FrontRowSportsReport.com: Sports Blog

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

I would hate to be any top team that has to play the Vanderbilt Commodores - especially on their home court. Last night the 14th ranked Commodores knocked out the soon to be previously ranked #1 Tennessee Volunteers 72-69. This is the 4th time this season that Vandy has taken out a top ranked team on their home court. All I have to say to anyone that has to play the Commodores in the NCAA Tournament…watch out.

The Commodores (24-4) were led by Senior Guard / Forward Shan Foster who put up a game high 31 points and Sophomore guard Jermaine Beal who put in 17.

Vandy should be heading into the NCAA Tournment with as much confidence as anyone, the one thing the Commodores need to work on is closing out games earlier instead of saving it for last minute theatrics. “We feel like we’re the best team in the country in terms of winning games down the stretch,” said Shan Foster after the game. “We’ve proven that time and time again, winning games that are close. When you do that over and over like we have, it gives you an edge. It gives you an air of confidence to where you play calm. We’re more calm at the end of games than we are at the beginning of games, as crazy as that may sound.”

The Volunteers (25-3) were led by senior guard Chris Lofton who scored 25 points and sophomore forward Tyler Smith who put in 11 points and grabbed 17 rebounds. The Volunteers were killed by poor shooting all night long - shooting just 32.8% from the field will not win you games. Maybe the Bruce Pearl video and / or Erin Andrews distracted the team? She is HOT.

With another #1 team losing next weeks NCAA College Basketball Polls will have yet another “new number 1″ team. If North Carolina wins their games they should hop to the top.

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 Kentucky Wildcats (12-10) have struggled at times this season but they have started to play better basketball of late. Then they went to Nashville to play the #19 ranked Vanderbilt Commodores (21-4) and left with their worst loss since 1989 and their worst SEC conference loss ever.

The Commodores dominated the Wildcats all game long on their way to a 93-52 win, the Commodores led the game by as much as 43 points. The Wildcats were limited to only 11 points in the first half, yes that is not a typo – the winningest program in NCAA basketball history was limited to 11 first half points. Kentucky freshman Patrick Patterson summed up the game when he said - “To have them to stomp us into the ground like that, it’s horrible, they played like men, and we played like boys.”

Wildcats first-year coach Billy Gillespie is surely under some serious heat after this embarrassing game. The Wildcats season has been marked by numerous embarrassing losses including an 84-68 loss to Gardner-Webb (who?) in Rupp Arena and a 70-51 loss to Indiana, this loss to the Commodores just might be the 3rd strike for Gillespie. However, Gillespie somehow tried to make light of the loss. “We just got our tail kicked. That’s all there is to it. It’s one loss, and we got our tail kicked severely. Congratulations to Vanderbilt. They played fantastic. We’ll move on. We’ll make a positive out of it someway,” Gillespie said after the game. Just one loss? Umm no, this is your 10th loss this season for a team and school that prides itself on being competitive every single year. I think someone needs a reality check.

The Commodores were led by Shan Foster who scored 20 points and A.J. Ogilvy who put in 19 points and a game high 12 rebounds. Ramel Bradley led the Wildcats with a game high 21 points – 18 of them coming in the second half.