There is no stronger currency in college hoops than a true road win. For the sake of these rankings, a victory on hostile hardwood is worth immensely more than any work done on a neutral court or at home. The two new teams that enter the top five this week, Texas and Washington State, earned their standing by persevering on the road. The Longhorns -- who, if not for North Carolina's breezy navigation of a tough slate, would be No. 1 -- beat UCLA in Pauley Pavilion, and the Cougars emerged from Gonzaga's Kennel with a major W in the Northwest's hottest new rivalry.
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UNC Tar Heels (8-0)
Penn came out in full force against Tyler Hansbrough this week. Or at least Penn's students did. The Tar Heels visited the Palestra on Wednesday as part of Philly sophomore Wayne Ellington's "homecoming" game, but the crowd there was focused on Psycho T. They held up photocopied pictures of his mother, a former Miss Missouri, and also enlarged prints of his senior pictures from high school. Students also made a sign that said, "Please Tyler put the mask back on." Hansbrough responded by laughing -- "I thought it was funny, to be honest with you," he said -- and then scoring 29 points and grabbing 10 rebounds in a 35-point win.
Next three: 12/16 at Rutgers, 12/19 vs. Nicholls State, 12/22 vs. UC-Santa Barbara
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Texas (8-0)
For the first meta-rankings portion of this piece, I give you my early top four for the Wooden Award race on the day after the Heisman's Final Four was announced:
1. D.J. Augustin, Texas
2. Tyler Hansbrough, North Carolina
3. Chris Douglas-Roberts, Memphis
4. Eric Gordon, Indiana
The guy with the best stats, hands-down, is Kansas State's Michael Beasley, who's putting up a Durant-ish 25.8 points per game while also grabbing 14.8 boards. The Wooden winner needs to be on a decent team, though. Texas was a No. 4 seed in the dance last season, and Augustin appears to be navigating the 'Horns toward a No. 1 seed as a sophomore. The more I see the total free-for-all that is K-State, the more I think the 'Cats are, at best, an NCAA bubble team.
Next three: 12/8 at Rice, 12/15 vs. Texas State, 12/18 vs. Oral Roberts
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Memphis Tigers (7-0)
Classic scene that I didn't put in my column from Tuesday's Derrick Rose-O.J. Mayo bout: A few minutes after the conclusion of the Notre Dame-Kansas State undercard, the Tigers were huddled outside their locker room in a hallway at Madison Square Garden. Among the things they yelled was "Showtime!" -- but they remained in place after breaking the huddle, ignoring a few MSG security guards who were motioning for them to take the floor. Guard Andre Allen was at the front of the pack, grinning. And then I realized what they were waiting for: USC. After the Trojans emerged from their locker room around the corner, they had to cross in front of an entire Memphis team yelling "AAAAHHHH!" at point-blank range. USC's players, to a man, remained silent. And looked maybe a little intimidated. I would have been.
Next three: 12/15 vs. Middle Tennessee State (Sun Belt Classic, Nashville), 12/19 at Cincinnati, 12/22 vs. Georgetown
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Washington State Cougars (8-0)
The Cougars are becoming the kings of ESPNU, which is somewhat sad, considering that many parts of the country -- including Eastern Washington -- can't get the channel without a satellite. In back-to-back games on channel 170 on my NYC digital cable, Wazzu beat Baylor in Waco and Gonzaga in Spokane, the latter the Zags' first-ever loss at home while ranked. That means the Cougs have more high-quality road wins than anyone in this top 16 not named North Carolina, which also has two solid ones: Ohio State and Kentucky. With the emergence of Aron Baynes as a force in the paint, and more importantly, Taylor Rochestie as a clutch point guard, Wazzu is looking far more dangerous than it was last season.
Next three: 12/9 vs. Portland State, 12/20 vs. The Citadel, 12/23 at Idaho State
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Kansas Jayhawks (8-0)
Recently healed Jayhawk Brandon Rush was gracious enough to be our Blog Q&A subject last week, talking about everything from his crooked arm (the result of a backflip gone awry at age 11) to Darrell Arthur's taste in locker-room tunes ("Crazy Texas music"). Rankings reader Mark sent me a link to the Phog.net message boards, where particular interest was taken in Rush's preferred Thanksgiving food: a salad made by his grandmother "that's got apples and mayonnaise and a bunch of other stuff." I left it at that in the Q&A, but the message-board detectives, after some deliberation, concluded that Rush's salad of choice was none other than the Waldorf. Top-notch work, guys.
Next three: 12/8 vs. DePaul, 12/15 vs. Ohio (in Kansas City), 12/18 at Georgia Tech
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