| NCAA Basketball Power Rankings |
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North Carolina Tar Heels (6-0)
Ignore the random nature of all the backcourt injuries sweeping the nation. The elite teams are merely trying to one-up each other in a sick, secret game of Winning Without Our Star Guards, Then Bragging About It. Kansas started it, shelving Brandon Rush (ACL tear) and then Sherron Collins (stress-fractured foot) but never dropping a game. UCLA then put Darren Collison (MCL sprain) on ice and still beat Maryland and Michigan State to remain unblemished. Not to be outdone, Carolina removed Tywon Lawson (sprained right ankle, weak!) for back-to-back wins over BYU and Ohio State to move to 6-0; afterward, forward Marcus Ginyard made sure to point out, "Tonight was a good game for us to be playing a tough opponent, away from our home court, and without our main floor general. This one goes a long way for this team." If Memphis wants to ascend to No. 1, it looks as if it'll have to remove Derrick Rose -- a "turf-toe" injury, perhaps? -- and go on to win a big non-conference game. It's the only way to impress anybody these days.
Next three: 12/1 at Kentucky, 12/4 at Penn, 12/16 at Rutgers
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UCLA Bruins (7-0)
Darren Collison 
Russell Westbrook ditched the 'hawk (right) for the standard shave (left) |
made a rather strong return to the Bruins lineup Wednesday night, coming off the bench in a knee brace to score 14 points and dish out five assists against zero turnovers in a win over George Washington. This means the Russell-Westbrook-as-sole-UCLA-point-guard experiment is officially over. Perhaps knowing he had become expendable, he shaved the Flaming Mohawk in favor of a more Howland-friendly buzz, but all in all, Westbrook was a stellar fill-in. If you forgive him for a six-turnover outing in the opener against Portland State, he's had an assist-to-turnover ratio of exactly 3-to-1 since, including an eight-assist, 19-point outing against the Colonials. If this were the pros, point-guard-deprived teams like Oregon would be inquiring about trades for Westbrook's services.
Next three: 12/2 vs. Texas, 12/8 vs. Davidson (Wooden Classic, Anaheim), 12/15 vs. Idaho State
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Memphis Tigers (6-0)
Sometimes the divergence between the external and internal perceptions of a program can be amusing. From most fans' perspective, Memphis is an entertaining, undefeated squad that won the 2K Sports College Hoops Classic and has an All-America on the wing (Chris Douglas-Roberts) and the speediest freshman guard at the point (Derrick Rose). In coach John Calipari's eyes, the Tigers are a good team that's perpetually on the verge of a crisis. In the past week, he:
•Was so displeased with a 21-point win over Arkansas State he canceled a promised Thanksgiving break, for which Chris Douglas-Roberts had purchased a flight home to Detroit, and held one-on-one meetings with players on Wednesday.
•Brought in renowned sports shrink Bob Rotella to speak with players over the weekend. (Rotella is a pal of Calipari's; if you want him for a speech, the tab runs around $20,000.) Incidentally, one of Rotella's most popular books on Amazon is Golf Is Not A Game of Perfect. Apparently, Gunning For An NCAA Title is a Game of Perfect -- and being 6-0 in November isn't perfect enough.
Next three: 12/4 vs. USC (Jimmy V, NYC), 12/15 vs. Middle Tennessee (in Nashville), 12/19 at Cincinnati
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Kansas Jayhawks (6-0)
The triumphant comeback of Brandon Rush was the big story of Sunday's overtime win over Arizona, but what about Rodrick Stewart, who had 13 points, six boards and one highlight-reel dunk in 27 minutes off the bench? Plenty of those minutes will go back to Sherron Collins once he's healthy, but it was nice to see Stewart playing a big role in a meaningful game. He and his twin brother, Lodrick, were supposed to be USC's next huge stars coming out of high school in Seattle; Rod' transferred away as a freshman after sparring with Henry Bibby, while Lod' stayed, endured some tumult, and is now playing sparingly for the NBDL's Anaheim Arsenal. When Rod' leaves after this season, Kansas will be bringing in a new, complete set of twins, Marcus and Markieff Morris. Bill Self will undoubtedly hope their college careers unfold more smoothly than the Stewarts' did.
Next three: 12/2 at USC, 12/5 vs. Eastern Washington, 12/8 vs. DePaul
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Georgetown Hoyas (4-0)
The Hoyas are coming off a strange, seven-day stretch of road trips. They went to Ball State on Thanksgiving Eve for what, when they scheduled the game, was supposed to be a Thompson family reunion ... but John III's younger brother, Ronny, resigned from the Cardinals job in July amid what he alleged was a "racially hostile work environment." The scandal over his departure and racist notes he claimed were left in his office dragged on into the fall, but Georgetown didn't opt to pay the $100,000 cancelation fee to excuse itself from making the trip -- and pulled out a 57-48 victory. On Wednesday, the Hoyas traveled to Norfolk, Va., to meet the Old Dominion team that pulled last year's "Hidden Upset" in McDonough Gymnasium. It was the kind of true road visit to a mid-major that so few powerhouses make these days. As ODU coach Blaine Taylor said, "It should be a game that if Georgetown succeeds in, they get a lot of credit for, and if they don't, they don't get massacred for it." The Hoyas succeeded, 66-48, and deserve some, but perhaps not too much credit; the Monarchs aren't nearly as good as they were last season, when they reached the NCAA tournament out of the CAA.
Next three: 12/1 vs. Fairfield, 12/5 vs. Alabama (SEC-Big East Showdown, Birmingham), 12/9 vs. Jacksonville
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