So, without further delay, I present to you the new #1 team in the nation – Memphis. And with their relatively easy conference schedule, they could remain #1 for a long, long time.

1. Memphis (21 first place votes) 17-0 765 points
2. Kansas (10) 18-0 754 points
3. Duke 15-1 682 points
4. North Carolina 18-1 666 points
5. Tennessee 16-1 653 points
6. Washington State 16-1 620 points
7. UCLA 16-2 581 points
8. Indiana 16-1 565 points
9. Georgetown 14-2 543 points
10. Michigan State 16-2 517 points
11. Wisconsin 15-2 443 points
12. Texas 14-3 381 points
13. Vanderbilt 17-2 336 points
14. Butler 17-2 316 points
15. Mississippi 15-2 284 points
16. Texas A&M 15-3 280 points
17. Pittsburgh 15-3 267 points
18. Villanova 13-3 257 points
19. Dayton 14-2 203 points
20. Marquette 13-4 158 points
21. Stanford 15-3 151 points
22. Xavier 15-4 112 points
23. Drake 16-1 92 points
24. Saint Mary’s 15-2 89 points
25. Clemson 14-4 84 points

Others Receiving Votes
Arizona State 61, Florida 56, West Virginia 42, Rhode Island 24, Gonzaga 14, USC 12, Baylor 11, Massachusetts 9, Kansas State 8, Louisville 7, San Diego State 7, Connecticut 5, Mississippi State 4, South Alabama 3, UNLV 3, Oregon 2, Miami (FL) 2, Arizona 2, Illinois State 2, Cincinnati 1, Houston 1.

Dropped From Rankings
Rhode Island 21, Miami (FL) 24, Arizona State 25.

Post from: EveryJoe

Top 25 rankings – ESPN/USA Today poll – 1/21

With the conference battles starting to heat up, these three teams may not remain unbeaten for very long. With UNC facing their tough ACC schedule, they could be the first to fall.

Stay tuned…

1. North Carolina (23 first place votes) 17-0 765 points
2. Memphis (6) 15-0 747 points
3. Kansas (2) 16-0 719 points
4. UCLA 16-1 680 points
5. Duke 13-1 614 points
6. Georgetown 13-1 600 points
7. Tennessee 14-1 582 points
8. Washington State 14-1 574 points
9. Texas A&M 15-1 544 points
10. Indiana 14-1 503 points
11. Michigan State 14-2 449 points
12. Butler 16-1 425 points
13. Marquette 13-2 379 points
14. Vanderbilt 16-1 330 points
15. Mississippi 14-1 316 points
16. Pittsburgh 14-2 294 points
17. Wisconsin 13-2 272 points
18. Dayton 14-1 259 points
19. Texas 13-3 248 points
20. Xavier 14-3 147 points
21. Villanova 11-3 105 points
21. Rhode Island 15-2 105 points
23. Clemson 13-3 99 points
24. Miami (FL) 14-1 84 points
25. Arizona State 13-2 67 points

Others Receiving Votes
Saint Mary’s 39, Florida 36, Oregon 29, Stanford 23, Drake 17, West Virginia 9, Arizona 8, Arkansas 3, Brigham Young 2, Notre Dame 1, Utah 1.

Dropped From Rankings
Stanford 23, Arizona 24.

Post from: EveryJoe

Top 25 rankings – ESPN/USA Today poll – 1/14

1. North Carolina (23 first place votes) 13-0 764 points

2. Memphis (7) 11-0 749 points

3. Kansas (1) 13-0 718 points

4. Washington State 12-0 670 points

5. UCLA 12-1 649 points

6. Michigan State 12-1 602 points

7. Georgetown 9-1 544 points

8. Duke 10-1 541 points

9. Tennessee 12-1 505 points

10. Texas A&M 12-1 493 points

11. Marquette 10-1 446 points

12. Indiana 11-1 423 points

13. Pittsburgh 11-1 386 points

14. Texas 11-2 382 points

15. Vanderbilt 12-0 362 points

16. Villanova 10-1 320 points

17. Butler 12-1 315 points

18. Mississippi 12-0 204 points

19. Clemson 11-1 198 points

20. Stanford 11-1 174 points

21. Arizona 9-3 141 points

22. Rhode Island 13-1 135 points

23. Dayton 11-1 64 points

24. Saint Mary’s 12-1 53 points

24. Wisconsin 10-2 53 points

Others Receiving Votes

Miami (FL) 46, Brigham Young 34, USC 28, West Virginia 24, Oregon 12, Louisville 11, Florida 5, North Carolina State 5, Oklahoma 5, Boston College 4, Gonzaga 2, UNLV 2, Stephen F. Austin 1, Houston 1, Creighton 1, Davidson 1, Arkansas 1, Baylor 1.

Post from: EveryJoe

Top 25 rankings – ESPN/USA Today poll – 12/31

1. North Carolina (25 first place votes) 8-0 763 points

 2. Memphis (4) 7-0 740 points

 3. Kansas (1) 9-0 717 points

 4. Georgetown (1) 7-0 669 points

 5. Texas 9-0 635 points

 6. Washington State 9-0 608 points

 7. Duke 9-0 594 points

 8. UCLA 8-1 582 points

 9. Pittsburgh 9-0 487 points

10. Michigan State 8-1 481 points

11. Tennessee 8-1 430 points

12. Texas A&M 8-1 407 points

13. Marquette 6-1 391 points

14. Indiana 8-1 385 points

15. Clemson 8-0 295 points

16. Oregon 7-1 292 points

17. Xavier 7-1 257 points

18. Villanova 7-1 195 points

19. Butler 8-1 185 points

20. Louisville 5-2 174 points

21. Vanderbilt 9-0 164 points

22. Arizona 6-2 148 points

23. Gonzaga 8-2 138 points

24. Saint Mary’s 7-0 73 points

25. Brigham Young 7-2 59 points

Others Receiving Votes

Miami (FL) 35, Arkansas 31, Stanford 24, Rhode Island 23, California 17, Florida 16, USC 10, Wisconsin 10, Virginia 9, Connecticut 8, West Virginia 6, Southern Illinois 5, Syracuse 5, Illinois 3, Florida State 2, Mississippi 1, Dayton 1.

Post from: EveryJoe

Top 25 rankings – ESPN/USA Today poll – 12/10

1. North Carolina (23 first place votes) 7-0  753 points

 2. Memphis (6) 6-0  746 points

 3. Kansas (1) 7-0  717 points

 4. Georgetown (1) 5-0  670 points

 5. Texas 7-0  620 points

 6. Washington State 7-0  599 points

 7. Duke 8-0  594 points

 8. UCLA 7-1  587 points

 9. Pittsburgh 7-0  477 points

10. Michigan State 6-1  437 points

11. Louisville 5-1  422 points

12. Tennessee 7-1  402 points

13. Butler 7-0  374 points

14. Texas A&M 7-1  357 points

15. Indiana 6-1  341 points

15. Marquette 5-1  341 points

17. Clemson 7-0  255 points

18. Oregon 6-1  250 points

19. Gonzaga 7-1  242 points

20. Xavier 6-1  171 points

21. Villanova 5-1  132 points

22. Brigham Young 6-1  124 points

23. Wisconsin 5-1  63 points

24. Arizona 5-2  58 points

25. Vanderbilt 7-0  49 points

Others Receiving Votes

Saint Mary’s 48, USC 41, Arkansas 27, Stanford 26, Virginia 26, Southern Illinois 24, Miami (FL) 22, California 21, Connecticut 15, Davidson 8, Syracuse 8, Florida 7, Illinois 5, Creighton 5, North Carolina State 4, Rhode Island 3, Kansas State 2, Providence 1, San Diego State 1.

Post from: EveryJoe

Top 25 rankings – ESPN/USA Today poll – 12/3

 1. UCLA (12 first place votes) 6-0  749 points

 2. North Carolina (13) 5-0 745 points

 3. Memphis (5) 5-0 719 points

 4. Kansas (1) 5-0 688 points

 5. Georgetown 3-0 654 points

 6. Washington State 6-0 591 points

 7. Duke 6-0 562 points

 8. Texas 5-0 502 points

 9. Texas A&M 6-0 498 points

10. Louisville 4-1 423 points

11. Pittsburgh 5-0 417 points

12. Tennessee 5-1 403 points

13. Michigan State 4-1 396 points

14. Marquette 4-1 352 points

15. Indiana 4-1 324 points

16. Butler 6-0 300 points

17. Oregon 5-1 233 points

18. Clemson 5-0 232 points

19. Gonzaga 5-1 206 points

20. Wisconsin 5-0 160 points

21. Villanova 4-1 114 points

22. Southern Illinois 3-1 109 points

23. Brigham Young 5-1 88 points

24. USC 5-1 69 points

25. Xavier 4-1 65 points

Post from: EveryJoe

Top 25 rankings – ESPN/USA Today poll – 11/26

1. North Carolina (14 first place votes) 2-0 744

1. UCLA (10) 3-0 744

3. Memphis (6) 4-0 718

4. Kansas (1) 3-0 680

5. Georgetown 2-0 636

6. Louisville 2-0 612

7. Tennessee 3-0 603

8. Indiana 2-0 520

9. Washington State 3-0 517

10. Duke 2-0 422

11. Oregon 4-0 417

11. Michigan State 2-0 417

13. Marquette 2-0 413

14. Gonzaga 3-0 342

15. Texas A&M 4-0 328

16. Texas 3-0 294

17. Pittsburgh 4-0 261

18. Southern Illinois 1-0 208

19. Villanova 2-0 172

20. Kansas State 3-0 152

21. Syracuse 3-0 128

22. Clemson 3-0 93

23. Butler 3-0 79

24. Florida 4-0 65

25. Davidson 1-1 59

Post from: EveryJoe

Top 25 rankings – ESPN/USA today poll – 11/19

And please don’t tell me that these games don’t matter because they are in the “pre-season”.

They DO matter…

Last night, Division II school Findlay upset Ohio State 70-68. This is the same Ohio State squad that lost to Florida in last year’s NCAA title game. Yes, they lost Greg Oden, Mike Connelly Jr., and Daequan Cook from last year’s squad. But they were ranked just outside the top 25 and figured to contend for another Big 10 conference title.

Oops.

Last Saturday, another Division II school, Grand Valley State, beat Michigan State 85-82 in double overtime. The Spartans are ranked #8 in the ESPN/USA Today Top 25 rankings and were picked by many analysts as the favorite to win the Big 10 championship.

Double oops.

I don’t care that these games are considered “exhibitions”. To quote Herm Edwards, “You play to win the game”. Period.

The Buckeyes and Spartans had better turn things around quickly, or else they will get eaten alive in the Big 10 this year.

UPDATED: another stunner from college basketball Wednesday night as Gardner-Webb, who was picked to finish 8th in the Atlantic Sun Conference this year, went into Rupp Arena and smoked the Kentucky Wildcats 84-68.

Welcome to Lexington, Billy Gillespie. I hope you enjoy your stay in the Bluegrass State.  And it won’t be a very long stay if you let middle-of-the-pack Atlantic Sun teams come to town and take you out to the woodshed.

Somewhere in the Twin Cities, Tubby Smith is smiling…

Post from: EveryJoe

UPDATED: And this is why you play the games, take 3…