21-5	679	8
4	Oklahoma	21-5	668	3
5	Xavier	24-3	652	7
6	North Carolina	22-5	639	4
7	Michigan State	22-5	626	9
8	Iowa	20-6	561	6
9	Maryland	23-5	527	5
10	Arizona	22-5	512	12
11	Miami (FL)	21-5	466	10
12	West Virginia	20-7	366	11
13	Oregon	21-6	365	17
14	Kentucky	20-7	333	14
15	Indiana	22-6	317	21
16	Baylor	20-7	305	22
17	Iowa State	19-8	304	15
18	Duke	20-7	303	19
19	Purdue	21-7	245	16
20	Notre Dame	18-8	176	18
21	Texas A&M	20-7	172	24
22	Dayton	21-5	121	13
23	Utah	21-7	120	NR
24	Providence	19-8	102	20
25	Texas	17-10	66	25

UCLA (15-12, 6-8) received 0 points.

Women's Basketball

Last Week: #12 UCLA defeated Oregon 77-72, and lost to #7 Oregon State 64-54.

Associated Press Poll (February 22, 2016)

RANK	TEAM	RECORD	POINTS	PREVIOUS
1	UConn (32)	26-0	800	1
2	Notre Dame	25-1	756	2
3	South Carolina	25-1	746	3
4	Baylor	27-1	704	4
5	Ohio State	23-4	656	5
6	Maryland	25-3	623	6
7	Oregon State	24-3	608	7
8	Texas	24-2	581	8
9	Arizona State	24-4	563	9
10	Louisville	22-6	508	11
11	Texas A&M	20-7	463	12
12	Florida State	21-5	421	10
13	Stanford	22-6	409	15
14	UCLA	20-7	387	12
15	Kentucky	19-6	338	16
16	Mississippi State	22-6	319	14
17	Miami	22-5	258	18
18	Syracuse	22-6	241	23
19	DePaul	23-7	221	21
20	Michigan State	20-7	134	25
21	South Florida	19-7	131	19
22	Oklahoma State	19-7	94	17
23	Oklahoma	18-8	91	20
24	Missouri	21-6	76	NR
25	Colorado State	24-1	58	NR

USA Today Coaches Poll (February 22, 2016)

RANK	TEAM	RECORD	POINTS	PREVIOUS
1	Connecticut (32)	26-0	800	1
2	South Carolina	26-1	756	2
3	Notre Dame	26-1	748	3
4	Baylor	28-1	704	4
5	Ohio State	23-4	664	5
6	Maryland	25-3	625	6
7	Oregon State	24-3	594	8
8	Texas	24-2	588	7
9	Arizona State	24-4	541	10
10	Louisville	22-6	503	11
11	Texas A&M	20-7	461	12
12	Florida State	21-6	433	9
13	Stanford	22-6	390	15
14	Kentucky	19-6	374	16
15	UCLA	20-7	335	14
16	Mississippi State	22-6	319	13
17	Miami (FL)	22-5	291	17
18	Syracuse	22-6	275	18
19	DePaul	23-7	229	19
20	South Florida	19-7	184	20
21	Michigan State	20-7	159	22
22	BYU	23-4	84	NR
23	Oklahoma	18-9	71	21
24	Missouri	21-6	55	NR
25	Colorado State	24-1	36	NR

Men's Volleyball

Last Week: #3 UCLA defeated #9 Pepperdine 3-0, and lost #4 Stanford 3-1.

AVCA Coaches Poll (February 22, 2016)

RANK	TEAM	POINTS	RECORD	PREVIOUS
1	Long Beach State (20)	300	13-2	1
2	BYU	270	12-2	2
3	Stanford	265	12-2	4
4	UCLA	245	13-3	3
5	Ohio State	198	12-3	6
6	Penn State	190	10-2	7
7	Hawai'i	183	10-5	5
8	UC Santa Barbara	141	11-6	10
9	Ball State	137	11-3	12
10	Pepperdine	128	6-5	9
11	Loyola-Chicago	123	9-4	8
12	CSUN	82	10-5	13
13	UC Irvine	55	4-10	11
14	Lewis	47	10-6	14
15	California Baptist	22	8-9	15

Baseball

Last Week: #7 UCLA lost to #21 North Carolina 4-0, defeated North Carolina 6-5, and lost to North Carolina 14-5.

NCBWA Poll (February 22, 2016)

RANK	TEAM	RECORD	LAST WEEK	PREVIOUS
1	Florida	3-0	3-0	1
2	Louisville	3-0	3-0	2
3	Vanderbilt	3-0	3-0	3
4	Texas A&M	3-0	3-0	4
5	Miami (Fla.)	3-0	3-0	6
6	LSU	3-0	3-0	7
7	Oregon State	2-1	2-1	5
8	Virginia	2-1	2-1	8
9	Louisiana-Lafayette	3-0	3-0	13
10	Florida State	3-0	3-0	14
11	Oregon	3-0	3-0	17
12	Houston	3-0	3-0	15
13	TCU	2-1	2-1	12
14	North Carolina	2-1	2-1	21
15	UCLA	1-2	1-2	9
16	Oklahoma State	2-2	2-2	11
17	California	1-2	1-2	10
18	Arkansas	3-0	3-0	22
19	NC State	2-1	2-1	20
20	South Carolina	3-0	3-0	24
21	Michigan	4-0	4-0	NR
22	Coastal Carolina	2-1	2-1	23
23	Cal State Fullerton	1-2	1-2	16
24	Mississippi State	2-2	2-2	19
25	Missouri State	3-0	3-0	NR

D1 Baseball Poll (February 22, 2016)

RANK	TEAM	RECORD	PREVIOUS
1	Florida	3-0	1
2	Louisville	3-0	2
3	Vanderbilt	3-0	3
4	Texas A&M	3-0	4
5	Oregon State	2-1	5
6	Miami	3-0	6
7	LSU	3-0	7
8	NC State	2-1	10
9	Oregon	3-0	14
10	North Carolina	2-1	16
11	Virginia	2-1	13
12	Oklahoma State	2-2	8
13	California	1-2	9
14	UCLA	1-2	11
15	South Carolina	3-0	17
16	Louisiana-Lafayette	3-0	18
17	TCU	2-1	19
18	Florida State	3-0	20
19	Coastal Carolina	2-1	24
20	Mississippi State	2-2	15
21	Southern California	1-2	12
22	Houston	3-0	22
23	Texas	2-1	23
24	Arkansas	3-0	25
25	Cal State Fullerton	1-2	21

Softball

Last Week: #8 UCLA defeated #15 UCF 2-0, lost to Notre Dame 8-6, defeated Cal Poly 9-1, lost to #4 LSU 10-5, and defeated Pacific 9-1.

USA Today/NFCA Coaches Poll (February 23, 2016)

RANK	TEAM	POINTS	RECORD	PREVIOUS
1	Florida (32)	800	11-0	1
2	Michigan	767	8-1	2
3	Auburn	714	10-1	3
4	Alabama	679	10-1	5
5	LSU	664	8-2	4
6	Louisiana-Lafayette	647	8-1	7
7	Oregon	583	8-3	6
8	Georgia	539	9-0	10
9	Washington	528	9-1	11
10	James Madison	483	9-1	19
11	UCLA	459	7-3	8
12	Oklahoma	396	7-2	14
13	Florida State	375	6-3	13
14	Tennessee	365	8-3	12
15	Arizona	354	8-3	9
16	Texas A&M	348	11-1	25
17	Missouri	333	6-0	16
18	Kentucky	277	9-2	18
19	Arizona State	268	11-1	17
20	Fresno State	175	10-0	24
21	Minnesota	134	5-4	20
22	UCF	119	4-7	15
23	Notre Dame	81	7-3	RV
24	Texas	78	10-0	RV
25	California	71	6-3	22

ESPN/USA Softball Poll (February 23, 2016)

RANK	TEAM	RECORD	POINTS	PREVIOUS
1	Florida (18)	11-0	496	1
2	Michigan	8-1	476	2
3	Auburn	10-1	450	3
4	Alabama	10-1	421	6
5	LSU	8-2	420	4
6	Louisiana-Lafayette	8-1	405	8
7	Oregon	8-3	366	5
8	Washington (1)	9-1	363	9
9	Georgia	9-0	310	12
10	UCLA	7-3	293	7
11	Oklahoma	7-2	282	T10
T12.	Missouri	6-0	265	13
T12.	James Madison	9-1	265	20
14	Texas A&M (1)	11-1	247	23
15	Florida State	7-3	194	15
16	Arizona	8-3	186	T10
T17.	Arizona State	11-1	182	17
T17.	Kentucky	9-2	182	19
19	Tennessee	8-3	179	14
20	Fresno State	10-0	148	22
21	Texas	10-0	108	24
22	Minnesota	5-4	72	18
23	Mississippi State	9-0	34	RV
24	Baylor	5-3	31	21
25	California	6-3	30	25

Women's Water Polo

Last Week: #2 UCLA defeated #9 UC Irvine 11-6.

CWPA Poll (February 24, 2016)

RANK	TEAM	POINTS	PREVIOUS
1	Southern Cal	100	1
2	UCLA	96	2
3	California	92	3
4	Stanford	88	4
5	UC Davis	80	5
6	Hawai'i	78	T6
T7	Michigan	75	T6
T7	Arizona State	75	8
9	UC Irvine	67	9
10	Hartwick	63	T10
11	San Jose State	59	T10
12	Pacific	58	12
13	UC San Diego	50	13
14	Loyola Marymount	45	T14
15	Princeton	43	T14
16	Harvard	42	16
17	UC Santa Barbara	38	17
18	Indiana	34	18
19	San Diego State	28	19
20	Wagner	26	20

Men's Tennis

Last Week: #4 UCLA defeated UC Irvine 7-0.

ITA Division I Men's Team Rankings (February 24, 2016)

RANK	POINTS	TEAM	PREVIOUS
1	94.05	North Carolina	1
2	84.88	University of Virginia	2
3	73.9	Ohio State University	6
4	71.43	UCLA	4
5	67.84	Wake Forest University	5
6	65.37	Texas Tech University	10
7	65.2	Texas A&M University	7
8	62	TCU	3
9	60.59	Oklahoma State University	15
10	52.3	University of Oklahoma	8
11	51.28	University of Illinois	12
12	50.39	California	18
13	50.24	University of Southern California	9
14	50.21	University of South Florida	14
15	48.81	Northwestern University	T20
16	45.23	University of Georgia	11
17	42.67	University of Memphis	NR
18	33.56	University of Kentucky	NR
19	31.23	University of Mississippi	19
20	31.16	University of Oregon	NR
21	30.8	Penn State University	NR
22	30.55	University of Tulsa	NR
23	28.75	Columbia University	16
24	27.58	University of San Diego	17
25	26.69	North Carolina State	NR

Women's Tennis

Last Week: #21 UCLA lost to #15 Pepperdine 6-1, and lost to #1 California 5-2.

ITA Division I Women's Team Rankings (February 24, 2016)

RANK	POINTS	TEAM	PREVIOUS
1	88.63	California	1
2	81.27	Ohio State University	5
3	71.43	University of Michigan	8
4	70.62	Vanderbilt University	6
5	69.22	University of Georgia	4
6	67.21	North Carolina	2
7	59.65	University of Florida	3
8	58.78	Texas Tech University	10
9	57.05	Duke University	7
10	50.61	Pepperdine	T15
11	47.23	Oklahoma State University	14
12	42.28	LSU	19
13	41.52	University of Miami (Florida)	12
14	40.85	University of Tulsa	NR
15	33.86	University of Kentucky	20
16	33.7	Stanford	13
17	33.32	University of South Carolina	NR
18	33	University of Virginia	9
19	30.74	University of Washington	NR
20	29.91	Texas A&M University	T15
21	28.72	Wichita State University	NR
22	28.6	University of Mississippi	18
23	26	University of Kansas	NR
24	25.92	Arizona State University	NR
25	25.33	Mississippi State University	25

UCLA Women's Tennis is ranked 29th with 20.4 points.

Women's Gymnastics

Last Week: #7 UCLA defeated Washington 196.675-196.450.

GymInfo Team Rankings (February 22, 2016)

RANK	TEAM	TEAM ROS	AVERAGE	HIGH
1	Oklahoma	197.595	197.422	197.925
2	Florida	197.355	197.329	198.175
3	Alabama	197.195	196.997	197.525
4	Michigan	196.92	196.838	197.425
5	Utah	196.85	196.789	197.15
6	UCLA	196.81	196.671	197.475
7	LSU	196.75	196.879	197.825
8	Auburn	196.495	196.453	197.275
9	Arkansas	196.315	196.166	196.7
10	Georgia	196.31	196.253	197.525
11	Boise State	196.185	196.225	196.425
12	Stanford	196.045	195.957	196.675
13	Denver	196.005	196.011	196.675
14	Nebraska	195.955	195.8	196.775
14	California	195.955	195.843	196.9
16	Missouri	195.9	195.772	196.65
17	Oregon State	195.84	195.882	196.85
18	Iowa	195.71	195.147	196.65
19	Minnesota	195.695	195.639	196.3
20	George Washington	195.52	195.629	196.175
21	Eastern Michigan	195.485	195.459	196.6
22	Kentucky	195.48	195.413	196.05
23	West Virginia	195.42	195.221	195.8
24	Illinois-Champaign	195.315	195.411	196.3
25	Arizona	195.235	195.442	196.475

Go BRUINS!