NCAA Basketball Power Rankings Rank LW Team 11 - Washington Huskies (20-5) Huskies star Brandon Roy -- the Pac-10's best shot at an '06 lottery pick -- was just two degrees of separation away from a major event of NBA All-Star Weekend. Roy watched the slam dunk contest at a Seattle restaurant with Knicks guard (and fellow Central District product) Jamal Crawford, who gave ex-UW fan favorite Nate Robinson the idea to vault Spud Webb on a slam. Neither Crawford nor Roy was interested in taking credit for any of Nate the Great's 13 missed attempts in the dunk-off with Andre Iguodala, however. Next three: 2/23 vs. Stanford, 2/26 vs. California, 3/2 at Arizona State. 12 - UNC Tar Heels (18-6) With respect to Kansas' Mario Chalmers, Memphis' Shawne Williams and UCLA's Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, the national Freshman of the Year race still isn't even close; the Heels' Tyler Hansbrough already has it wrapped up. Averaging 18.8 points as a freshman at UNC, it seems, can earn you your own Wikipedia entry and a personal Web site (tyler50.com) ... on which fans can download your senior pictures from high school. We'll take 10 wallets and an 8x10, please. Next three: 2/26 vs. Maryland, 3/1 vs. Virginia, 3/4 at Duke. 13 10 Pittsburgh Panthers (20-4) With the Panthers off for a week between their loss at Marquette and Saturday's likely snoozer against Providence, media coverage turned to a Panther not in uniform, East Carolina transfer Mike Cook. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that the 6-foot-4 Cook, who averaged 15 points per game for the Pirates in 2004-05, has been impressive in practice and could step in at any of three positions (SG, SF or PF) next season. Coach Jamie Dixon's praise of Cook isn't hollow -- an NBA scout told me earlier this year that Cook was on his radar after a strong sophomore season in the C-USA. Next three: 2/25 vs. Providence, 2/27 at West Virginia, 3/3 vs. Seton Hall. 14 - Nevada Wolf Pack (21-5) The Power Rankings, with so many on-the-cusp teams almost trying not to crack the top 16 (cough, Illinois, cough, Michigan State, cough, N.C. State, cough, Boston College), opens its doors to mid-major representation this week. Outside of Gonzaga, the Wolf Pack are the class of the mid-majors: We know this because they made an absolute joke of their Bracket Buster pairing with Akron last weekend, routing the Zips -- which included LeBron's high school buddies -- 88-61. Next three: 2/25 at Utah State, 3/2 vs. San Jose State, 3/4 vs. Fresno State. 15 13 Iowa Hawkeyes (20-7) Saturday's trip to Assembly Hall should be the most telling game of the season for the Hawkeyes: The Illini are slumping and vulnerable, having lost three of their last five games, and Iowa needs this win to keep pace with Ohio State for the Big Ten lead -- and, perhaps more important, to prove it is not merely an Iowa City phenomenon. The Hawkeyes are 15-0 at home, where they often look like a team poised to make a run at the Final Four ... but they've yet to notch a single decent road win this season. The Orange Krush awaits. Next three: 2/25 at Illinois, 3/1 vs. Penn State, 3/4 vs. Wisconsin. 16 8 Florida Gators (22-5) Cannonball Adderley A reader posing as "Yannick Noah" wrote in last night, imploring us to post a photo of Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl's sweaty suit jacket at the O-Dome ... but the Gators, at this point, have earned no right to poke fun at the Vols' perspiration. Instead, the UF blurb is dedicated to the Power Rankings' latest music picks (which don't include Noah) ... 1. Elvis Perkins in Dearland's Ash Wednesday. The son of Psycho's Anthony Perkins has a fine, folksy band that's been playing NYC's East Village and Lower East Side of late; the show we saw early Sunday morning included a trumpet-driven cover of Del Shannon's Runaway. 2. Cannonball Adderley Quartet with Coltrane in Chicago. Via jazz aficionado cousin Dave, this is the Miles Davis Sextet without Miles in 1959 -- an experiment that worked very well. Next three: 2/26 at Alabama, 3/1 vs. Georgia, 3/5 at Kentucky.

Dropped out: UCLA, West Virginia, Georgetown

On the cusp: Wisconsin, Marquette, Illinois, UCLA, West Virginia, Michigan State, N.C. State, Georgetown, Cal, Boston College, LSU, Wichita State, Oklahoma, Creighton, George Mason, San Diego State

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