NCAA College Basketball Top 25 Rankings: Updated February 17 2009

NCAA College Basketball Top 25 Power Rankings Courtesy of Alex Smart, An Award-Winning Professional Basketball Handicapper Featured on Touthouse.com. If you are Betting on College Basketball this Season be Sure to Buy Alex’s Expert NCAA Basketball Predictions - Rankings updated on Feb. 17, 2009.

1. UCONN- Hasheem Thabeet showed exactly why he will be a unanimous 1st team All America selection in the Huskies’ win at Seton Hall; Pitt visits on Monday for what should be the Big East’s contest of the year to date.

2. UNC - North Carolina tallied a pair of road victories this week, none sweeter than Tyler Hansbrough’s fourth straight, “W,” over Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium; Ty Lawson cannot be stopped once he beats a defender off the dribble.

3. OKLAHOMA - Along with the aforementioned Thabeet, OU’s Blake Griffin will be a unanimous pick for All America status, and possibly a unanimous pick for Player of the Year; the sophomore reached new career highs in points and rebounds with 40 and 23 respectively in the Sooners’ victory over Texas Tech.

4. PITT - The Panthers have won five straight and seven of their last eight; a win at UConn on Monday is very much within Pitt’s reach, but DaJuan Blair mustn’t get into early foul trouble.

5. MEMPHIS - With a 16-game winning streak and a 3-game lead in the Conference USA standings, it’s safe to say that Memphis is one of the nation’s premiere teams, and ready to make another run next month; the Tigers beat their opponents this week by an average of 25.5 points

6. MICHIGAN STATE - After devouring rival Michigan, the Spartans had the rest of the week to themselves, which will either prove to be beneficial or costly with contests at Purdue and vs. Wisconsin coming up

7. LOUISVILLE - Rick Pitino laid into his team after Notre Dame spanked the Cardinals by 33; Louisville responded by taking out it’s aggression on winless-in-conference foe, DePaul, on Sunday 99-54

8. GONZAGA - Though the Zags barely escaped their West Coast road trip to St. Mary’s and San Francisco, they’ve built a sound 3-game lead in the WCC; Gonzaga hosts LMU and Pepperdine this week

9. WAKE FOREST - NC State surprised the Demon Deacons mid-week, but Wake bounced back and hammered Florida State by 23-points just 3-days later; Wake will absolutely contend for an ACC Tournament crown.

10. ILLINOIS - Sooner or later someone will figure out that 7′1″ center, Mike Tisdale, can knock down any shot on the court; the Illini showed resilience and strong determination in a comeback win at Northwestern, followed by a win at Indiana on Sunday.

11. MISSOURI - As much as the “Zou Crew” loved watching the Tigers beat Nebraska by 23-points over the weekend, nothing tops knocking off the Jayhawks, 62-60 last Monday.

12. VILLANOVA - After posting a 102-84 win over Marquette, Nova was severely upended by West Virginia; the Wildcats can very easily right the ship on Thursday when Rutgers pays a visit.

13. MARQUETTE - The Golden Eagles were just another Big East team to split a pair of contests this week; even SEC football thinks the balance and talent in the Big East is ridiculous!

14. PURDUE - Forward, Robbie Hummel, played 24-minutes and accounted for 2-points in Purdue’s 49-45 win over Iowa; the sophomore missed Purdue’s last 3-games due to a hairline fracture in his lower back.

15. DUKE - As if a home loss to UNC wasn’t bad enough, the Blue Devils lost at Boston College on Sunday; it was the Eagles first victory over Duke in 24 years.

16. ARIZONA STATE - Arizona State swept the SoCal schools this week in Tempe, which included sweeping the series home-and-home with UCLA; James Harden is straight silk.

17. CLEMSON - Clemson took care of business at Boston College but just couldn’t go another 5-minutes in Charlottesville; UVA outscored the Tigers in overtime to claim an 85-81 victory.

18. UCLA - Plain and simple: UCLA was swept away in the desert, first by Arizona State, and then by the Wildcats in Tucson; it was Arizona’s first win over a ranked-UCLA squad in the past seven years.

19. DAYTON - UD knocked off its biggest rival, Xavier, on Wednesday, and then caught Richmond in a web; the Flyers are now atop the A-10 standings.

20. UTAH STATE - The Aggies fell on the road to Boise State on Saturday, halting the nation’s longest winning streak at 19-games; Utah State missed a chance to record the longest win streak in school history, as well as a chance to clinch the WAC outright.

21. TEXAS - Perhaps the Horns aren’t as good as everyone, including Denny Green, thought they were; Texas needed overtime to get by Colorado in Boulder over the weekend.

22. XAVIER - The only thing worse to a Xavier fan, than losing to Cincinnati, would be losing to Dayton; UD owned the Musketeers last Tuesday, beating XU 71-58 at UD Arena.

23. KANSAS - Beating in-state rival, Kansas State, in the Little-Apple over the weekend still doesn’t completely rid the taste of Mizzou’s victory over KU from a week ago.

24. BUTLER - Loyola (IL) went to Hinkle Fieldhouse on Sunday and beat Butler 71-67; what Butler team will decide to show up for the NCAA Tournament

25. ARIZONA - Zona has now strung together a seven-game winning streak after beating UCLA on Saturday; Russ Pennel deserves some serious consideration for PAC-10 Coach of the Year, just as junior, Jordan Hill, deserves to be at the front of the pack for the conference’s Player of the Year award.