After Wake Forest's loss, Duke jumps to No. 1; Louisville enters

Your new No. 1 this week is Duke, partly because Pitt and Wake Forest lost, and partly because Gerald Henderson has blossomed into the second offensive force that the Blue Devils needed to complement Kyle Singler and truly look like a Final Four team. Henderson is shooting 57.4 percent in ACC games and averaging 20.0 points -- making him the league's biggest breakout player not named Jeff Teague.

NCAA Basketball Power Rankings

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1 Last Week: 3	Duke Blue Devils (17-1) Duke-Carolina I isn't until Feb. 11, but the Tar Heels won an early Tobacco Road battle in the blog world. Former Blue Devils forward Reggie Love -- Barack Obama's body man during the campaign -- was among the candidates in Gawker's Obama Hotties poll, and finished fourth, with seven percent of the vote. That was two points (and 275 votes) behind UNC grad Melody Barnes, Obama's Director of the Domestic Policy Council, who was the top female finisher. The unstoppable force of hotness who beat both of them is White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, at 10 percent. For undergrad, he attended Sarah Lawrence, which has a D-III men's hoops team that's 1-6 this season, its only win coming on what appeared to be a 2-0 forfeit by Webb Institute. For grad school, Emanuel chose Northwestern, which properly honored his victory/new gig this week by beating Michigan State in East Lansing for the first time in 29 years. Next three: 1/24 vs. Maryland, 1/28 at Wake Forest, 2/1 vs. Virginia
2 Last Week: 1	Pittsburgh Panthers (17-1) An article in last Friday's Pittsburgh Tribune-Review looked at how Pitt is managing to do just fine without any McDonald's All-Americans on its roster. In it, point guard Levance Fields says, "To be honest, some of us got snubbed, if you really want to look at it that way, from being those kind of recruits." Fields is the strangest case of being overlooked, because typically New York guards -- like, say, Sebastian Telfair -- tend to be overhyped rather than overlooked. When Fields made his college decision in 2004, he was choosing between St. John's, South Florida, Miami and Pitt. He was the 14th-ranked point guard on Rivals.com's board that year, and as you scan up the list, only second-ranked Mario Chalmers -- who, if you recall, had a decent title game in March -- turned out better than Fields. The No. 1-rated point guard that year was none other than Greg Paulus. Next three: 1/25 at West Virginia, 1/28 at Villanova, 1/31 vs. Notre Dame
3 Last Week: 2	Wake Forest Demon Deacons (16-1) Life at the top was bumpy for the Deacs: Their most-circulated highlight was that of an opposing student tackling their 7-foot center, they lost to Virginia Tech at home, and the folks in Vegas didn't seem to believe Wake was the best national-title contender anyway. The Deacs started the season with 40-to-1 odds to cut down the nets in Detroit, and had jumped to 15-to-1, by Wednesday morning, according to VegasInsider.com. But the oddsmakers still liked six teams better: North Carolina (8/5), Pittsburgh (7/1), Louisville (8/1), Duke (10/1), UConn (10/1) and UCLA (10/1). This wasn't altogether shocking; the Deacs are still a green team whose principal players haven't even been in an NCAA tournament. Next season, if Dino Gaudio can get Jeff Teague, James Johnson and Al-Farouq Aminu to stick around, one has to imagine they'd be the odds-on favorite to win it all. Next three: 1/28 vs. Duke, 1/31 at Georgia Tech, 2/4 at Miami
4 Last Week: 4	Connecticut Huskies (17-1) UConn and Notre Dame, who meet on Saturday in South Bend, have one thing in common: They rarely force any turnovers. The Huskies force a turnover on just 17.8 percent of their defensive possessions, ranking 314th in the country (out of 344). The Irish force a turnover on just 16.8 of their defensive possessions, ranking 332nd. The difference between the two teams, though, is that UConn's defense is good -- 20th in the nation in adjusted efficiency -- because it uses its supreme length to block shots and hold opponents to a low percentage inside the arc ... whereas Notre Dame doesn't do much to stop anyone inside, ranking 162nd in adjusted defensive efficiency. Don't be stunned if the Joyce Center streak is snapped at 45 games this weekend. Next three: 1/24 at Notre Dame, 1/28 at DePaul, 1/31 vs. Providence
5 Last Week: 5	Oklahoma Sooners (18-1) From Kelli Anderson's story on Blake Griffin in this week's SI, on the topic of his newfound restraint on the court in the face of repeated assaults: "Griffin spent the summer working on increasing his range, strength and explosiveness and on becoming the "puppetmaster." That's a concept San Francisco fitness guru Frank Matrisciano discussed often in the almost two months Blake and his brother spent with him. 'Teams want me to do something stupid,' says Blake. 'You want to get to the point where nothing affects you; you control them.'" The guy behind the puppetmaster concept, Matrisciano, is an interesting character. When the San Francisco Chronicle did a story on him this summer (headline: MEET HELL'S TRAINER), he asked not to have his face shown or his age divulged, and the paper noted that his name didn't appear in any public record. This was all, apparently, a part of his "stealth persona." Next three: 1/24 vs. Baylor, 1/26 at Oklahoma State, 1/31 at Iowa State
6 Last Week: 7	North Carolina Tar Heels (17-2) Good thing the ACC's proposal to shrink the draft-declaration deadline for underclassmen to a 10-day window after the season was tabled by the NCAA last week. It's an awful proposal that would hurt kids -- by forcing them into hasty, less-informed decisions about turning pro -- far more than it would help coaches. Seth Davis nailed it when he wrote this week that, "Perhaps the ultimate irony in all of this is that, when the NCAA's Division I Legislative Council was asked last week to vote yea or nea on this proposal, they elected to put off their decision for another two months so they could gather more information. That's understandable. After all, these folks have a big choice to make here. Who can blame them if they don't want to be rushed?" Next three: 1/28 at Florida State, 1/31 at N.C. State, 2/3 vs. Maryland
7 Last Week: NR	Louisville Cardinals (14-3) On his official Web site -- where he has restaurant recommendations -- Cards coach Rick Pitino posted his latest team progress report, in which he goes player-by-player on his roster and provides brief comment. For small forward Terrence Williams, who was the key behind big wins over Notre Dame and Pitt last week, Pitino wrote, "T-Will- Playing like an All-American." (Comically, Pitino also wrote for Reginald Delk, "Reggie Delk- Has the misfortune of playing behind T-Will. His time will come.") At this moment I'd consider putting Williams on my second team. The first team's roster is hard to crack, with Wake Forest's Jeff Teague and Davidson's Stephen Curry in the backcourt, Arizona State's James Harden on the wing, and Oklahoma's Blake Griffin and Notre Dame's Luke Harangody down low. Next three: 1/25 at Syracuse, 1/28 vs. South Florida, 1/31 vs. West Virginia
8 Last Week: 8	Michigan State Spartans (15-3) As of Wednesday morning on Basketball State's stats page, only seven players in the country had assist-to-turnover ratios of better than 4-to-1. Only two of the seven were starters. Of those two starters, one -- Tyler Newbold of Utah State, who averages 3.2 assists per game -- was not his team's primary point guard. That left the Spartans' Kalin Lucas, who had an assist-to-turnover ratio of 4.2-to-1 and was averaging 5.4 assists per game, as the best statistical point guard in the country. All of which meant he wasn't the kind of guy whom you'd expect to have a two-assist, six-turnover game against Northwestern, at home on Wednesday night. 'Twas a very strange stat line out of East Lansing, and the loss to the 'Cats negated the Power Rankings bump the Spartans were set to receive after beating Illinois. Next three: 1/25 at Ohio State, 1/29 at Iowa, 2/1 vs. Penn State
9 Last Week: 13	Marquette Golden Eagles (16-2) There's a good chance that by late Sunday afternoon, if Syracuse beats Louisville at the Carrier Dome, the Golden Eagles will be sitting alone atop the Big East, at 6-0. And this will have to be chalked up to a miracle of scheduling, one that allowed Marquette not to have to play any of the league's other top six teams (Pitt, UConn, Notre Dame, Georgetown, Syracuse, Louisville) during that stretch. The exchange for this is that the Eagles were served up a hellacious final two weeks of the conference season. Their final five league games are at Georgetown, home against UConn, at Louisville, at Pittsburgh, and home against Syracuse. If a more difficult backstretch exists anywhere else in the country, I have yet to find it. Next three: 1/24 vs. DePaul, 1/26 at Notre Dame, 1/31 vs. Georgetown
10 Last Week: 16	Arizona State Sun Devils (16-3) Last week's Power Rankings, in the Sun Devils section, contained a trivia question: Only three guards/wings draw more fouls per 40 minutes than James Harden, who draws 7.7. None of them has the last name Curry. Who are they? The answers, as promised: UTEP's Stefon Jackson (8.0), North Dakota State's Ben Woodside (7.9) and Marquette's Wes Matthews (7.8). Our next James Harden Trivia question is this: He uses 34.1 percent of Arizona State's possessions when he's on the floor, either by scoring or assisting or turning the ball over. Only five guys in the country use a higher percent of their team's possessions, and only one of them is a freshman. Who is he? Check back next week. (Or just cheat by looking at kenpom.com, but that wouldn't be any fun.) Next three: 1/29 vs. Washington State, 1/31 vs. Washington, 2/5 at Oregon
11 Last Week: 9	UCLA Bruins (14-3) A fine point made in Andy Glockner's first Bubble Watch on SI.com: The Bruins, despite the fact that everyone expects them to be in the NCAA tournament and thinks they're a Final Four contender, have yet to put a good win on their resume, losing close games to Michigan, Texas and Arizona State. UCLA is No. 42 in the RPI, compared to No. 4 last season, and its best win is over No. 65 USC. So while we know the Bruins will be in the dance, they still have some work to do. Bruins Nation took this insight personally, headlining a blog post "SI.Com Insults UCLA As A "Bubble Team." If by "insults" they meant "properly analyzes using selection committee data" ... well, then we agree. Next three: 1/22 at Washington State, 1/24 at Washington, 1/29 vs. Cal
12 Last Week: 10	Georgetown Hoyas (12-4) On Inauguration Day, we ran a gallery of the six SI covers that have featured U.S. presidents. The best, by far, is the 1984 college hoops preview, on which John Thompson Jr. and (short-shorted) Patrick Ewing are pictured flanking Ronald Reagan at the White House, under the headline "THERE THEY GO AGAIN." (Little did anyone know that they were going to run into Villanova the next March.) The most recent presidential college hoops cover was for the 1994 NCAA tournament preview, on which Bill Clinton expressed his (well-founded) confidence in Arkansas. We missed a major opportunity by not running a Joakim Noah-George W. Bush cover for the 2007 college hoops preview. That would have been a classic. Next three: 1/22 vs. West Virginia, 1/25 at Seton Hall, 1/28 at Cincinnati
13 Last Week: 6	Clemson Tigers (16=2) More on Chas McFarland's dive into Clemson's student section from Saturday, which resulted in him being tackled, and the student -- who may also have been shoved a bit by McFarland -- getting ejected: I hadn't realized that McFarland actually went into the stands twice during that game, causing problems each time. As Charlotte Observer columnist Scott Fowler blogged, "Another time McFarland piled into press row, right between where The Observer's Ron Green Jr. and myself were sitting. I had brought a 12-ounce can of diet Coke and had it sitting at the table. McFarland knocked that over, right into us (mostly onto Ron, however -- life is unfair like that sometimes). It could have been worse -- McFarland would likely have destroyed our laptops if we had had them sitting courtside there, as we would have had it been a night game." The lesson to be learned here: If you attend a Wake game and sit near the court, Chas McFarland may 1) not allow you to enjoy your beverage and 2) force police to escort you out of the arena. Next three: 1/25 vs. Georgia Tech, 1/29 at Virginia Tech, 2/4 vs. Duke
14 Last Week: 11	Syracuse Orange (17-3) Adding a bit of drama to what should already be a killer Big East tournament, Syracuse's Paul Harris has guaranteed that the Orange will beat the Panthers should they meet at Madison Square Garden. Following a 78-60 loss to Pitt on Monday, this is what Harris said (in a video posted by the Daily Orange): "I hope we play Pitt again, I swear. I hope we play them in the Big East Tournament. ... We play them, we're not gonna lose. I'm gonna guarantee we beat them, I swear to God. I want them again." The 18-point margin between the Orange and Panthers, Harris apparently feels, will be erased by the switch to a neutral court ... and his heavenly vow. I am not so sure. Next three: 1/25 vs. Louisville, 1/28 at Providence, 2/4 vs. West Virginia
15 Last Week: 14	Illinois Fighting Illini (16-3) Ohio State freshmen center B.J. Mullens can be a cocky individual. Sometimes he backs it up, like last week, when he was asked for his thoughts on rival Michigan, and said (on camera), "They suck. We're going to go up there and beat them pretty bad." The Buckeyes did actually go and do this, winning 65-58 in Ann Arbor last Saturday, a game in which Mullens had 15 points and six boards. On Tuesday, early in Ohio State's game against Illinois at Assembly Hall, Mullens threw down a dunk, turned to the courtside portion of the Orange Krush, and did a "shushing" sign with his index finger over touching his lips. Illinois proceeded to take a 12-point lead at the half and won by 15. It was not the greatest of games for Mullens to be shushing crowds. Next three: 1/24 vs. Wisconsin, 1/29 at Minnesota, 2/1 vs. Iowa
16 Last Week: 15	Butler Bulldogs (16-1) Forward Gordon Hayward is one half of the freshman duo (along with Shelvin Mack) that's improbably kept the Bulldogs in the national rankings, and the Indy Star reports that the reason Hayward was underexposed on the recruiting trail ... is because he was playing tennis. He was the No. 1 singles player at Brownsburg High in Indiana, and the Rankings has uncovered his tennis recruiting profile, on which it says he was ranked 99th in the tennis RPI in 2007 ad 57th in 2006. It lists one college suitor -- Purdue, with an interest level of "high." Brad Stevens, we imagine, is quite happy that Hayward is not on the Boilermakers tennis team. Next three: 1/22 vs. Wisconsin-Green Bay, 1/24 vs. Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 1/30 vs. Valpo
On The Cusp: Cal, Xavier, Notre Dame, Texas, Memphis, Purdue, Minnesota, Villanova, Gonzaga, Kentucky, Missouri, Kansas, Baylor, St. Mary's, Ohio State, Michigan, Tennessee, BYU, Utah State, Dayton, and all the other teams whose exclusion has you struggling to maintain a Blake Griffin-puppetmaster level of control. (If you'd like to send the Power Rankings an e-mail, I'm here.)