MANHATTAN, Kan. -- After Kansas State's players had finally climbed down from the scorer's table, and the court at Bramlage Coliseum had been cleared of the purple mob, and a panel of Wildcats had answered question upon question about just how, exactly, they ended No. 2 Kansas' 20-0 start, Bill Walker concluded Wednesday evening's festivities with a inquiry of his own: "I've got a question for you all," he said to a packed press room. "How many of you thought we could win?" As Walker walked out of the room, he said, "I didn't see any hands." K-State's 84-75 victory over the Jayhawks was more than an epic upset -- it was a nationally televised announcement that the 'Cats need to be considered a serious NCAA tournament threat, after looking as if they were in danger of missing the dance altogether back in December. Walker asserted that knocking off the No. 2 team "puts us in the middle of the conversation" -- as in, the conversation of which teams should be mentioned among the nation's elite. It was hard to mount an argument against him: K-State is sitting atop the Big 12 standings, has the nation's fourth-most efficient defense, and a nearly unguardable tandem in Walker (who had 22 points vs. KU) and All-America lock Michael Beasley (who had 25). This week's Power Rankings give extra credit to the young'uns who have jelled in January: Kansas State is in at No. 11; UConn, which has used the stellar play of sophomores Hasheem Thabeet and Stanley Robinson to win at Indiana and go on a four-game run in the Beast, is in at No. 12; and USC, which finally has O.J. Mayo and Davon Jefferson clicking offensively, is in at No. 16. Their overall résumés have blemishes, but they're figuring things out at the right time -- and that's what matters.
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Memphis Tigers (20-0)
The nation's last undefeated team had two players named to the Wooden Award's midseason top 30 list: junior forward Chris Douglas-Roberts and freshman point guard Derrick Rose. As good as those two are, there's no real chance they'll be given the award. This isn't a bad thing: Memphis is so balanced that it doesn't have a clear MVP. Douglas-Roberts is the Tigers' top scorer, but he, Rose and even Joey Dorsey take turns as the team MVP. This is the Wooden top six, as I see it right now (with the latest offensive ratings, or ORating, from kenpom.com):
1. Michael Beasley, K-State (25.3 ppg, 12.7 rpg, 119.3 ORating)
2. Tyler Hansbrough, UNC (22.0 ppg, 10.1 rpg, 129.6 ORating)
3. Kevin Love, UCLA (17.3 ppg, 11.3 rpg, 129.2 ORating)
4. D.J. Augustin, Texas (20.8 ppg, 6.0 apg, 121.2 ORating)
5. Eric Gordon, Indiana (21.7 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 116.0 ORating)
6. Chris Douglas-Roberts, Memphis (16.8 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 115.6 ORating)
Next three: 2/2 vs. UTEP, 2/6 vs. SMU, 2/9 vs. UCF
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Duke Blue Devils (17-1)
No ACC player loses his head against the Blue Devils quite like Virginia Tech's Deron Washington. If this highlight from last January -- that of him "hurdling," to put it gently, Greg Paulus for a layup -- were the extent of Washington's dealings with Duke, he'd be in good shape. Unfortunately, the rest is a lot worse. There was that kicking-Lee Melchionni-in-the-head incident from 2006. Then last week Washington pulled a pathetic series of stunts against the Blue Devils, which were were well-chronicled by blogs AOL Fanhouse and Awful Announcing and included: incessant flopping, tripping Kyle Singler, undercutting DeMarcus Nelson on a dunk and scuffling with Paulus. As bad as it looked on TV, how embarrassing must this have been for Washington to watch in the film room?
Next three: 1/31 vs. NC State, 2/2 vs. Miami, 2/6 at UNC
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North Carolina Tar Heels (19-1)
The Tar Heels' loss to Maryland seems to keep reverberating. Partly because UNC has only played one game since -- a win at Miami -- and partly because people keep e-mailing me the YouTube of a female Carolina fan yelling "Go back to the ghetto!" at Terrapins players as they leave the floor. Bambale Osby, the massively-'fro'd Terp who collapsed to the floor to celebrate the upset, offered a sensible rebuttal, telling the Charlottesville Daily Progress this week, "It wouldn't be nothing for me to go back to the ghetto. If [the fan] wants to come on down, she can join me. It's just ignorance. Going back to the ghetto, who knows where all of us are from? All of us could be from Alaska or something. How would she know? It's not a big deal. But like I said, if she wanted to go back to my neighborhood [in Richmond, Va.], we can go. We can spend a night there and see how she feels."
Next three: 1/31 vs. Boston College, 2/3 at Florida State, 2/6 vs. Duke
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Kansas Jayhawks (20-1)
In my travels over the past few weeks, I've had the chance to visit three arenas for the first time: UCLA's Pauley Pavilion, Tennessee's Thompson-Boling Arena and Kansas State's Bramlage Coliseum. All three trips were for big rivalry games: USC at UCLA, Vandy at Tennessee and Kansas at Kansas State. And I'm amazed how much louder Bramlage was than the other two. The students in Manhattan were in an absolute frenzy for the entire upset of the second-ranked Jayhawks on Wednesday, so much so that KU coach Bill Self said afterward, "We will not play in an environment like this again this year. I couldn't even hear the whistle blow." No doubt the KSU kids were particularly riled because the KU was in town -- they were vaulting press row just to get on the court afterwards -- but if they can come close to replicating the atmosphere for the rest of their Big 12 home games, this will be one of the most underrated home-court advantages in college hoops. Said forward Bill Walker, "My ears were ringing when I finally got back to the locker room." The question now is, can Kansas' students sufficiently return the favor when the Wildcats enter the Phog on March 1?
Next three: 2/2 at Colorado, 2/4 vs. Missouri, 2/9 vs. Baylor
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Tennessee Volunteers (18-2)
During Tuesday's Tennessee-Alabama game, ESPN ran a graphic -- which I'm going to hijack here -- listing the five worst free-throw percentages by national-title teams:Rk. Team Title Yr. FT Pct.
1. UConn 03-04 62.3
2. Arizona 96-97 65.5
3. Kentucky 97-98 67.5
4. Arkansas 93-94 68.0
5. Florida 06-07 69.0 It appeared during a reference to the Crimson Tide's woeful free-throw shooting (59.2 percent, which ranks them 333rd), which was a strange context, considering that 'Bama isn't even a candidate for the NCAA tournament, much less the title. The Vols, meanwhile, are contenders with free-throw issues: they hit just 64.4 percent, which ranks them 286th. It's stunning how many Power Rankings teams fall within or below the graphic's threshold (stats through Tuesday):AP Rk. Team FT Pct. FT% Rk.
1. Memphis 58.6 337
2. Tennessee 64.4 286
3. Georgetown 64.8 241
4. Kansas 65.5 271
5. Stanford 67.0 218
6. Kansas St. 67.7 195
6. Texas 68.4 165
Next three: 2/2 at Mississippi State, 2/5 vs. Florida, 2/9 at LSU
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