FrontRowSportsReport.com: Sports Blog

After Saturdays night game between then #1 ranked Memphis Tigers and #2 Tennessee Volunteers there was no shock when the College Basketball Poll’s were released today. With the 66-62 victory, the Volunteers are now the number 1 ranked team in the nation - they received all 31  first-place votes.

The loss by the Tigers, which ended their 47 home court winning streak, dropped them to the 3rd spot in the rankings. The North Carolina Tar Heels moved up one to the 2nd spot. The Duke Blue Devils, after losing again last week dropped to #6 - honestly I am shocked they did not drop even more.

Here is the full top 25 College Basketball rankings for the 16th week of this College Basketball Season.

1. Tennessee (31) 25-2
2. North Carolina 26-2
3. Memphis 26-1
4. UCLA 24-3
5. Texas 23-4
6. Duke 23-3
7. Kansas 24-3
8. Stanford 22-4
9. Wisconsin 23-4
10. Georgetown 22-4
11. Xavier 24-4
12. Indiana 23-4
13. Butler 25-3
14. Vanderbilt 23-4
15. Michigan State 22-5
16. Connecticut 21-6
17. Notre Dame 21-5
18. Louisville 22-6
19. Purdue 21-6
20. Drake 24-3
21. Marquette 20-6
22. Washington State 21-6
23. Saint Mary’s 23-4
24. Kent State 23-5
25. Brigham Young 21-6

In what was by far the game of the day - maybe the year, the #2 ranked Tennessee Volunteers came to Memphis and took out the top ranked Tigers 66-62.

The Tigers played very well but the Volunteers were just the better team tonight. The two teams kept it close for most of the game with both teams switching leads throughout both periods. In the end it came down to clutch free-throw shooting by the Volunteers - in the last 6 minutes the Volunteers when 4 for 5 while the Tigers went 1 for 6.  In a close game like this free throw’s take on even more importance - for the game the Volunteers shot 66% and the Tigers shot a horrendous 47%. You will not win big games shooting below 50% at the free throw line.

The Volunteers (25-2)  were led by forward Tyler Smith who had 3 16 points & 6 rebounds, sophomore forward Wayne Chism who had 13 points & 7 rebounds. J.P. Prince came off the bench to give the Volunteers a much needed spark putting in 13 points and grabbing 8 rebounds. The Tigers (26-1) were led by freshman guard Derrick Rose who had a game high 23 points and junior guard Chris Douglas-Roberts who put in 14 points.

Now it will be interesting to see how the Memphis Tigers rebound from this game. All season long I have questioned just how good they are, this game did not prove anything except that they are good, but not how good. All will be found out in a few weeks when the NCAA Tournament starts.

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

With 4 of the top 10 teams losing last week, we saw a good amount of shifting going on in the Top 25 polls released today. The Memphis Tigers and Duke Blue Devils remained the top 2 teams in the country but after them every team seemed to change their rank.

With the loss by the North Carolina Tar Heels to the Duke Blue Devils, the previously ranked #3 Tar Heels dropped only a couple spots to #5. The Kansas Jawhawks took over the 3rd spot with the Tennessee Volunteers moving up 3 spots to a season best #4 rank.

Other big movers included the Stanford Cardinals who have been moving steadily up the rankings the past few weeks - the Cardinals are now ranked 7th. UCLA made a move in the wrong direction after their upset loss to the Washington Huskies - the Bruins dropped from #4 to #6 and to be honest they could have dropped further.

Memphis has been at the top of the college basketball polls for 3 straight weeks and collected all 31 first place votes in the ESPN / USA Today poll. With a great deal of the top 25 teams heading into tough conference games this week I am sure these rankings will change dramatically yet again next Monday.

Here is the full ESPN / USA Today Top 25 Poll for the 14th week of the College Basketball Season.

1. Memphis (31) 23-0
2. Duke 21-1
3. Kansas 23-1
4. Tennessee 21-2
5. North Carolina 22-2
6. UCLA 21-3
7. Stanford 20-3
8. Georgetown 19-3
9. Michigan State 20-3
10. Butler 21-2
11. Texas 19-4
12. Indiana 20-3
13. Xavier 20-4
14. Wisconsin 19-4
15. Drake 22-1
16. Texas A&M 20-4
17. Connecticut 18-5
18. Notre Dame 18-4
19. Vanderbilt 20-4
20. Washington State 18-5
21. Saint Mary’s 20-3
22. Kansas State 17-5
23. Purdue 19-5
24. Pittsburgh 18-5
25. Marquette 16-6

Every year the college basketball game between the Duke Blue Devils and the North Carolina Tar Heels always has some sort of meaning, regardless of where the two teams are ranked. Well, tomorrows meeting will be a good one because as of yesterdays ESPN /USA Today poll Duke is ranked #2 and North Carolina is ranked #3 both teams will be looking to stake their claim at the top of both the College Basketball polls and ACC conference standings.
Duke (19-1) has been climbing the polls steadily since starting out the season ranked #11. North Carolina (21-1) followed a similar path and will look to take over the the #2 spot and tie Duke for the ACC conference lead - Duke is 7-0 in the ACC and North Carolina is 6-1.

The Tar Heels might be without starting point guard Ty Lawson who has been averaging 14.1 points and 6.0 assists per game. Lawson hurt his left ankle in Sundays game against the Florida State Seminoles. North Carolina coach Roy Williams said that Lawson’s status will not be known until after tonight’s practice.

The Memphis Tigers, the nations only undefeated Division I team, is again on top of the poll followed by Duke, North Carolina, UCLA Bruins and the Kansas Jayhawks. The Jayhawks were previously ranked #2 but lost to #24 Kansas State last Wednesday 84-75.

The number 1 team in College Basketball, the Memphis Tigers, expected to have an easier game today against the Texas-El Paso Miners but they got all they could handle. The Tigers (21-0) Chris Douglas-Roberts scored with 2:21 left in the game to break a 60-60 tie and never looked back as they outlasted the Miners (13-7) to extend the nations longest home-court winning streak and remain unbeaten.

This game was by far the toughest match-up yet for the top-ranked Tigers who have averaged a 25.7 victory margin so far this season. The Miners kept the Tigers guessing all game long with shifting defenses and carefully planned timeouts in order to keep the Tigers face paced offense in check.

The Tigers were led by Douglas-Roberts who scored 24 points and the Miners were led by Stefon Jackson who put up a game-high 27 points. Memphis has an easy road for the rest of the season with their only ranked opponent coming February 23 - the currently ranked #8 Tennessee Volunteers.

It is getting lonely at the top for the Memphis Tigers as previously ranked #2 and unbeaten Kansas Jayhawks were upset by #24 Kansas State Wildcats last night 84-75. The Jayhawks went into a game with a 20-1 record and the argument that they should be in the top spot.

The Wildcats (15-4) have not been able to beat the Jayhawks (20-1) on their own home court for the past 24 years, but this year was different because they were led by projected #1 pick in the 2008 NBA Draft Michael Beasley. Beasley, a freshman forward, scored 25 points to lead all players. “I know it means a lot around the city, people at the school,” said Beasley after the game. “But it’s just a game to me.” I would think the fans who stormed the court might think a bit differently.

The Wildcats, beyond Beasley’s 25, got help from Bill Walker who scored 22 and Jacob Pullen who scored 20. The Jayhawks were led by Darrell Arthur who scored 12 and Brandon Rush who put up 15.

Beasley, who is 6-9 and 235, is leading the nation in rebounding (12.4 rebounds per game) and is ranked 4th nationally in scoring (25.3 points per game). Beasley is definitely a player of the year candidate after this game, however he needs to get his teams some big wins in the coming weeks.

After the Maryland Terrapins upset the previously unbeaten North Carolina Tar Heels Saturday we all were wondering who would be the new #1. The Memphis Tigers or Kansas Jayhawks could both stake claims to the top spot, however in the just released ESPN /USA Today Top 25 poll the nod went to the Tigers, the Tar Heels dropped to #4.

The Tigers, who were last ranked #1 back in 1983,  had been ranked #2 for the past 7 weeks and were waiting for an upset to happen.  The Tigers are 17-0 and 4-0 in conference play are one of only 2 unbeaten teams remaining - the other being the  #2 ranked Kansas Jayhawks. The Tigers received 21 of 31 first-place votes while the Jayhawks received the other 10 first place votes.

Here is the latest ESPN / USA Today Top 25 College Basketball poll:

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

Not sure how many of you College Basketball fans caught this game today, but if you did you were probably as shocked as I was at the outcome. #4 Georgetown Hoyas came down to Tennessee to play the #2 ranked Memphis Tigers looking to end the Tigers home winning streak at 36 games…however, the Tigers were not going to have any of it.  Led by junior guard Chris Douglas-Roberts who put up 24 points and freshman guard Derrick Rose who put up 18, the Tigers showed that they are for real as they took down the Hoyas 85-71.

The Hoyas were lead by freshman guard Austin Freeman who had 14 points and  Sophomore forward DaJuan Summers who put up 13. Senior Center and preseason All-American Roy Hibbert had a season low 6 points for the Hoyas.

Georgetown coach John Thompson III had this to say about the Tigers: “They had contributions up and down the line. That’s what good teams do. That’s why you have to look at them as one of the best, if not the best, team in the country right now because they can hurt you in so many different ways.”

Memphis had been crtizied for playing in a weak conference (Conference USA) and that is why they have scheudled some tough out of conference opponents like the Hoyas. With the win the Tigers went to 10-0 while the Hoyas dropped to 8-1.