Utah State, BYU both back inside AP top 20; Aggie women make coaching change

SALT LAKE CITY — The regular season has come and gone, and BYU and Utah State both moved back inside the top 20 of the Associated Press Top 25 as both prepare to open their respective conference tournaments this week.

The Aggies (26-5) climbed four spots to No. 18 in the latest AP Top 25 that was released Monday, receiving 486 points after clinching the program's first outright Mountain West title Saturday night with a thrilling 87-75 win over New Mexico.

Along with a No. 18 ranking in the USA Today Sports Coaches Poll, Utah State's eighth week being ranked in both polls marks just the second time in program history the Aggies have been ranked for as long in a single season. The 1959-60 team holds the school record with 11 ranked weeks.

The Cougars (22-9) remained at No. 20 nationally after wrapping up their first regular season in the Big 12 with an 85-71 win over Oklahoma State in front of a capacity crowd of 17,978 fans at the Marriott Center.

Picked to finish 13th in the preseason by league coaches, Jaxson Robinson — who led BYU in scoring off the bench en route to Big 12 Sixth Man of the Year honors — helped guide the Cougars to a 10-8 mark in conference play and the No. 5 seed at this week's Big 12 Tournament in Kansas City.

The Cougars are one of a nation-leading six Big 12 teams in the AP poll, led by No. 1 Houston, which clinched an outright conference title in its first year in the league with a 28-3 overall record.

"It's gratifying. I'm happy for everybody," said Houston coach Kelvin Sampson, whose team will be the top seed in the Big 12 tourney and open play on Thursday, per the AP. "There's so many people that have an inferiority complex about, 'We're the University of Houston.' This is a damn good school. We live in a damn good city, and we're a damn good basketball program."

Big East champion UConn (28-3) is second, followed by Big Ten champion Purdue (28-3), ACC Tournament top-seed North Carolina (25-6) and Tennessee (24-7) finished fifth after winning an outright SEC regular-season title behind league player of the year Dalton Knecht.

The SEC is second nationally with five ranked teams, followed by the Big East with three. The Big Ten, ACC, Pac-12, West Coast and Mountain West conferences each have two ranked teams.

AP women's poll

Utah inched up two spots to No. 20 in the latest Associated Press women's basketball top 25 following a win over Arizona State and a loss to third-seeded UCLA at the Pac-12 women's basketball tournament in Las Vegas.

South Carolina is again the unanimous No. 1 team in the country after stretching its unbeaten record to 32-0 with an SEC Tournament title. Big Ten champion Iowa (29-4) is second, followed by Pac-12 champion USC (26-5), Stanford (28-5) and Texas (28-4).

The Utes (22-10) will await their NCAA Tournament draw, which will be announced Sunday at 6 p.m. MDT on ESPN.

Aggies make a change

Utah State women's basketball didn't wait long after the Aggies' season ended to make a change in leadership over the program.

Head coach Kayla Ard said following Sunday night's 84-49 loss to Boise State in the first round of the Mountain West Tournament in Las Vegas that she had met with athletic director Diana Sabau and was informed the university was relieving her of her position with one year left on her contract.

"We appreciate everything Kayla and her staff have contributed to Utah State," Sabau said in a university statement. "However, it is in the best interest of the program to make a change."

The Aggies (5-25, 2-16 Mountain West) were 24-90 in four seasons under Ard, including a 10-62 mark in conference play. This year's record included a pair of losses to Division II Fort Lewis College and Western Colorado in nonconference play.

But asked by a reporter after Sunday night's season-ending setback about how she planned to rebuild for next season, Ard was brief and honest about her standing with the school.

"I'm not going to be rebuilding. I just coached my last game at Utah State," Ard said. "I just spoke with Diana, and they're going in a different direction, and I respect her decision, and I hope they get a really good coach in."

With the handful of media still in the late-night press conference taken aback by the abrupt ending, Ard then began to stand up, saying, "I'm guessing that's going to be the last question. All right. Thank you."

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