UConn is Back at No. 1

Connecticut is the No. 1 team in America again. The Huskies have re-taken the top spot in the AP Top 25. North Carolina is No. 2.

Drive and Dish thinks Connecticut and North Carolina are the best teams in the country. We wouldn't be surprised to see them play each other in the National Championship game (although the loss of Jerome Dyson could prevent the Huskies from getting that far).

Pittsburgh is ranked No. 3. Oklahoma and Memphis round out the top five.

AP Top 25 (3-2-09):

Rank	Team	Record	Votes	Previous
1	Connecticut (67)	27-2	1792	2
2	North Carolina (3)	25-3	1678	4
3	Pittsburgh (1)	26-3	1612	1
4	Oklahoma	26-3	1576	3
5	Memphis (1)	26-3	1543	5
6	Louisville	23-5	1462	6
7	Duke	24-5	1340	7
8	Michigan State	23-5	1302	9
9	Kansas	24-5	1190	15
10	Wake Forest	22-5	1158	13
11	Villanova	23-6	913	10
12	LSU	25-4	894	18
13	Marquette	23-6	860	8
14	Gonzaga	23-5	837	17
15	Missouri	24-5	795	11
16	Washington	22-7	704	21
17	Xavier	23-5	629	19
18	Clemson	22-6	564	12
19	Purdue	22-7	545	16
20	UCLA	22-7	497	22
21	Arizona State	21-7	347	14
22	Butler	25-4	302	24
23	Illinois	23-7	287	20
24	Florida State	22-7	272	23
25	Syracuse	21-8	99	28
Others Receiving Votes: Creighton 52, Brigham Young 41, Utah 22, Saint Mary's 13, Dayton 11, West Virginia 10, Davidson 9, Texas 9, California 8, South Carolina 7, Providence 7, Washington State 4, Arizona 3, Oklahoma State 2, Boston College 1, Rhode Island 1, American University 1, Utah State 1

Upset Saturday

On Saturday, the second and third ranked teams in America ventured into the arenas of conference rivals and staggered out with upset losses on their records. Texas upset No. 2 Oklahoma 73-68, and unheralded Maryland stunned No. 3 North Carolina 88-85 in overtime.

Texas' A.J. Abrams scored 18 of the Longhorns' final 20 points, including 16 straight points in the last eight minutes of the game. But Texas (18-8, 7-5 Big 12), no doubt, benefited tremendously from the absence of Oklahoma's Blake Griffin, the leading scorer and rebounder in the Big 12 Conference. Griffin left the game after sustaining a concussion first half. He did not return in the second half and only played for a total of 11 minutes (netting 2 points and 3 rebounds).

With the loss, Oklahoma falls to 25-2, 11-1.

Maryland Upsets No. 3 North Carolina 88-85 (OT)


Maryland overcame a 16 point deficit en route to their upset of No. 3 North Carolina, thanks largely to a Herculean effort by Greivis Vasquez. Vasquez finished with a career-high 35 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists. His performance marked Maryland's first triple-double in 22 years (Derrick Lewis had two triple-doubles for the Terrapins in 1987).

With the win, Maryland (17-9, 6-6 Atlantic Coast Conference) likely put itself within striking distance of an NCAA Tournament bid.

North Carolina fell to 24-3, 10-3. Ty Lawson led the visiting Tar Heels with 24 points.

(Photos: Baltimore Sun).

UConn's No. 1 Streak Reaches Three Weeks

For the third straight week, Connecticut is the No. 1 ranked team in America. Thus far, the Huskies are the only team to keep the No. 1 ranking in the AP Top 25 for more than one week in calendar year 2009. Oklahoma remains at No. 2 and North Carolina remains at No. 3.

Pittsburgh and Memphis round out the top 5.

AP Top 25 (Feb. 16, 2009):

		Record	Votes
1	Connecticut (66)	24-2	1794
2	Oklahoma (4)	25-1	1709
3	North Carolina (2)	23-2	1676
4	Pittsburgh	24-2	1589
5	Memphis	22-3	1465
6	Michigan State	20-4	1443
7	Louisville	19-5	1280
8	Wake Forest	19-4	1217
9	Duke	20-5	1048
10	Marquette	21-4	1045
11	Missouri	22-4	1041
12	Villanova	20-5	983
13	Clemson	20-4	939
14	Arizona State	20-5	830
15	Kansas	20-5	651
16	Xavier	21-4	646
17	Gonzaga	19-5	599
18	Illinois	21-5	589
19	Purdue	19-6	582
20	UCLA	19-6	473
21	Butler	22-3	373
22	Washington	19-6	334
23	LSU	21-4	294
24	Syracuse	19-7	207
25	Dayton	23-3	194
Others Receiving Votes: Texas 83, Utah State 72, Ohio State 45, Arizona 38, California 34, Utah 34, West Virginia 26, Florida State 18, Davidson 15, South Carolina 10, Minnesota 6, Boston College 5, Kentucky 5, Miami (FL) 2, Tennessee 2, Wisconsin 2, Brigham Young 1, Robert Morris 1

Two Weeks and Counting: UConn Still No. 1 in AP Top 25

For the second straight week, the University of Connecticut Huskies are the No. 1 men's college basketball team in the nation. Until now, no team has held the No. 1 spot in the AP Top 25 for more than one week since the start of calendar year 2009.

What's more, Oklahoma has held on to its No. 2 ranking for the second week in a row. And although most of the elite teams have gone through ups and downs thus far in 2009, the newfound stability at the top of the AP Top 25 may be an indicator of things to come. With North Carolina ranked No. 3, Pittsburgh ranked No. 4 and Louisville ranked No. 5, it's beginning to look like the cream of college basketball is rising to the top.

AP Top 25 (Feb. 09, 2009): Team Ranking Votes

1. Connecticut (67) 22-1 1,795

2. Oklahoma (3) 23-1 1,710

3. North Carolina (2) 21-2 1,672

4. Pittsburgh 21-2 1,583

5. Louisville 18-4 1,423

6. Duke 20-3 1,350

7. Wake Forest 18-3 1,242

8. Memphis 20-3 1,237

9. Michigan State 19-4 1,214

10. Marquette 20-3 1,137

11. UCLA 19-4 1,131

12. Clemson 19-3 1,097

13. Villanova 19-4 989

14. Xavier 20-3 893

15. Butler 21-2 762

16. Kansas 19-4 751

17. Missouri 20-4 395

18. Arizona State 18-5 389

19. Gonzaga 17-5 361

20. Purdue 17-6 353

21. Utah State 23-1 317

22. Illinois 19-5 303

23. Syracuse 18-6 280

24. Ohio State 17-5 216

25. Florida State 18-5 182 Others Receiving Votes LSU 167, Washington 135, Texas 106, Florida 66, Minnesota 43, Dayton 31, California 16, Kansas State 8, West Virginia 8, South Carolina 7, Davidson 7, Miami (FL) 7, Utah 4, Arizona 4, San Diego State 2, Siena 2, Northeastern 2, Robert Morris 1, Boston College 1, Green Bay 1. Dropped From Rankings Texas 16, Minnesota 19, Washington 22.

Connecticut = No. 1 (Feb. 2)

Connecticut is the new No. 1 team in America. The Huskies replace Duke as the highest ranked team in the AP Top 25.

Last week, Duke replaced Wake Forest as the No. 1 ranked team in the AP poll. But Wake Forest beat Duke 70-68 on Wednesday, before falling to Georgia Tech on Saturday.

Oklahoma takes over the No. 2 position in this week's poll, and North Carolina moves up to No. 3. Duke and Louisville round out the top 5.

Drive and Dish has been skeptical of the claim that Wake Forest is a legitimate Final Four contender. After the Demon Deacons beat Duke, we adopted the position that Wake Forest has the requisite talent and the size needed to contend for a Final Four, but that they may not have enough maturity/experience to get them there this year. And we've also stated that North Carolina is likely to make a return trip to the Final Four, but that they're unlikely to win the National Championship. But make no mistake, the UConn Huskies are a legitimate Final Four and National Championship contender.

AP Top 25

1. Connecticut (64) 20-1 1,792

2. Oklahoma (5) 21-1 1,691

3. North Carolina (3) 19-2 1,639

4. Duke 19-2 1,563

5. Louisville 17-3 1,464

6. Pittsburgh 19-2 1,427

7. Wake Forest 17-2 1,409

8. Marquette 19-2 1,358

9. Xavier 19-2 1,176

10. Clemson 18-2 1,077

11. Butler 19-1 1,051

12. Purdue 17-4 961

13. Michigan State 17-4 876

14. Memphis 18-3 798

15. UCLA 17-4 787

16. Texas 15-5 724

17. Villanova 17-4 698

18. Gonzaga 16-4 632

19. Minnesota 18-3 426

20. Syracuse 17-5 415

21. Kansas 17-4 316

22. Washington 16-5 216

23. Illinois 18-4 198

24. Arizona State 16-5 146

25. Utah State 21-1 99

Others Receiving Votes Dayton 95, Davidson 85, Missouri 39, Penn State 37, LSU 36, West Virginia 33, South Carolina 33, UNLV 29, Florida 24, Providence 14, USC 8, Notre Dame 7, Siena 4, Kansas State 4, Northeastern 3, Ohio State 3, Kentucky 2, Arizona 2, Florida State 1, Northern Iowa 1, Virginia Military 1.