THE TIMES’ RANKINGS

COLLEGE BASKETBALL RANKINGS AND COMMENTS:

*--* Rk Team (Rec.) Comment 1 KENTUCKY (25-3) Nineteen in row make Kentucky the bluebloods of bluegrass 2 ARIZONA (23-2) These ‘Cats playing well, but not as well as Kentucky’s ‘Cats 3 PITTSBURGH (22-4) Panthers look as if they might have found their stride again 4 FLORIDA (24-5) One-point loss at Georgia shouldn’t be too costly 5 OKLAHOMA (21-5) It’s a tossup as to who is the best of the Big 12’s big three 6 KANSAS (23-6) Loss of Wayne Simien hurt Jayhawks’ postseason prospects 7 TEXAS (21-5) The Longhorns will try to stick it to Oklahoma Saturday 8 SYRACUSE (22-4) Orangemen know how to win on road as well as at Carrier Dome 9 WAK. FOREST (22-4) We dislike J-Ho nickname, but Josh Howard is the real deal 10 MARQUETTE (22-4) Revenge against Louisville was sweet 11 MARYLAND (19-7) Terrapins are chasing Wake Forest in the Atlantic Coast 12 DUKE (20-5) Vulnerability on road could prove troublesome in tournament 13 XAVIER (23-4) West is in the thick of Wooden Award race 14 ILLINOIS (20-6) Big Ten teams might lack staying power in NCAA tournament 15 STANFORD (22-7) They have best chance to upset Arizona in Pac-10 tournament 16 NOTRE DAME (21-8) Irish suddenly stumbling toward St. Patrick’s Day 17 GEORGIA (18-8) Watch out: If Harrick’s going, he might go out blazing 18 DAYTON (21-5) Make that 22-5: Idled St. Bonaventure next on schedule 19 CAL (20-6) Shipp is Pac-10’s leading scorer, but is Gardner player of year? 20 MEMPHIS (20-5) Nine wins in a row for Calipari’s team 21 CREIGHTON (26-4) Winning conference tournament would help NCAA seeding 22 OKLAHOMA STATE (20-8) Cowboys have gotten thrown a few too many times lately 23 LOUISVILLE (20-6) Season-ending knee injury to Ellis Myles is setback 24 WISCONSIN (22-6) Badgers win their first outright Big Ten title since 1947 25 UTAH (22-5) Loss to lowly New Mexico was a bad slip

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