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| NCAA Basketball Power Rankings |
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Stanford Cardinal (18-3)
Stringing together five Pac-10 straight wins -- including three on the road -- is almost unheard of these days, but that's what the Cardinal has done over the past three weeks. Stanford's offensive formula has been pretty simple: A heavy dose of Brook Lopez. As coach Trent Johnson recently told the San Francisco Chronicle, "There's no secret to where we're going -- just get it to the big boy in the right block." The Cardinal isn't exaggerating: Lopez uses a whopping 34.6 percent of their offensive possessions when he's on the floor, according to kenpom.com. Only one player in the entire nation, Quinnipiac's DeMario Anderson (34.9 pecent), uses more of his team's offensive possessions than Lopez; and among frontcourt players, only Notre Dame's Luke Harangody (33.1 percent) and Kansas State's Michael Beasley (32.7) are in Lopez's neighborhood.
Next three: 2/7 vs. Oregon, 2/9 vs. Oregon State, 2/14 at Arizona State
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Drake Bulldogs (21-1)
If Duke ends up winning the ACC, and Memphis finishes the regular season undefeated, it's likely that Mike Krzyzewski and John Calipari will Duke it out for national coach of the year honors. But what about the Bulldogs' Keno Davis? He deserves some serious consideration for turning what was a 17-15 team one year ago into a 21-1 monster that's running away with the Missouri Valley crown. Any coach of the year ballot needs to include the three I just mentioned, as well as Wisconsin's Bo Ryan and Kansas' Bill Self. Ryan is probably doing the most with the least, as he has the Badgers tied for the Big Ten lead despite losing All-America Alando Tucker and top guard Kammron Taylor ... but could he really garner enough votes in a year when big shots like K and Calipari have reasonable candidacies?
Next three: 2/9 vs. Evansville, 2/13 at Southern Illinois, 2/16 at Northern Iowa
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Butler Bulldogs (20-2)
Via the Indy Star's Butler Insider blog we were alerted to the existence of ajgravesfacts.com, a site dedicated to the Chuck Norris-like superpowers of the Bulldogs' senior shooting guard. Butler beat writer David Woods says his fave fact on the site is, "If A.J. Graves can't find a basketball he just dribbles a cow until it turns into a leather ball." I prefer this one: "Beer Pong was invented for the sole purpose of attracting A.J. Graves to show up to parties and play. He has never lost. He is 2,382-0, every single game was a skunk."
Next three: 2/9 at Wisconsin-Green Bay, 2/11 at Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 2/14 vs. Youngstown State
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Kansas State (16-5)
When I was interviewing Darnell Jackson's mother, Shawn, on the day before the Jayhawks' loss to the Wildcats, she mentioned that her family was friends with the family of K-State guard Clent Stewart, with whom Darnell had played AAU ball in Oklahoma. The Jacksons have already been through more more tragedies than any family should have to bear ; on Tuesday, one hit the Stewarts, as Clent's mother, Vanessa, passed away after a battle with bone cancer. In warmups prior to their win over Nebraska on Wednesday -- for which Clent was not present -- the 'Cats wore pink t-shirts with a ribbon and the initials "V.S." on the back. Coach Frank Martin said the team would fly to Norman, Okla., on Friday to be with Stewart. "We'll let him know we're here for him," Martin told the Wichita Eagle "We'll let him know how important he is to us."
Next three: 2/9 vs. Oklahoma State, 2/13 at Texas Tech, 2/16 vs. Missouri
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Texas A&M Aggies (19-4)
Speaking of coach of the year awards ... Mark Turgeon didn't exactly make a stump speech for his candidacy when he complained about his situation on Jan. 21 by saying, "If we win, [former Aggies coach Billy] Gillispie gets the credit. If we lose it's my fault. That puts me in a bad mood."
Since Turgeon made that statement, A&M has won four straight in the Big 12, three of those on the road, and put itself back in the race for second place behind Kansas. And one of Turgeon's bolder coaching moves -- removing super-freshman DeAndre Jordan from the starting five in favor of more physical sophomore Bryan Davis -- has started to pay off, infusing a much-needed dose of toughness into the Ags' lineup without sacrificing too much on the offensive end.
Next three: 2/9 at Missouri, 2/16 vs. Oklahoma State, 2/18 at Texas
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Michigan State Spartans(19-3)
The TV-watching habits of Spartans freshman point guard Kalin Lucas are immune to the the writers' strike. In a Q&A with the Detroit Free Press, Lucas said that his favorite show was The Wayans Bros. ... which ran for 99 episodes from 1995-99 on the WB, and is now in syndication, two episodes a night, on BET. "I like comedies," Lucas told the paper. "Shawn and Marlon, man, those dudes are funny." It's a shame that Wayans Bros gets better BET time slots -- the coveted 9-10 p.m. hole -- than In Living Color, the Keenen Ivory-and-Damon-Wayans-powered sketch-comedy classic. To catch that one has to stay up 'til 3 a.m.
Next three: 2/9 vs. Northwestern, 2/12 at Purdue, 2/16 at Indiana
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ON THE CUSP, TIER 1: Washington State (17-4): Have to protect home court in the Pac-10. The Cougs didn't against Stanford. Texas (17-4): Making a run back into the rankings; an upset of Kansas on Monday would earn the 'Horns a spot in the top 10. Arizona (15-7): That 80-62 throttling at UCLA was embarrassing. Purdue (17-5): Now 8-1 in the Big Ten, and looking for a signature win at home over Michigan State. Indiana (18-3): Hoosiers are on top-16 probation after a poor showing in Madison. ON THE CUSP, TIER 2: Baylor, Louisville, Marquette, USC, Arkansas, Pitt, Rhode Island, St. Mary's, Florida, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Vanderbilt, St. Joe's, George Mason, VCU, BYU, UNLV, Illinois State, South Alabama, Houston, Gonzaga Send power rankings mail to Luke Winn here.
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