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Duke Blue Devils (10-1)
The back-page column in SI's Year In Sports issue details two games of one-on-one between S.L. Price and presidential candidate Barack Obama -- both of which were won by Obama in a Spencer, Iowa, YMCA. Obama was a high-school baller who calls the sport "his first love," but he also has a campaign staffer with ties to college hoops: Famous ex-Dukie Reggie Love, who serves as one of Obama's "body men" as well as an occasional pickup-game opponent. In November, Love told the Chicago Tribune, "There is nothing worse than losing to Barack Obama. You never hear the end of it."
Next three: 1/6 vs. Cornell, 1/9 at Temple, 1/13 at Virginia
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Marquette Golden Eagles(9-1)
The year-end award for Best Blog By a Director Of Basketball Operations goes to the Golden Eagles' Jason Rabedeaux, who writes In Rab's Words on Marquette's official site. His Dec. 23 entry was an epic poem entitled A Marquette Fan's Night Before Christmas. It included these choice lines:
And what to my wondering eyes should appear, But the Marquette Golden Eagles a wandering near.
And their cagey head coach, so lively and free, I knew in an instant it must be TC.
TC, of course, refers not to Tevin Campbell or the chopper pilot from Magnum P.I., but to Rab's boss, Tom Crean.
Next three: 12/29 vs. Savannah State, 1/3 vs. Providence, 1/6 at West Virginia
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Indiana Hoosiers (10-1)
Coppin State isn't particularly adept at winning basketball games -- the Eagles are 3-10 and haven't been to the NCAA tournament since 1997 -- but it is skilled at making a giant wad of road-guarantee cash in a very short period of time. Check out Coppin State's schedule from the end of last week (all times approximate):
• Fri., Dec. 21, 7:30 p.m. CT: Begins game against Marquette at Bradley Center in Milwaukee.
• Fri., Dec. 21, 9:30 p.m. CT: Loses game to Marquette, 89-42.
• Fri., Dec. 21, 10 p.m. CT: Boards team charter bus.
• Sat., Dec. 22, 4 a.m. ET: Arrives in Bloomington, Ind.
• Sat., Dec. 22, Noon ET: Begins game against Indiana at Assembly Hall.
• Sat., Dec. 22, 2 p.m. ET: Loses game to Indiana, 73-46.
To the Eagles' credit, they actually were within two points of the Hoosiers at halftime, 28-26, before being outscored 45-20 in the second. Coppin State seemed mysteriously fatigued in the later portion of the game.
Next three: 12/29 vs. Chicago State, 1/2 at Iowa, 1/8 at Michigan
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Vanderbilt Commodores (11-0)
The Commodores' Shan Foster is emerging as the best high-volume long-distance gunner in the country. Through 11 games, he's averaging 7.5 three-point attempts per contest, and making a stunning 54.9 percent of those bombs. I mined basketballstate.com's three-point percentage leaderboard for the best players who attempt at least four treys per game, and came up with this top five:
Player Team Att/G Att/Made Pct
B. Raley-Ross South Carolina 4.0 30/44 68.2
Josh Mayo Illinois-Chi. 5.5 40/66 60.6
Ben Botts IPFW 4.5 27/49 55.1
Josh White North Texas 4.0 22/40 55.0
Shan Foster Vanderbilt 7.5 45/82 54.9
Next three: 12/29 vs. Tennessee-Martin, 12/31 vs. Iona, 1/3 vs. Rice
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Texas A&M Aggies (11-1)
The San Antonio Express-News is running a year-end series of the best quotes said by or about the Aggies in 2007, and Acie Law delivers one of the choicest quips. Describing current A&M point guard Dominique Kirk's recruiting visit to College Station, which occurred in the middle of the week, Law said, "We wanted to show him a good time. The best we could come up with was taking him to the movies. And Denny's, too." They must make a phenomenal Moons Over My Hammy in Aggieland, because Kirk kept good on his promise to come to A&M. His 2.4-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio is a big reason why the Ags haven't taken a huge step back in Year 1 without Law.
Next three: 12/29 vs. Florida A&M, 12/31 vs. Rice, 1/5 vs. LSU
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Georgetown Hoyas (8-1)
I considered dropping the Hoyas out of the rankings altogether, given that the best of their eight Ws came at Old Dominion. They're still here because I still think they're one of the country's better teams -- and how much can you kill a squad for losing on the road against your new No. 1, even if said team collapsed in the final 10 minutes? Georgetown has one problem that it's not gonna fix -- its lack of one, consistent go-to scorer to fill the Jeff Green role -- and one that it can. That would be its horrid free-throw shooting. Of the teams in this top 16, here's where Georgetown ranks from the charity stripe:Rk. Team FT%
1. Washington State 77.9
2. Indiana 74.3
3. Arizona 73.9
4. Michigan State 73.8
5. Texas 73.7
6. Vanderbilt 73.1
7. Pittsburgh 73.0
8. North Carolina 72.1
9. UCLA 71.9
10. Marquette 68.5
11. Duke 67.9
12. Tennessee 65.6
13. Kansas 64.3
14. Memphis 59.8
15. Texas A&M 58.1
16. Georgetown 57.2
The Hoyas: Dead last in free-throw shooting among the elites, and 335th in the nation.
Next three: 12/29 vs. American, 12/31 vs. Fordham, 1/5 at Rutgers
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ON THE CUSP: Butler, Ole Miss, West Virginia, Miami, Villanova, BYU, Dayton, Rhode Island, St. Mary's, USC, Gonzaga, Baylor, Drake, Sam Houston State, Wisconsin, Arizona State, Clemson, Xavier, Stanford. Send Power Rankings mail to Luke Winn here.
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