THE TIMES RANKINGS

ROBYN NORWOOD’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL RANKINGS AND COMMENTS

*--* Rank Team (record) Comments 1 ARIZONA (4-0) Luke Walton’s ankle injury makes Texas game Sunday tougher 2 PITTSBURGH (5-0) Tests finally ahead against Ohio State, Georgia 3 DUKE (5-0) When in doubt, pick Duke 4 ALABAMA (6-0) One coach says “Mo” Williams is best NBA point guard prospect 5 INDIANA (7-0) Freshman Bracey Wright certainly has the right stuff 6 OREGON (5-0) Ducks wish they played this way against Kansas last March 7 NOTRE DAME (8-1) Mike Brey’s players had a better week than Tyrone Willingham’s 8 TEXAS (5-1) Longhorns could forget loss to Irish by upsetting hobbled Arizona on Sunday 9 OKLAHOMA (4-1) Pasadena is on Sooner fans’ minds. Save New Orleans for later 10 CONNECTICUT (6-0) Emeka Okafor leads nation with 13.5 rebounds a game 11 KENTUCKY (5-1) Keith Bogans finally living up to his talent 12 ILLINOIS (6-0) Leads nation in margin of victory at 29.4 points 13 MARQUETTE (5-1) The student,Tom Crean, is outdoing the teacher, Michigan State’s Tom Izzo 14 MARYLAND (4-2) Teams from the state of Indiana -- IU, Notre Dame -- troubling Terps 15 NORTH CAROLINA (5-2) Blown out by Illinois and Kentucky 16 FLORIDA (6-2) Game against Maryland on Saturday will send loser tumbling 17 KANSAS (4-3) This many losses this early in December would disqualify most teams 18 STANFORD (4-1) Cardinal joins Arizona and Oregon above rest of Pac-10 19 XAVIER (5-1) Won the contest of spaghetti-chili city against Cincinnati 20 MISSOURI (5-0) Up and down against USC in the Wooden Classic 21 TULSA (4-1) Strong showing in a loss to a Kansas team desperate to win 22 MISSISSIPPI STATE (5-1) Mario Austin is back after NCAA checks its paperwork 23 TEXAS TECH (5-0) Yes, he’s back, too -- with a team that’s probably better 24 CREIGHTON (6-0) Kyle Korver and Co. beat Notre Dame long before Irish’s big week 25 COLL. CHARLESTON (6-0) Tom Herrion has stepped in nicely after retirement of John Kresse

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