The Top 25 / College Basketball

Team (Record) Comment

1. Duke (9-1) Will get to top sooner or later anyway.

2. Connecticut (8-0) Pulled out a few in hostile arenas.

3. Kentucky (9-1) Showed the little Terps how it’s done.

4. Cincinnati (8-0) Needed OT to beat Minnesota.

5. Maryland (10-1) Beaten by Kentucky at its own game.

6. Stanford (5-2) Hard-luck Jason Collins out another year.

7. Arizona (5-0) Wildcats aren’t really top 10, but who is?

8. North Carolina (10-1) Good record, shaky team.

9. Purdue (10-1) Loss was to Carolina.

10. Indiana (10-2) Top 10 in name only.

11. New Mexico (6-0) Kenny Thomas returns Saturday.

12. St. John’s (8-2) Stanford and Purdue not bad losses.

13. Michigan State (6-3) Plays Pepperdine on Monday.

14. UCLA (5-2) Roller-coaster UNLV game might be typical.

15. Pittsburgh (7-4) Arena’s a Pitt to UConn’s Calhoun.

16. Minnesota (6-1)Tough OT loss against Cincinnati.

17. Clemson (9-1) Good start for Coach Shyatt.

18. Kansas (6-2) USC was in a Phog.

19. DePaul (6-2) Q. Richardson vs. KU tonight.

20. Syracuse (7-3) Doesn’t play, can’t lose.

21. Oklahoma St. (6-2) Arkansas transfer Alexander is solid.

22. Auburn (10-0) Tigers have some Person-ality.

23. Wisconsin (10-1) Beat Temple and Rhode Island--yawn.

24. Oklahoma (5-1) Loss was to Murray State.

25. Arkansas (7-2) Ought to string some wins together now.

GAME OF THE WEEK

DUKE (9-1) vs. KENTUCKY (9-1)

at East Rutherford, N.J.

* When--Tuesday. Time--6 PST. TV--ESPN.

* Story line--Stop shopping long enough to catch this one. There’s so much great history in the series, from Duke’s 1992 NCAA tournament victory on Christian Laettner’s last-second shot, right up to the freshest wound, when Kentucky beat Duke last season in an NCAA game Duke led by 17 points. If not for that Blue Devil collapse, the Wildcats couldn’t have won the NCAA title last year.