College Basketball Power Rankings: January 8

     With conference play opening up last week we had a top 15 matchup between Ohio State and Illinois where we saw the Fighting Illini win easily 74-55 and a controversial ending in the Colorado-Arizona game with a game winning three pointer by Colorado was taken away.  From here on out, this is where things get juicy.  Here we go.

1. Duke Blue Devils (14-0, LW 1) - Duke has been coasting lately and even though conference play is starting that still might not change.  The ACC is nowhere near as talented as it once was but they will have one of their tougher tests this week at NC State.
2. Michigan Wolverines (15-0, LW 1) - Two Big Ten games, two 28-point wins.  That's how Michigan opened up last week against Northwestern and Iowa.  The Big Ten is by far the best conference with six team ranked and three in the top-ten.  We will see how good this team is with back-to-back road games against Ohio State and Minnesota coming up.
3. Louisville Cardinals (13-1, LW 3) - The Cardinals had a huge win over rival Kentucky, a game they saw their center Gorgui Dieng back in action.  He only saw 20 minutes that game but against Providence he recorded 11 points, 11 boards, and 4 blocks.
4. Indiana Hoosiers (14-1, LW 5) - IU was tested in their opener at Iowa mainly in part because sharp-shooting Jordan Hulls went 0-10 from the floor and 0-4 from 3 (he's over 50% for both on the year).  They bounced back though with a 74-51 win at Penn State.  Next up a tough Minnesota team.
5. Kansas Jayhawks (12-1, LW 6) - Temple tried to take down its second top-ten team this year but Kansas was too much down the stretch.  With only a surprise loss to Michigan State, this Jayhawks squad is poised to make a strong push through the Big 12.
6. Arizona Wildcats (14-0, LW 4) - I wanted to drop the Wildcats further because if it wasn't for a bad call by the refs this team would not be undefeated.  Even with a review they still took away Colorado's Sabatino Chen's last-second 3.  None-the-less Arizona pulled the game out in OT but it will be interesting to see what happens in a poor Pac-12 where they are the only ranked team.
7. Syracuse Orange (14-1, LW 7) - The Big East is going to be a two-team race between Syracuse and Louisville for the top spot.  The Orange has a guard oriented offense led by Michael Carter-Williams and if he can learn to be a consistent scorer, they can be a very dangerous team down the stretch.
8. Minnesota Golden Gophers (14-1, LW 8) - Minnesota still isn't getting the credit they deserve from the media in my opinion.  After a convincing 13-point win over Michigan State maybe that will change.  The Gophers are strong on D, leading the Big Ten in blocks and steals.  We will get a real sense of this team as their next 3 games are at #12 Illinois, at #4 Indiana and home against #2 Michigan.  Yikes!
9. Gonzaga Bulldogs (15-1, LW 11) - Last week they had 3 road wins including, at Oklahoma State and at a tough Santa Clara team.  The West Coast Conference always has its share of teams looking to upset the Bulldogs including Saint Mary's (next up) and BYU.
10. Florida Gators (10-2, LW 13) - The Gators looked nice early on but are climbing the ranks because of other reams losing.  Playing in a watered-down SEC they will have to win a lot of games decisively and not slip up against any of the middle teams to stay respected
11. Missouri Tigers (11-2, LW 12) - After a nice win over Illinois, Missouri fell to UCLA in OT and sneaked out a win over a strong Bucknell team.  Phil Pressey has been leading the charge of last with 19 points and 19 assists against UCLA and 26 points against Bucknell.
12. Illinois Fighting Illini (14-2, LW 10) - Illinois is starting to get a little shaky of late going 2-2 in its last 4.  They started conference play with an ugly loss to a bad Purdue team 68-61 but followed it up with a very impressive win over OSU 74-55.  They will get another test their next game at home against Minnesota.
13. Creighton Bluejays (14-1, LW 15) - The Missouri Valley Conference always has teams that sneak up on people once the tournament comes around but not this Creighton team.  Lead by Doug McDermott, who is third in the nation with 23.1 point per game, they will be a team to watch the rest of the season.
14. Notre Dame Fight Irish (14-2, LW NR) - Since losing early to Saint Joe's in OT, the Irish have picked up wins over BYU, Kentucky and most recently on the road at Cincinnati.  Jack Cooley has been a double-double machine averaging 15 points and 11 rebounds.  I bet their fans quickly turned their attention to the hardwood after the performance from their football team last night against Alabama in the BCS Championship game.
15. Ohio State Buckeyes (11-3, LW 9) - So apparently this team doesn't fair well against ranked opponents.  Their three toughest games have been their three losses (Duke, Kansas, Illinois).  The Buckeyes will have to find another scoring threat to go along with Deshaun Thomas or else the Big Ten season will be long and ugly for OSU.

Biggest Jump - Notre Dame up 4
Biggest Drop - Ohio State down 6