After a crazy weekend in college hoops, Kansas remains king of the land and the Dukies are reaping the benefits of UNC’s 82-80 loss to the Terps.

1. Kansas (18-0) The AP doesn’t agree with us quite yet, but they’re warming up to the idea of the Jayhawks as the best team in the nation (23 first place votes, most for one week all year). KU proved that even when they aren’t converting a silly amount of alley-oops, they can still get W’s: they shot 40% from the field, but forced Mizzou into a 38% night, including 17.9% from downtown.

2. Memphis (17-0) Southern Miss Coach Larry Eustachy disagrees with us, calling Memphis a national championship caliber squad. “They have no weaknesses whatsoever. And I joke about John (Calipari), but he’s a terrific coach. He’s been to the Final Four before. I was surprised about how they shot the ball. I didn’t think they were that good a shooting team.” That’s what happens when Chris Douglas-Roberts and Derrick Rose combine to shoot 13-23 for 32 points.

3. Duke (15-1) DeMarcus Nelson netted 10-13 shots for a season-best 24 points against Clemson’s robust D. But more impressive than Nelson’s accuracy was Nolan Smith’s 6-9, 13-point performance over 19 minutes. Coach K now has a strong option if he needs an athletic point guard who can actually stop his man as opposed to the Greg Paulus option.

4. Tennessee (16-1) Thursday’s twenty-piecing of Vandy, 80-60, featured an inspired, borderline-dominant performance by Wayne Chism on the glass. Matched up against 6-10 Aussie, A.J. Ogilvy, Chism pulled down 18 boards, while Ogilvy was limited to 5. “I think Chism had more rebounds tonight than he did during the entire month of December,” Bruce Pearl said to the AP. Chism’s total for December was 18.

5. Washington State (16-1) Trailing by four at the half to Oregon, the Cougs stormed back, outscoring the Ducks by 13 in the second half for a 69-60 win. Derrick Low put in his best work of the season just on time, notching 27 points on 10-16 shooting, 4 steals and no turnovers.

6. North Carolina (18-1) Sure the Heels are out of the Top 3 by a heart-breaking, tear-jerking miss by Tyler Hansbrough. But Roy Williams’ squad should be concerned that they were able to outrebound the Terps 46-38, but still take an L. Even worse, the Tar Heels came up short despite grabbing 21 offensive rebounds.

7. Georgetown (14-2) After torching the Hoyas for 24 points during the game’s first 28 minutes, Jonny Flynn was held scoreless during the final stretch by Georgetown’s Jeremiah Rivers. Flynn crossed Rivers and pulled back on a gorgeous move, but Rivers stuck right with the freshman point guard and forced a miss to force OT. It was an ugly extra period, but Georgetown got a big bucket from Roy Hibbert and won on their home floor.

8. Indiana (16-1) Why does everyone insist on running a zone against IU? Penn State decided to force the Hoosiers to shoot from outside and ended up having Eric Gordon and Armon Bassett combine to pour TEN triples on the zone. Easy win for Indiana, 81-65.

9. Michigan State (16-2) Drew Neitzel woke from a Chris Lofton-esque slumber against Minnesota, draining five triples in the game’s last twenty minutes. “This is the first time he’s shot like you saw last year, I think, in 10 games,” said coach Tom Izzo. “Hopefully, this will be a start for him, because we need him.”

10. UCLA (16-2) Honestly the most surprising upset of the weekend had to be the Bruins loss to USC. Davon Jefferson was nothing short of unstoppable, playing on the emotion of his mother’s dream. “My mom told me she had a dream — we won and I played well,” Jefferson said to the AP. “I didn’t know the game was over ’til the game was over. That’s how crazy this was.”

11. Texas (14-3) The Longhorns have won their last two games by a total of four points. In yesterday’s win over Oklahoma State, D.J. Augustin rattled off Texas’ last 10 points, compensating for A.J. Abrams’ ice cold 0-7 night from downtown.

12. Mississippi (15-2) We’re shouldn’t be killing the Rebels for a three-point loss to Auburn on the road, even if that pulls them even to 2-2 in SEC play. Freshman Chris Warren was as good as ever, going 7-14 from the floor, all from downtown, for 25 points. Equally impressive was Dwayne Curtis, who notched his eighth straight double-double. Plus Ole Miss deserves some slack after pulling out a tough win over Florida 89-87 last Wednesday.

13. Wisconsin (15-2) Bo Ryan can thank his Top 15 ranking to a cushy start to Big Ten play: wins at Michigan (5-13), home against Iowa (9-10), home against Illinois (9-10), at Penn State (10-7) and home against Northwestern (6-9) – the five worst teams in the conference. The Badgers draw Michigan (again) and Purdue before facing some serious competition in Indiana on January 31st.

14. Vanderbilt (17-2) The Commodores redeemed themselves with a thorough routing of LSU after the loss to Tennessee. After Shan Foster made one-of-eleven three’s, a shockingly bad night for someone who has been consistently one of the most accurate shooters in the nation, he lit the Tigers up for 18 points (4-8 3FG). All five Vandy starters finished in double figures.

15. Butler (17-2) Perhaps Cleveland State (7-0 Horizon Conference) should have the #14 spot instead of the Bulldogs after beating them 56-52 last Thursday. It was another troubling night for A.J. Graves, who mustered only 5 points on 2-11 shooting. Only three Bulldogs scored more than 2 points in the L. On the bright side, Pete Campbell hit for 19 points in Butler’s win over Youngstown State on Saturday, his third straight game with at least 15.

16. Pittsburgh (15-3) No chance Jamie Dixon could pronounce “Hrycaniuk” before losing 62-59 to Cincinnati. But his two tip-ins during a 13-point run have added the junior Polish center who we’ll refer to as “Adam” – his first name – to Dixon’s vernacular.

17. Dayton (14-2) The Flyers still haven’t seen any action since dropping to UMass at home. But if you haven’t already heard, this team and their star player – Brian Roberts – are much more dangerous in hostile environments. Good thing for Coach Brian Gregory that Dayton’s next two games are at Xavier and at Richmond. The first of those should be a dandy.

18. Stanford (15-3) Back-to-back wins over Arizona and red-hot Arizona State solidify the Cardinal as a Top 20 team. Brook Lopez led Stanford’s effort on the boards with 16 rebounds, part of a dominating 38-23 killing of the Sun Devils on the glass. Lopez went berserk when ASU’s Jeff Pendergraph went to the bench with foul trouble. “I had to get back in the game. I was playing soft and Pendergraph was getting the better of me,” Lopez said to the AP. “I had to attack the glass and get more physical.”

19. West Virginia (14-4) A three-game win streak over Syracuse, St. John’s and South Florida is something that even puts a smile on Bob Huggins’ face. However, Huggins can thank Kentrell Gransberry’s (22 points, 7 boards) anemic performance from the line (2-11) for that win.

20. Villanova (13-3) Scottie Reynolds is white-hot. In his last three games, two of which are ’Nova wins, Reynolds posted 32, 21 and 25 points respectively on 24-39 shooting. He’s also putting in work on the defensive end with eight steals over that stretch.

21. Mississippi State (13-5) At 4-0 in SEC play, the Bulldogs have ratcheted up wins that the selection committee will love. And if you want to talk about love, talk to Jay Bilas about how his feelings for MSU’s versatile guard Jamont Gordon, who is averaging 19 points and 7 boards during that four-game span.

22. Texas A&M (15-3) They should probably be out of the ranking after two straight losses (to Texas Tech and Kansas State). The vaunted Aggie defense probably allowed too much slack to Bob Knight on the eve of his 900th win and again to Michael Beasley’s group, but the blame lies with the offense. 107 points combined in two losses in measly even by Mark Turgeon’s conservative standards.

23. Xavier (15-4) Despite a road loss to Temple last Wednesday, the Musketeers rebounded with a strong road win over George Washington. Xavier came back the right way, getting 20 assists on 24 buckets in that win, as four players finished with 12 or more points. One small issue though: GW’s Maureece Rice torched the Musketeers for 22 points on 4-11 three’s, an ominous sign with Dayton’s Brian Roberts around the corner.

24. Drake (16-1) Honestly, we’d paid ZERO attention to before they popped into the AP’s ranking this week. But at 7-0 in the disappointing Missouri Valley Conference (sorry Kyle Whelliston), the Bulldogs have compiled some impressive wins over Southern Illinois, Indiana State and most recently Illinois State. Unfortunately Drake might not be here for long given that their best player, Josh Young, is out indefinitely with a sprained ankle.

25. Kansas State (12-4) In addition to the big home win over Texas A&M, KSU got a huge road win over Oklahoma on January 12th. Michael Beasley’s 32 points and 11 boards barely edged Blake Griffin’s 27 points and 14 boards as the most damaging freshman in the Big 12.

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