NU scratches a 40-year itch

For the first time since the week of Jan. 14, 1969 -- when they ranked No. 17 in the Top 20 poll-- the Northwestern Wildcats are in the Associated Press' national poll. Bill Carmody's bunch checked in at No. 25 in the poll released Monday (full disclosure: I voted NU No. 25 and have done so for the last three weeks). It's hard to put into perspective just how long a 40-year and 50-week respite from the national poll happens to be. But it was a different game way back when. For example, the dunk was outlawed and didn't come back until 1976. Freshman couldn't play on the varsity until 1972. Referees couldn't call fouls away from the ball (illegal screens, grabbing in the post, etc.) until 1973. Until 1974, a player was REQUIRED to raise his hand after a foul was called on him. And, of course, there was neither a 3-point arc nor a shot clock. And the NCAA Tournament? Only 25 teams made the field. Everyone played in their geographically correct region. And just one team per conference qualified. One last thing? With a little help from an Excel spreadsheet, I discovered that 170 other schools made an appearance in the AP polls between Northwestern sightings. Air Force Alabama Arizona Arizona State Arkansas Army Auburn Austin Peay Ball State Baylor Boston College Bradley Bucknell Butler BYU California Centenary (La.) Charlotte Chattanooga Cincinnati Clemson Cleveland State College of Charleston Colorado Columbia Connecticut Creighton Davidson Dayton DePaul Detroit Drake Duke Duquesne East Tennesee State Eastern Michigan Florida Florida State Fordham Fresno State George Washington Georgetown Georgia Georgia Tech Gonzaga Green Bay Hawaii Holy Cross Houston Idaho Illinois Illinois State Indiana Indiana State Iona Iowa Iowa State Jacksonville Kansas Kansas State Kent State Kentucky Lamar LaSalle Long Beach State Louisiana Tech Louisiana-Lafayette Louisville Loyola Loyola Marymount LSU Marquette Marshall Maryland Maryland-Eastern Shore Massachusetts Memphis Miami (Fla.) Miami (Ohio) Michigan Michigan State Minnesota Mississippi Mississippi State Missouri Murray State Navy Nebraska Nevada New Mexico New Mexico State New Orleans Niagara North Carolina North Carolina State North Texas Northeastern Northern Illinois Northern Iowa Notre Dame Ohio Ohio State Oklahoma Oklahoma State Oral Roberts Oregon Oregon State Pacific Penn Penn State Pepperdine Pittsburgh Portland Princeton Providence Purdue Rhode Island Richmond Rutgers Saint Louis Saint Mary's (Ca.) San Francisco Santa Clara Seton Hall SMU South Alabama South Carolina Southern Illinois Southern Mississippi St. Bonaventure St. John's St. Joseph's Stanford Syracuse TCU Temple Tennessee Texas Texas A&M Texas Tech Texas-Pan American Toledo Tulane Tulsa UAB UCLA UNLV USC Utah Utah State UTEP Vanderbilt VCU Villanova Virginia Virginia Tech VMI Wake Forest Washington Washington State Weber State West Texas A&M West Virginia Western Kentucky Western Michigan Wichita State Winthrop Wisconsin Wyoming Xavier LW