Here we are, halfway through the 2007-08 college basketball schedule.  What have we learned so far?

-         Memphis is for real, in a big, big way

-         Coach K will always reload, and so long as he does Duke will always be a player

-         Pollsters love plucky mid-majors (see end of rankings below)

-         Georgetown is mostly hype and bullshit, but they play the right way and will be in the Sweet Sixteen; I can’t say the same with any certainty about my Marquette Golden Eagles

-         The Pac-10 is the best conference in America, going away; the Big East is second

-         OJ Mayo should have gone to North Carolina; Carmelo Anthony is a nice guy but he almost ruined everything

-         It is difficult to do regular college basketball rankings, and the task is not for the faint of heart (or easily discouraged)

Now’s the time of year where we find out what kind of team we’ve got, a surprisingly resilient and scrappy bunch of gunners (Tennessee) or a weak and frustrating crew that needs a bit more time in the oven (Vanderbilt).  And what’s more, like with the above sample, we can find both out in one game!

So strap yourselves in and let’s see who is going to crumble immediately after receiving praise from yours truly.  Onto the rankings:

1)      Memphis –Forgive them for looking ahead to their February 23 home game against Tennessee.  Since conference play started, the Tigers haven’t had a game closer than eight points, and aside from the OT win over USC, that statement is true for the season as a whole.

2)      North Carolina – Duke comes to Chapel Hill February 6, and if you don’t think Dickie V has been saving up those surgically-repaired vocal chords for that one you are out of your mind.  The Maryland loss hurt, but this isn’t football: one two-point loss doesn’t doom a great team.

3)      Duke – Undefeated so far in ACC play and looking good.  They beat the team that beat UNC, so they should be rated above the Heels, right?  Incorrect.  I’m making Coach K and the Dukies earn this one.  February 6, they have their chance.  Lots of balance on this team.

4)      Kansas – Prior to last night’s game against K-State, Kansas’ average margin of victory in conference play stood at 23 points a game.  They looked like a world-class wrecking crew primed to meet Memphis in San Antonio.  Then they got pasted in Manhattan, KS, losing for the first time there in 25 years, but all is not lost.  A team’s first loss coming at the end of January is a good thing.

5)      UCLA – The Pac-10 is the Wild West right now.  Aside from Oregon State and Cal, every game is a street fight, and UCLA got whooped on by USC last week.  Ben Howland can do a lot with a loss like that, and the Bruins responded nicely on the road at Oregon in their next game.

6)      Tennessee – You get all the way to #3 and then blow it to Kentucky!?!?  You kidding me, Bruce Pearl?  That game was ugly, as all Kentucky wins will have to be, but Chris Lofton appears to have finally awoken, with over twenty points in each of the last three games.  UT remains the class of the SEC.

7)      Indiana – The UConn loss last week showcased the relative strengths of each conference.  JaMarcus Ellis had a horrible game following a shout-out here (the curse goes on) and the Hoosiers lost.  Up next is Wisconsin, and then we will know a little more about what were dealing with in Bloomington.

8)      Georgetown – Somebody call the police!  Georgetown stole a victory from Bob Huggins and West Virginia!  Luckily, the Hoyas have three games before they play another good team, ample time to figure out what the hell is going on with them.

9)      Michigan State – I am still having trouble getting over that grotesque loss to Iowa a few weeks back, and they remain entrenched at second place in the Big Ten.  Raymar Morgan and Drew Neitzel have become quite the little tandem, though: inside-outside, boards and dimes, and now three weeks before a capable foe comes to East Lansing.

10)  Washington State – The way Wazzu plays ball, one is tempted to say they will be a tough out in March.  They are used to playing tight games, they play suffocating defense, they feature a trio of experienced guards who all bring something different to the table…but they’ve been blown out by the two best teams they’ve played this year.  Though each is a home game, o one envies the Cougars their upcoming three-game stretch of Stanford, UCLA, and USC.

11)  Wisconsin – The Badgers have won exactly one time at Purdue in the last thrity-two years.  There is no good explanation for this, as a litany of coaches and players have been involved throughout the span.  Until that loss, Wisco had won ten in a row.  Brian Butch and Trevon Hughes answer Michigan State’s top duo, and Bo Ryan is a gamer.

12)  Stanford – They fell off the radar early in the season, but with Brook Lopez back in the fold Stanford is the third-best team in the Pac-10.  What were the Cardinal missing without him?  Eighteen points and eight rebounds a game.  Yep, that’s a huge upgrade.  Go to class, man!

13)  Marquette – Call them the Marquette Pogo Sticks: they are up and down and all over the place, and they don’t exactly belong to a conference they can afford to screw around in.  They are currently tied for third in the Big East with two teams who have beaten them recently, but are heading down to Cincinnati on the heels of a decent pair of wins.  Power forward Lazar Hayward is ready for his close-up.

14)  Kansas State – Welcome back to the party!  MASSIVE win over the Jayhawks, on the heels of similarly dominating performances in four of their five Big 12 games, including one over Texas A&M.  K-State appears to have recovered from the early season jitters and is playing as good or better than anyone but Memphis right now.  Beasley and Walker account for 41 points and 19 rebounds a game.

15)  Texas A&M – Staring down a defining three-game stretch, Texas A&M pulled up lame and lost all three.  The five-OT thriller against Baylor at least showed they had the mettle and strength of a contender, but still, they lost.  The Texas win stopped the bleeding and my have salvaged their season.  They should send Rick Barnes a fruit basket.

16)  Pittsburgh – Rutgers.  The Rutgers Scarlet Knights.  A state university so ashamed of its state that it uses a different name for the school comes into your house and wins by thirteen and you expect to be taken seriously?  Rutgers is 2-6 in conference, 10-11 overall.  Sorry fellas, we’re going to have to put you on hold.  Nice win over Villanova last night.  Rutgers, though.  Rutgers.

17)  Texas – I don’t know what to do with these guys anymore.  They beat UCLA, get blown out by Missouri, squeak by Colorado and Oklahoma State, destroy Texas Tech and then get spanked by Texas A&M.  They don’t know who they are yet, so why would anybody else?

18)  Florida – That is how you declare intentions on a national stage.  The school has won the last two national titles.  Everybody wrote them off with all the principles from those teams gone, but Billy Donovan is still around.  After the impressive devastation of Vanderbilt, the Gators are back on everybody’s mind and a team capable, on any given night, of ripping another’s soul to pieces.

19)  Butler, Drake, Xavier, St. Mary’s – Okay, so here’s the deal: pollsters everywhere are seriously trying to convince us that these four teams deserve to be ranked in the Top Twenty-five.  I understand how the mid-major process works, and it is nice that national pollsters are throwing these schools a bone.  But let’s get real here.  Answer the following questions honestly: does Drake really deserve to be ranked?  Butler at twelve?  Xavier is the only one among them that can claim quality wins to its credit.  Or a decent conference.  You know what…

19)Xavier – I can live with this.

20)  Vanderbilt – Soft.  Undisciplined.  Scared.  Inconsistent.  That’s how you describe a team that won its first sixteen games but has lost four of five and generally looked bad doing so.  The wheels are coming off, and Ogilvy looks more frightened every game.  A couple big wins and they are right back in the thick of a crowded pack behind UT in the SEC.  They better get moving.

Noses up against the glass, fists pounding, walls shaking:

Arizona – They will be in the mix come March.  Too much talent not to be.

Mississippi – The Rebels stand as much a chance as anyone of playing UT in the SEC title game.  Nice wins over Florida and Vandy.

Baylor – It’s amazing this program still exists, but these guys are actually pretty good and caught the rest of the Big 12 napping.  All hail the rise of the also-rans!

UConn – Like John McCain’s presidential campaign, UConn is coming on when it matters and beating worthy competition.  The Big East just got more difficult.

Dayton – Three straight losses render thirteen straight wins obsolete.  If they could only get freshmen forward Chris Wright on the floor, things would be different.