FrontRowSportsReport.com: Sports Blog

Remember when Vince Carter was the man? Remember him playing for the North Carolina Tar Heels? Remember people calling him the next Michael Jordan? Yeah…so Vince Carter will never be Jordan because he cant lead a team but man that guy can put up some highlights on the basketball court. This video shows some of his best moments from High School…high flying dunks and some serious blocks. I cant even imagine being on the opposing team and facing Carter.

The North Carolina Tar Heels are now the new (for this week at least) #1 ranked team in the nation according to the latest College Basketball poll released a few minutes ago.  The Tennessee Volunteers were only able to hold onto the top spot for 1 week despite Bruce Pearl pleading his case. The Vols beat previously top ranked Memphis Tigers last week but then lost to #14 Vanderbilt a few days later.

The Tar Heels (27-2) were the preseason #1 and spent the first 10 weeks of the season in that spot. The UCLA Bruins moved up from 4th to 2nd, the Memphis Tigers are ranked 3rd followed by Tennessee and the Duke Blue Devils who are ranked 5th.

Here are the full top 25 college basketball rankings for the 17th week of the 2007/2008 College Basketball season.

1. North Carolina (19) 27-2
2. UCLA (6) 26-3
3. Memphis (6) 28-1
4. Tennessee 26-3
5. Duke 25-3
6. Kansas 26-3
7. Stanford 24-4
8. Wisconsin 24-4
9. Texas 24-5
10. Georgetown 24-4
11. Xavier 25-4
12. Butler 27-3
13. Louisville 24-6
14. Connecticut 23-6
15. Purdue 23-6
16. Vanderbilt 24-5
17. Indiana 24-5
18. Michigan State 23-6
19. Notre Dame 22-6
20. Marquette 21-7
21. Drake 25-4
22. Washington State 22-7
23. Gonzaga 23-6
24. Brigham Young 23-6
25. Mississippi State 20-8

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

The 5th ranked North Carolina Tar Heels are going to be heading into today’s game against the Virginia Tech Hokies without three of their top five scorers. Tar Heels spokesman said yesterday that, along with point guard Ty Lawson, forwards Dean Thompson and Danny Green are questionable for today’s game.

Lawson has missed three consecutive games with a sprained left ankle. Green has the flu and was unable to practice yesterday. Thompson hyper-extended his left knee in the Tar Heels game against Virginia.

The Duke Blue Devils came out swinging last night and knocked out the North Carolina Tar Heels 89-78 in Chapel Hill in a game that saw the 2nd and 3rd ranked teams battle it out before March Madness goes into full effect. Duke was unstoppable behind the arc knocking down 13 three-pointers and despite Tyler Hansbrough’s best efforts, the Tar Heels just couldn’t keep up - especially with starting point guard Ty Lawson out with a busted ankle.

The Blue Devils controlled most of the game with their shooting, hitting big 3’s whenever the Tar Heels looked to be gaining momentum - the Blue Devils were 13 for 20 from 3-point land while the Tar Heels were just 3 for 17. The Blue Devils led by as many as 11 points in the first half and never trailed after halftime.

The #2 ranked Blue Devils (20-1) were led by Greg Paulus who scored 18 points and Jon Scheyer who put in 17 points. Tar Heels (21-2) center Hansbrough led all scorers with 28 points and also had a game high 18 rebounds.

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.

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

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.