CLICK ABOVE FOR 6-10

NCAA Basketball Power Rankings Rank LW Team 11 - Duke Blue Devils (8-1) Are two ex-Blue Devils set to become power brokers in the NBA? The Baltimore Sun recently examined Brian Davis and Christian Laettner's pending bid to purchase the Memphis Grizzlies by buying out Michael Heisley's 70 percent share of the team -- a deal that seems very possible now that local buyers have passed. According to Memphis radio personality (and University of Memphis donor) George Lapides, though, the locals haven't exactly been welcoming the Duke duo with open arms. "Their attitude has been, 'Trust us, we went to Duke,'" he said. "They have done a very, very poor job of responding to simple questions. For that reason, there's a lot of skepticism. They've brought it on themselves. They haven't given any answers. They didn't identify at all who the [other, unnamed members of Davis' ownership group] are. People here want to be convinced that this is a secure thing." Next three: 12/9 vs. George Mason, 12/19 vs. Kent State, 12/21 vs. Gonzaga (at New York). 12 - Oregon Ducks (6-0) In response to our early nomination of JamesOn Curry's 35-point, 9-assist, 0-turnover game against Texas A&M Corpus-Christi as stat line of the season, a few Ducks fans sent in a counter-nomination: Tajuan Porter's performance against Portland State on Nov. 12. Oregon's Mighty Mite (he's a 5-foot-6 freshman) scored 38 points on 12-of-14 shooting, including a school-record 10 treys. And he did all of that in just 28 minutes. Porter, who followed former Detroit Renaissance High teammate Malik Hairston in the recently established Motor City-to-Eugene pipeline, was just a three-star guard according to the recruiting services and is now looking like one of the biggest steals of the class of 2006. Next three: 12/9 vs. Nebraska, 12/11 vs. Bethune-Cookman, 12/15 vs. Eastern Washington. 13 13 Nevada Wolf Pack (7-0) When I did all those Nick Fazekas calculations last week -- stating that he'd need to average at least 21.7 points from here on out to break Keith Van Horn's WAC scoring record -- I didn't factor in the possibility that he'd suffer severely bruised ribs in a win over Cal on Saturday, and be questionable to play against UNLV. "He's just having a real tough time breathing and raising his arms," Wolf Pack coach Mark Fox said of Fazekas in the Reno Gazette-Journal. His possible replacement in the starting lineup, 7-footer David Ellis, only averages 19.6 fewer points and 10.7 fewer rebounds, so there's really no cause for concern ... Next three: 12/9 vs. UNLV, 12/12 vs. St. Mary's, 12/16 vs. Pacific. 14 9 Maryland Terrapins (9-1) There's a short story on the Terps' super sixth man, Venezuelan Greivis Vasquez, in this week's SI (that's called self-promotion, folks). Vasquez said people have been gathering at his family's home in Caracas to listen to Maryland games via Internet radio ... even if they don't really understand what's going on. "They don't know any English," he said, but during the Terps' win at Illinois on Nov. 28, "they were hearing, 'Vasquez! Vasquez with the ball!' and going crazy." Let's hope they were listening to Wednesday night's win over Fordham, in which Vasquez scored 16 points in 27 minutes off the bench. (For the record, I opted to leave the Terps in over Notre Dame because I liked their neutral-court win over Michigan State and their road win at Illinois a little better than I liked the Irish's one decent win ... even if it was over Maryland.) Next three: 12/10 at Boston College, 12/13 vs. UMKC, 12/23 vs. American. 15 - Missouri State Bears (7-1) Maybe this seems like a strange pick, seeing that the Bears are No. 29 in the AP poll. Let me make it seem less strange. I had Wisconsin slotted for this spot, even had the text written, before realizing that, in truth, the Bears are more deserving at this point. They beat the Badgers, 66-64, on a neutral court in South Padre Island, Texas. Missouri State then took my No. 6 team, Oklahoma State, to overtime the next day before losing 73-70. The Bears' RPI is 28, and their non-conference strength of schedule thus far is 43rd, whereas Wisconsin is 57 and 166th. And the Missouri Valley Conference as a whole is rated ahead of the Big Ten, Big 12, SEC and Big East right now in RPI. Which means that the only reason I'd have the Badgers ahead of the Bears right now is because UW started the season in the top 10 ... and that would be a really bad reason. Next three: 12/9 at UNC-Wilmington, 12/16 vs. Indiana State, 12/18 at St. Louis. 16 - Air Force (9-1) Space is tight. Who do we take with the last spot? Kansas and Florida are in two-loss purgatory. Washington? The Huskies haven't even left Seattle yet. UConn? Hasn't played anyone. Marquette? Slumping hard after beating Duke -- the Eagles lost to North Dakota State this week. Wisconsin? See above. Texas A&M? Quality D, but still without a quality win. Ken Pomeroy has me sold on Air Force, which quietly boasts the nation's most efficient offense -- and aside from its loss to Duke, has shredded four BCS-conference opponents (Stanford, Colorado, Texas Tech and Wake Forest). We might be starting up a Dan Nwaelele Fan Club soon, if anyone's interested: In his past two games, he's scored a combined 52 points on 14-of-16 shooting. That includes hitting 8-of-9 treys, as well as a perfect 16-of-16 from the free-throw line. Next three: 12/9 vs. Colorado College, 12/13 vs. Norfolk State, 12/23 at Northern Colorado.

ON THE CUSP: Kansas and Florida (for the record, I think they could both beat many of the teams in the Rankings... but with two losses each, they have to earn their way back in), Wisconsin, Marquette, Notre Dame, Gonzaga (also in the two-loss club), Texas A&M, Washington, UConn, Clemson, Missouri, Xavier, Northern Iowa.

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