FrontRowSportsReport.com: Sports Blog

Well, we saw another crazy week in College Basketball where some of the top teams lost creating more shifts in the polls. The Memphis Tigers (25-0) stayed on top of the polls for the fifth straight week, while the Tennessee Volunteers (23-2) moved up to #2 after the Duke Blue Devils lost to Wake Forest last night. Having the Tigers and Volunteers atop the polls couldn’t have come at a better time as the two teams play each other this Saturday in Memphis.

Ironically the North Carolina Tar Heels moved up to the 3rd spot, while the Blue Devils dropped to #4 - didn’t the Blue Devils beat the Tar Heels not so long ago?  The Kansas Jayhawks also dropped a couple of spots, now ranked #5,  after their loss to Texas. The Texas Longhorns made the biggest jump of the week moving up 4 spots to #7 after their big win over Kansas.

Here is the full Top 25  poll for the 15th week of the 2007 - 2008 College Basketball Season.

1. Memphis 25-0
2. Tennessee 23-2
3. North Carolina 24-2
4. Duke 22-2
5. Kansas 24-2
6. UCLA 22-3
7. Texas 21-4
8. Butler 24-2
9. Stanford 21-4
10. Wisconsin 21-4
11. Georgetown 20-4
12. Xavier 21-4
13. Connecticut 20-5
14. Indiana 21-4
15. Purdue 21-5
16. Vanderbilt 22-4
17. Michigan State 20-5
18. Drake 23-2
19. Washington State 20-5
20. Saint Mary’s 22-3
21. Notre Dame 19-5
22. Texas A&M 20-5
23. Louisville 20-6
24. Marquette 18-6
25. Kansas State 18-6

I did not see this one coming yesterday. Previously undefeated and #1 ranked North Carolina Tar Heels lost to unranked Maryland Terrapins 82-80 in a thriller of a game. The Tar Heels (18-1) looked like they were going to run the table until their big match-up with the #5 ranked Duke Blue Devils in early February but they might have overlooked the Terrapins(12-7) .

Maryland’s James Gist led the team with 22 points and 12 rebounds as the Terrapins led most of the game but at one point blew an 11-point lead midway through the 2nd half. The Terrapins contained Tyler Hansbrough with tough defense and forced the Tar Heels to look outside for shots that just didn’t fall. Meanwhile the Terrapins hit all the shots they needed to and showed some promise in a season that has been very disappointing. “I think our players really believed that if we could execute really good on offense, we had a chance to win the game,” Maryland coach Gary Williams said.

Hansbrough finished with 17 points and 14 rebounds to lead the Tar Heels in a game that saw the former top team shoot just 38% and 7-for-23 from 3-point range. If you shoot 38% you are not going to win games. North Carolina coach Roy Williams took the blame for the loss saying, “I haven’t done a very good job with this basketball team the last couple of weeks. We’ve been living on the edge, and it caught up with us today.”

Maryland now heads to play top 5 team Duke on the 27th while North Carolina will look to rebound against Miami on the 23rd.