A decisive win over Georgetown rockets Tigers to top

There's a new No. 1 in the college hoops world, but it's not North Carolina's fault. With Saturday's suffocation of Georgetown, Memphis supplanted the undefeated Tar Heels in the Power Rankings' top spot.

Never had the college game's lone dinosaur, 7-footer Roy Hibbert, looked so helpless as he did against the Tigers; and not in a long while had the Hoyas lost so much faith in the power of their precision offense. Memphis may be best known for its horde of basket-attacking guards, but it earned No. 1 with its D.

NCAA Basketball Power Rankings Rank LW School 1 3 Memphis Tigers (10-0) If Joey Dorsey makes an NBA roster next season, don't be surprised if he wears No. 52. The Tigers' enforcer has a history of changing digits based on the professionals he purports to emulate. As a freshman it was No. 15, for fellow Baltimore-native Carmelo Anthony. When Dorsey tired of that, he changed for two seasons to No. 32, for Amare Stoudemire. As a senior it's No. 3, because, as Dorsey said, "Coach [John Calipari] wants me to be Ben Wallace so bad that I thought I might as well just go and be Ben Wallace." But Dorsey, of late, has been talking football -- both saying that he'd like to take a shot at the NFL after the NBA, and that he considers himself the Ray Lewis of Memphis. "I'm the middle linebacker, like Ray Lewis," Dorsey said last week. I'm the defensive stopper on the back end. I let them know I'm gonna back them up and get those shots out of there." Georgetown, against whom Dorsey had 11 points, 13 boards and three blocks, would probably agree with that assessment. But a "Joey Dorsey: God's Power Forward" Sports Illustrated cover probably isn't happening. Next three: 12/29 vs. Arizona, 1/3 vs. Siena, 1/5 vs. Pepperdine 2 1 UNC Tar Heels (11-0) It's already a foregone conclusion that the Tar Heels will be in San Antonio in March: according to the Raleigh News & Observer, the last three UNC squads ('93, '95 and '98) that made it past Dec. 25 undefeated all went on to reach the Final Four. In less positive news, one reader's holiday spirit was lowered as a result of excessive exposure to front-page coverage of Tyler Hansbrough's concussion against Rutgers. Caroline Monson of Raleigh penned a letter to the editor that read, underneath the headline, "Paper overdoses on Hansbrough": "In the future, please remember that there are those of us who get a little nauseous when we get too much of Tyler and the mighty Tar Heels. I just hope he doesn't get a hangnail next week." A return of the mask would likely have her reaching for the Prochlorperazine. Next three: 12/27 vs. Nevada, 12/30 vs. Valparaiso, 1/2 vs. Kent State 3 4 Kansas Jayhawks (12-0) Following Saturday's massacre of previously hyped mid-major Miami (Ohio), KU ranks 12th in adjusted offensive efficiency and second in adjusted defensive efficiency, putting it in the No. 1 spot in kenpom.com's ratings. Only five other teams in the country rank in the top 20 in both efficiency categories: Duke (2/4), West Virginia (5/8), Marquette (4/14), Texas A&M (10/9) and Pittsburgh (9/17). The Jayhawks would probably need a signature win to propel them past Memphis and Carolina in the AP and coaches polls, though, and they may not have such an opportunity until they visit Austin on Feb. 11. It's a shame that Kansas only plays Texas and Texas A&M once each ... but meets Colorado two times, 14 days apart, in February. Thanks, Big 12 schedulers! Next three: 12/29 vs. Yale, 1/5 at Boston College, 1/8 vs. Loyola (Md.) 4 9 Michigan State Spartans (11-1) The Spartans have emerged as the clear Big Ten favorite heading into conference play, largely because of their dominance on the offensive glass. Through 12 games, they're rebounding an absurd 45.1 percent of their own misses. While that's not a sure-fire sign they're going to make a run to San Antonio, it is worth noting that State's two embarrassing, first-round-exit years -- 2006 and 2004 -- were the ones in which they were the worst at offensive rebounding: Yr. OffReb% Rk. Rec. Seed NCAA 08 45.1 1 11-1 - - 07 40.2 7 22-11 9 Second Rd. 06 33.5 122 21-11 6 First Rd. 05 38.2 23 22-6 5 Final Four 04 30.5 229 18-12 7 First Rd. Next three: 12/29 vs. Wisconsin-Green Bay, 1/5 vs. Minnesota, 1/8 vs. Purdue 5 2 Texas Longhorns (11-1) In Kalin Lucas' Point Guard Power Rankings, he and the Longhorns' D.J. Augustin are Nos. 1A and 1B. "We're listed the same, but I think I'm taller and I think I'm just as good as him," Lucas said after scoring 18 points and dishing out six assists (against just one turnover) in Saturday's win over previously unbeaten Texas. "I took this matchup personally because people have been saying he's the best point guard in the country." Augustin missed a key stretch due to foul trouble in the defeat, but still scored 22 points and had six assists against zero turnovers. Augustin is still probably in the top five of the Wooden Award race ... while Lucas is a freshman who hadn't scored more than 13 points in a game prior to then. Spartans coach Tom Izzo was kind enough to put things in perspective: "I still think D.J. is the best point guard in the country," he said. "You can't guard him one-on-one. You just can't. He's too good." Next three: 12/29 vs. Wisconsin, 1/2 vs. TCU, 1/5 vs. St. Mary's

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