Ohio State Finishes Regular Season Ranked Atop AP Top 25

The men's college basketball regular season concluded this weekend. The Final AP Top 25 rankings for the regular season were released today. Ohio State finished the regular season by retaking the No. 1 ranking. The Buckeyes now head into this week's Big Ten tournament with a figurative target on their backs. Somehow however, we don't expect that to be a problem for Coach Thad Matta's team. We'd be surprised if they don't take home the Big Ten tournament title.

Kansas is ranked No. 2. Pittsburgh, Notre Dame and Duke round out the top five.

Drive and Dish doesn't expect to see many huge upsets involving top 10 teams in the conference tournaments this week, but we wouldn't be terribly surprised if a highly-seeded team or two gets upset in the Big East Tournament. Pitt and Notre Dame are the obvious favorites, but teams like Louisville, Connecticut, St. John's and West Virginia could be dangerous.

Ohio State is easily the class of the Big Ten. Purdue might be able to give them a scare in the Big Ten tournament, but OSU is the clear favorite.

Kansas is the obvious favorite in the Big 12 tournament. But Texas and Kansas State have the horses to deny Coach Bill Self's Jayhawks access to their presumed throne. It should be noted, however, that Drive and Dish always advises against picking Texas in the post season. We've said it again and again over the years, but Coach Rick Barnes' teams just aren't put together to win championships, despite their ever-impressive scores on the proverbial "eye test."

Finally, we expect North Carolina to beat Duke in the ACC tournament final. North Carolina is a young team that's surging at the right time. They enter the conference tournament with perhaps more momentum than any other team in the country. Although they struggled quite a bit early in the season, Coach Roy Williams' Tar Heels should be seen as a strong Final Four contender again this year.

AP Top 25
RK	TEAM	RECORD	PTS
1	Ohio State (52)	29-2	1,612
2	Kansas (13)	29-2	1,569
3	Pittsburgh	27-4	1,493
4	Notre Dame	25-5	1,416
5	Duke	27-4	1,265
6	North Carolina	24-6	1,209
7	San Diego State	29-2	1,197
8	Brigham Young	28-3	1,187
9	Purdue	25-6	1,108
10	Texas	25-6	1,081
11	Syracuse	25-6	984
12	Florida	24-6	931
13	Wisconsin	23-7	870
14	Louisville	23-8	794
15	Kentucky	22-8	639
16	Arizona	25-6	562
17	St. John's	20-10	462
18	Xavier	24-6	437
19	Kansas State	22-9	345
20	West Virginia	20-10	294
21	Connecticut	21-9	281
22	Georgetown	21-9	244
23	Utah State	28-3	234
24	Temple	24-6	209
25	Cincinnati	24-7	202

• Others receiving votes: Texas A&M 177, Vanderbilt 101, Villanova 64, UCLA 40, UNLV 29, Missouri 22, George Mason 12, Old Dominion 11, Alabama 10, Belmont 9, Butler 9, Gonzaga 6, Saint Mary's 4, Virginia Commonwealth 3, UAB 2, Harvard 1

• Dropped from rankings: Villanova 19, Vanderbilt 21, Missouri 22, Texas A&M 24

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

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.

Two Undefeated Teams Fall: Louisville Upsets No. 1 Pittsburgh, Wake Forest Beats Clemson

On Saturday, two of college basketball's undefeated teams were handed their first loss of the season. And in one of those games, the top ranked team in America get upset by a bitter -- albeit relatively new -- conference rival.

Saturday night saw No. 20 Louisville end No. 1 Pittsburgh's dreams of an undefeated season. More here, and here. The Cardinals beat the visiting Pitt Panthers 69-63 in front of 20,000 observers in Freedom Hall.

Terrence Williams paced Louisville (13-3, 4-0 Big East) with 20 points. Jermaine Dixon finished with a career-high 19 to lead Pitt (16-1, 4-1 Big East).

Head coach Rick Pitino has Louisville surging. Earlier in the week, his Cardinals beat No. 13 Notre Dame 87-73 in overtime.

Saturday's Louisville upset marked another milestone in the emerging Louisville vs. Pittsburgh rivalry. The Cardinals and the Panthers are not traditional rivals. But since Louisville joined the Big East in 2006, the Louisville vs. Pitt rivalry has become one of the most heated rivalries in college basketball.

Wake Forest Hands Clemson First Loss

Also on Saturday, No. 2 Wake Forest put it's unblemished record on the line in Clemson's Littlejohn Coliseum against its similarly unbeaten Atlantic Coast Conference rival, the No. 10 Clemson Tigers. Wake Forest emerged with its perfect record intact, as the Demon Deacons beat the Tigers 78-68.

With its 16-0 record, Wake Forest is off to the best start in school history. Jeff Teague led the Demon Deacons (16-0, 3-0 ACC) with 24 points. Clemson fell to 16-1, 3-1 ACC.

It's been quite a week for Wake Forest. Last Sunday, the Demon Deacons knocked off No. 3 North Carolina. Wake Forest will, undoubtedly, move to No. 1 in the nation when the new AP Top 25 is released on Monday.

The last four years have been a whirlwind for Wake Forest basketball. In December 2004, a Wake Forest team led by point guard and current NBA star Chris Paul took its No. 1 ranking to Champaign, IL, to face Illinois in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. But the Illini blew Wake away in the hostile Assembly Hall and wrestled the No. 1 ranking from the Demon Deacons. Illinois held on to the No. 1 slot until they fell to North Carolina in the 2004/05 NCAA National Championship game. And what had been a much heralded Wake Forest team fell to West Virginia on the first weekend of the 2005 NCAA Tournament.

Wake Forest then went relatively dormant for two seasons, but landed a stellar recruiting class in 2007. Tragically, Wake Forest's head coach, Skip Prosser died of a heart attack before the 2007 Fall Semester began. But assistant coach Dino Gaudio took over the shaken program and continued Prosser's system.

Now, one year later, Gaudio has Wake Forest out to the best start in the history of the program and atop the college basketball world.

Like his counterpart Dino Gaudio at Wake Forest, Clemson head coach Oliver Purnell also has his team out to the best start in school history. But although Clemson's dreams of an undefeated season have been squelched, there's no doubt that the Clemson basketball program is earning respect and making people stand up and take notice at what has traditionally been a football-crazy, but basketball-apathetic, school.

(Image of Louisville vs. Pittsburgh: Breitbart, Image of Wake Forest vs. Clemson, Washington Post).

Pitt's Fields to Miss Start of Practice

Pittsburgh senior guard Levance Fields will miss the start of basketball practice -- and possibly part of the season -- after undergoing surgery on his left foot.

The Weekend of the Upset

The weekend of January 19 & 20 will likely go down as having been 2008's weekend of the upset in college basketball.

Yesterday, #1 ranked and previously undefeated North Carolina was stunned at home by the enigmatic Maryland Terrapins, 82-80. More here. And here.

On the West coast, Tim Floyd and O.J. Mayo's USC Trojans upset #4 UCLA, 72-63.

Out in the Big 12, Michael Beasley and Kansas State stomped #10 Texas A&M 75-54. Earlier in the week, A&M had also been upset by Texas Tech, as Tech coach Bob Knight netted his 900th career win.

In the Big East, Cincinnati surprised #15 Pitt, 62-59.

And the upsets didn't end on Saturday. Today, Connecticut knocked off #13 Marquette 89-73, in Storrs, CT.

Although most sports fans' eyes were on the NFL, as the NFC and AFC Championship games were played today, the weekend's real action was in college basketball.

Over the last two days, college basketball teams from coast to coast elevated their games and pulled off huge upsets, both at home and on the road.

Drive and Dish would just like to say: Now that's what we're talkin' about!

Pittsburgh Edges Duke

Last night, #11 Pittsburgh beat #6 Duke in overtime at Madison Square Garden.

Duke struggled with quick Pitt guard Levance Fields and with Pitt's bulky front line. Excluding DeMarcus Nelson and Gerald Henderson, Duke doesn't exactly have the most athletic team. And their big men are tall, but slight.

This may sound trite, but Duke really needs to get stronger and more athletic. Basketball keeps becoming a more physical game. Duke has no shortage of talent, but they're falling behind in terms of the overall physicality of their team.