Blue Devils vault to No. 1 after taking down Texas

In December 2004, it was Illinois' drubbing of Wake Forest that set the tone for the rest of the rankings to come, establishing the Illini as the nation's rightful No. 1, a position they would not relinquish until the season's final Monday. In December 2005, we have the Meadowlands Massacre -- Duke 97, Texas 66 -- to entrench the Blue Devils as the rulers of college hoops' power structure. Whether one believes UConn -- the previous Power Rankings' No. 1 -- is better than the Dukies is immaterial here; resumes are what matter on this turf, and a 31-point, neutral court romp over the No. 2 team in the nation, well, that just jumps right off the page.

NCAA Basketball Power Rankings Rank LW Team 1 2 Duke Blue Devils (9-0) What was that thing J.J. Redick said in the days leading up to his nine-3, 41-point barrage against the 'Horns? Oh yeah, this: "I think the way people are looking at it right now, if we beat Texas, it would probably be an upset." Redick's comments to Texas players, on the floor at the Meadowlands, were less modest. At one point he was involved in a verbal altercation with 'Horns forward P.J. Tucker, in which, J.J. sarcastically told reporters later, "We were just saying how much we respected each other's games." And then late in the second half, when Texas put reserve J.D. Lewis, its last of four unsuccessful defenders, on Redick, the red-hot Dukie felt the necessity to inform Lewis, "I'm filling it up." We think he could see the scoreboard, J.J. Next three: 12/18 vs. Valpo, 12/21 vs. St. John's, 12/31 at UNC-Greensboro. 2 1 Connecticut Huskies (6-0) A "possible" conversation between ESPN2 and UConn coach Jim Calhoun on Thursday night, before the Huskies' 9 p.m. start against UMass: ESPN2: Hey, we're going to have to push the tip-off back like 10 minutes. Calhoun: Oh. Why? ESPN2: We're currently showing one of Greg Oden's high school games, and you guys have to wait till it's over. Calhoun: Is something exciting happening there? ESPN2: Actually, Oden's team is up by 20, he's on the bench with a bloody mouth, and there are only like 600 people in the crowd, because of the snow in Indy. But it's Greg Oden! Calhoun: We're the best college basketball team in the country right now. Seth Davis said on CBS we would win the national title. And the UConn-UMass game was amazing last year. You're holding us up for 17-year-olds in garbage time? ESPN2: You're going to have to wait 10 minutes. Sorry. Next three: 12/18 vs. New Hampshire, 12/23 vs. Morehead State, 12/28 vs. Stony Brook. 3 7 Villanova Wildcats (6-0) Bucknell fell from the Power Rankings this week, but the Bison student section makes a strong showing here in the No. 3 hole, for their creation of a courtside masterpiece: "1983 Jay Wright On A Stick." For their Dec. 6 game against 'Nova, the students blew up an old headshot of Wildcats coach Wright, who had a well-manicured 'do (see photo, right) in his days as a Bucknell hoopster. 'Nova avoided the upset in Lewisburg -- and avoided ripping on Wright for ... until after the game. "I didn't say anything before the game. You want to get me benched?" Randy Foye told the Philadelphia Inquirer. "I was just hoping we'd get the win, so we can mess with him. It's a long ride home." Three hours of CHIPS/Knight Rider/Miami Vice jokes ... Next three: 12/13 at Penn, 12/22 vs. La Salle, 12/31 at Temple. 4 5 Memphis Tigers (7-1) Oklahoma-Villanova and Texas-Duke are in the past. Kentucky-Louisville ain't looking so hot any more. The Tigers' showdown with Gonzaga on Dec. 27 may be the best game we have left before the New Year. If we get our (and Grant Wahl's) wish, we'll see a classic battle between Memphis lock-down-guy Rodney Carney -- who shut down Redick for a half in the Preseason NIT -- and Zags bank-master Adam Morrison. And we'll get to find out just how many points Memphis' high-speed offense -- the fourth-fastest (through Sunday) in Ken Pomeroy's pace rankings -- racks up against the Zags' notoriously porous D. Next three: 12/17 at Ole Miss, 12/20 vs. Louisiana Tech, 12/27 vs. Gonzaga. 5 - Illinois Fighting Illini (10-0) The Illini were neglected in the last edition of the Power Rankings, I admit, and hordes of U of I fans e-mailed in implored me to make like Sufjan Stevens and "C'mon feel the Illinoise." Actually, they didn't mention Sufjan, or any other music I like ... they just swore at me and used far too many exclamation marks. But Illinois is 10-0 and I am feeling the Illinoise. John Thompson III is really feeling it: The Georgetown coach said after a 58-48 loss to the Illini on Thursday that "they have a chance to win it all." Bruce Weber's response, in the Chicago Sun-Times, was, "Win it all? We're just trying to win some." When "some" includes North Carolina, Xavier, Georgetown and Oregon, you earn a nice bump up to the top five. Next three: 12/18 vs. Coppin State, 12/21 vs. Missouri, 12/28 vs. Missouri State.

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