Runnin' Utes Ascend to No. 10 in AP Poll

Nearly a week after cruising past South Dakota State 80-66, the Runnin' Utes (9-2 and 7-0 at home) check in at No. 10 in this week's AP Poll, their highest ranking since 1999 under the late Rick Majerus. After beginning his career at Utah at 6-25, Utah head coach Larry Krystkowiak has rebuilt a program that was a shadow of its former self under Majerus. Coach K went 15-18 in his second season at the helm (a nine game improvement), 21-12 in his third season (another six games improvement, 15 games above his first season), to his current 9-2 record and Top 10 ranking.

Utah is third in the Pac-12 conference in scoring (75.6 points per game) and second in scoring defense (57.6 points per game), +17.6 scoring margin, which leads the league. The Utes are second in the conference in field goal percentage (.493) but in the bottom half (seventh) in free throw shooting (.663), a sore spot for the team. In keeping with Krystkowiak's philosophy of rebounding and defense, Utah leads the conference in rebounding margin at +7.7 per game and is third in blocked shots at 5.82 per game.

Utah's star guard Delon Wright is third in the Pac-12 in steals at 2.18 per game, as well as sixth in the Pac-12 in scoring at 16.4 points per game and sixth in field goal percentage at .577.

Freshman center Jakob Poeltl is second in the league in field goal percentage at .657, third in blocks at 2.55 per game, and tied for fourth in rebounding at 8.6 caroms per contest.

New AP poll: http://t.co/7J5OJg0Njw 1. Kentucky 2. Duke 3. UVa 4. Wisc 5. Louisville 6. Nova 7. Gonzaga 8. Arizona 9. Iowa State 10. Utah

— NCAA March Madness (@marchmadness) December 29, 2014

Congratulations to the @Runnin_Utes! The team has cracked the AP Top 10 (No. 10), highest ranking since 1999 #goutes pic.twitter.com/xprQifVNQI

— Utah Athletics (@utahathletics) December 29, 2014