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College Basketball Power Rankings: No. 1 Goes Down, Again

Written by Jimmy Boyd

cbb-power-21909 1. North Carolina Tar Heels (24-2)
Since losing their first two ACC games, the Heels have rattled off 10 in a row and are now looking like the team to beat in all of college hoops. This team has experience, depth, and talent. Anything but cutting down the nets will have been a failure for the Heels.

2. Oklahoma Sooners (25-1)
The Sooners just can’t crack the top spot because their strength of schedule is not nearly as tough as North Carolina’s, but I do believe this is a dangerous team. Blake Griffin is playing as well as anyone in the country and if the Heels fall, there will be nothing keeping OU out of the top spot. The Sooners do have a couple tough games with Texas and Kansas coming up that they’ll have to survive.

3. Pittsburgh Panthers (24-2)
If you beat the best, you deserve to jump them. Pitt took it to the Huskies on the road to give them their first loss in Big East play. DeJaun Blair was sensational, dominating 7-3 Hasheem Thabeet on the interior despite giving up about six inches in height.

4. Connecticut Huskies (24-2)
You haven’t heard the last of UConn and you can bet it already has the March 7th date at Pitt circled. South Florida will feel the wrath of UConn’ first loss Saturday.

5. Louisville Cardinals (20-5)
When this team is on, it is unstoppable. The Cards turned it on in the second half against Providence to rout the Friars. Because of how pesky the Cards are on defense, they have a serious shot to make a Final Four run.

6. Memphis Tigers (23-3)
Not much was expected of this team after losing a lot of scoring from last season’s runner-up squad, but the Tigers have put themselves back on the map with defense and the pollsters have taken notice.

7. Wake Forest Demon Deacons (20-4)
The Deacs play their way right back into the top 10 in my power rankings with a strong performance against FSU and a pay back win over Georgia Tech. They’ll either rise or fall next week as they head to Cameron to take on Duke next.

8. Clemson Tigers (21-4)
With wins over Duke and Boston College in the past couple weeks, the Tigers are playing as well as anyone in the ACC outside of North Carolina. Trevor Booker was sensational in Tuesday’s big win over Maryland. I’m looking forward to seeing the rematch with Wake Forest on March 8th.

9. Villanova Wildcats (20-5)
I was falling in love with the Cats and then they had to get blown out by West Virginia. I don’t read a lot into it and I expect Nova to roll Rutgers tonight. Villanova crushed Syracuse on a neutral floor on Feb. 7 in the first meeting and I’m looking forward to that rematch Sunday.

10. Marquette Golden Eagles (22-4)
I’ll show some love to the Eagles and put them back in the top ten after back-to-back wins over Saint John’s and Seton Hall. The 12-point win over Seton Hall was a big one as the Pirates had just played UConn tough right before it and had won 5 of their last 6 games coming in.

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Beat the basketball lines with Jimmy Boyd’s NCAA basketball picks from now through the Final Four!

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