Big Ten schools battle it out for the top spot 

By Theodore B. Bressman

Spring semester has officially begun, and SI On Campus decided to take a little trip to the college bookstore to check out what's on the reading list for this week's All-Sport Rankings. Students have spent the last few days congregating and telling stories of trips to Miami or nights spent home watching films like Raising Helen.. Some have gathered the courage to tell stories of solo trips to arcades to remind us that we could still set the high score at various pop-a-shots around our hometown. The rest are just happy to be back in their dorm rooms, painting their faces because it's finally time for some conference play.

A freshly-shaven Greg Oden and the Buckeyes took out Northwestern, 73-41, on Wednesday. Joe Robbins/Getty Images

To be clear, the rankings are calculated by taking the Top 25 in major winter sports (a No. 1 ranking receives 25 points, a No. 25 ranking receives one point, etc). We give a little more weight to football and basketball (No. 1 gets 37.5 points; No. 25 gets 13.5). We aggregate the scores to come up with our final tally.

1) Ohio State (93) -- After finally shaving his beard and looking more like a college student than a professor, 18-year-old Greg Oden went out and contributed five points, six rebounds and five blocked shots in the Buckeyes 73-41 stomping of Northwestern. Oden's high school teammate, Mike Conley had an interesting take on his clean shaven center: "He looks faster. Our old coach says after you get a haircut or shave that you look faster." The cleaned-up Buckeyes will host Iowa on Saturday.

2) Wisconsin (71.5) -- The men's basketball team may be No. 2 in the country, but they would definitely be No. 1 if the media polls gave Kammron Taylor extra points for looking like a cross between Chris Rock and TJ Ford. Killer Kam scored 13 yesterday in the 18-1 Badgers victory over Purdue.

3) North Carolina (71) -- If you think Ivory Latta is the bomb for hitting a three-pointer with a minute left to lead the Lady Tar Heels past UConn on Monday night, you should check out her crib. LaToya Pringle scored 18 in the game for the 20-0 Tar Heels. For Pringle and the Tar Heels, it's like once you pop you just can't stop.

4) Minnesota (68) -- Senior Cole Konrad pinned Tyler Perry of Missouri to give the Golden Gophers their second straight National Duals title. Konrad's tied Gopher legend Tim Hartung for the longest winning streak in school history with 58 wins.

5) Duke (62) -- It's no surprise that the poor man's Steve Wojciechowski, Greg Paulus has been faltering under the pressure of ACC defense. With a weak handle and poor court vision, the only thing Paulus offers besides an effective set-shot is flawed leadership.

6) LSU (53) -- The Lady Tigers may be 6th in the country, but they're definitely No. 1 in web design, as evidet by junior Sylvia Fowles' slick website.  

7) Texas A&M (52) -- Texas Native Takia Starks was named Big 12  Women's Basketball Player of the Week and Carla Cortijo was selected as Rookie of the Week for the No. 19 Aggies. Starks led the team with 11 points, 9 rebounds and 2 assists.

8) Oklahoma (51.5) -- Courtney "Gay" Paris scored 17 points and had 14 rebounds to lead the No. 7  Sooners over the Lady Pokes of Oklahoma St. on Wednesday night. Hehe.

9) Tennessee (51) -- Ramar "Palindrome" Smith scored a career high 19, but couldn't carry the No. 22 Vols over Auburn on Wednesday night. After the game Coach Bruce Pearl and his orange sportjacket said, "They're upset. They're real upset and frustrated."

10) Oklahoma State (48.5) -- Mario Boggan had 37 points, 20 rebounds and hit the game winner in overtime to lift the No. 14 Pokes over No. 21 Texas on Tuesday Night. Sticky Fingers Doug Gottlieb, Des Mason, Big Country Bryant Reeves and Eddie Sutton would all be proud, in their own way.

11) New Hampshire (47)
12) Michigan St. (40.5)
13) Florida (37.5)
14) Boston College (37)
15) UCLA (35.5)
15) Pittsburgh (35.5)
17) Marquette (34)
17) Texas (34)
19) Kansas (33.5)
20) UConn (32.5)
21) Nebraska (32)
22) Michigan (31)
23) Oregon (29.5)
23) Stanford (29.5)
25) Arizona St. (28.5)