That No. 1 spot in the college rankings is proving to be just as slippery for basketball players as it was for their football counterparts. Tennessee beats Memphis (-6.5), then loses to Vanderbilt (+2)? Inconceivable.

Actually, this is what you get when there are so many outstanding basketball programs at the top of the Division I food chain. Sorting out which teams to support and fade during March Madness is going to be a little more difficult this year. Time to get to work.

If you haven’t done so already, parcel some time out of your schedule to get up to speed on the 2007-08 season. Arrange your workspace efficiently in order to pack in as much study as possible; the Internet is, quite frankly, a godsend for research of any kind. But you still have to use it properly. Consider investing in some of those pay services like ESPN Insider; you’re very much in their demographic.

Bobby Knight has moved on. So have six other Division I men’s basketball coaches this season. Kelvin Sampson may be next; at press time, Indiana was reportedly on the verge of purging Sampson over allegations of improper recruiting.

Then you have Tim Welsh. Chances are Welsh will be looking for a new employer soon; his Providence Friars are near the bottom of the Big East standings at 4-10 (13-13 overall, 10-14 ATS), and everyone from the local papers to Athletic Director Bob Driscoll is preparing a pink slip for Welsh after a decade at PC.

Welsh first head coaching gig was at Iona, where he took over for his father, Jerry. That was a successful transition; the same cannot be said in Stillwater, where Sean Sutton’s OSU Cowboys are 13-12 (7-10 ATS) and going nowhere since the living legend Eddie Sutton “retired” two years ago. Let’s hope things work out better for Pat Knight at Texas Tech.

Sure, football is over for another season. But this isn’t the handicapping abyss by any means. The segue between the Super Bowl and March Madness is hardly a chore when there are so many great conference rivalries on the schedule.

Few things burn with more intensity than the ACC’s Battle of Tobacco Road between UNC and Duke. The Blue Devils (+4.5) marched on Chapel Hill last week and beat the Heels by 11 points; how crazy will Cameron Indoor Stadium be when the rematch goes down in the season finale?

Meanwhile, this week’s Big Ten gauntlet sees the Indiana Hoosiers host Wisconsin, Michigan State and Purdue – all ranked teams. The Boilers are Indiana’s traditional rivals dating back to 1901; Purdue leads the all-time series 107-83, although Indiana has been far more successful in modern times. The Hoosiers are always guaranteed a sea of red at Assembly Hall, so ESPN will be there for both Indiana-MSU and Indiana-Purdue.

Easily the biggest college basketball game of the week sees the No. 2 Duke Blue Devils (19-1 SU, 12-6-1 ATS) visit the No. 3 North Carolina Tar Heels (21-1 SU, 15-4 ATS). Odds weren’t available at press time, but judging by the overnight line from Vegas, North Carolina will be favored. Duke, however, is in fourth place in the efficiency rankings, while the Heels are seventh and pessimistic about point guard Ty Lawson’s status following Sunday’s sprained left ankle at Florida State.

While those two storied programs fight it out on ESPN, Saturday’s matchup between the Evansville Aces (6-15 SU, 8-11 ATS) and the No. 15 Drake Bulldogs (20-1 SU, 14-3 ATS at press time) gets squat for television coverage. The Bulldogs are the most profitable team in the nation, but Drake’s run might be getting a little too chalky; the Missouri Valley leaders are No. 24 in efficiency, nine spots below their ranking in the coaches’ poll.

The Memphis Tigers have seized the top spot in the college basketball rankings. They’re undefeated at 19-0, profitable at 10-7-2 ATS, and rampaging toward a No. 1 seed in the Tournament. But they’re not the favorites to win it all; that honor belongs to the Kansas Jayhawks at 3-1. Memphis appears affordably priced at 4-1.

The Tigers have the dubious distinction of playing in Conference-USA, a shadow of its former self at No. 10 in the conference efficiency rankings. That means less mainstream coverage and less respect for Memphis, already one of the smaller markets on the map.

It’s going to be difficult to pass up betting on Kansas, the only other undefeated club in Division I at 20-0 and a scorching 13-5 ATS. The Jayhawks are first in team efficiency; Memphis is second. But in a season with so many potential champions, there might be even more value on Duke (9-1) or Georgetown (18-1) to win it all.

We were more than happy to see the non-conference portion of the college basketball season come to an end. But we’re going to have to revisit those numbers in March, when teams from far and wide will be thrown together at the NCAA Tournament.

You can get an appreciation for the relative merits of each conference by looking at the RPI or, preferably, the Pomeroy rankings. The current leader in RPI is the Atlantic Coast Conference, followed by the Pacific-10 and the Big East. Pomeroy has the Pac-10 on top ahead of the Big 12 and the ACC.

Fans of the Missouri Valley Conference were worried this summer about getting just one berth in this year’s Tournament, and it looks like their fears may have been justified. The MVC has slipped behind the Atlantic-10 on both the RPI and Pomeroy charts. No wonder Drake is 7-0 SU in conference play and 11-2 ATS overall this year.

There are three undefeated teams in college basketball: North Carolina, Memphis and Kansas. That probably won’t last long; the Tar Heels (ACC) and the Jayhawks (Big 12) simply have too many quality opponents on the horizon to expect perfection. Mere dominance will do.

Kansas is 11-4 ATS, No. 3 in the polls and No. 1 in efficiency. Memphis hasn’t been the same moneymaker at 8-5-2 ATS, but Tigers supporters will take their profits. And North Carolina is blowing the doors off opponents at 12-2 ATS. The Tar Heels’ reputation, cemented by “Psycho T” Tyler Hansbrough, gives them the added fear factor you expect from a truly dominant club – and the No. 1 spot in the polls.

It’s tempting even at this early stage to add the UCLA Bruins into the mix and crown our inevitable Final Four. The Bruins are that good at 16-1 SU and 9-5-2 ATS. That loss to Texas seems more like a mosquito bite.

Ah yes…Selection Sunday. The one Sunday out of the year when college basketball fans all across the country gather around their television sets in great anticipation (many still dressed in their pajamas or still drunk from Saturday night’s bender) …with such burning questions on their minds as: 1. Who will the NCAA selection committee shaft this year? 2. Where will my team be seeded? And probably the most important question of all: CAN WE GET THIS OVER WITH SO I CAN FILL OUT MY BRACKET?

Mark this date on your calendars: March 16, 2008

Don’t like my take on Selection Sunday? Here’s Wikipedia’s definition: The selection process for College Basketball’s NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Championship determines which 65 teams will enter the tournament, known as March Madness, and where they will be seeded and placed in the 2008 March Madness bracket. It is done by a special selection committee appointed by the NCAA. Thirty teams have automatic bids by winning their conference tournament; the Ivy League regular-season champion receives an automatic bid because the Ivy League has no conference tournament. Therefore, only 34 teams (the at-large bids) rely on the selection committee to secure them a spot in the tournament. The selection process primarily takes place on Selection Sunday and the days leading up to it. Selection Sunday is also when the brackets and seeds are released to the public.

A couple more months and you’ll all be able to fill out those brackets…

Forget about the No. 1 North Carolina Tar Heels for a moment, okay? Let’s talk about the Memphis Tigers. Coach John Calipari and his motley Memphis crew hasn’t had any problems this season putting up those points. They’re averaging 90.4 points at home, the program’s highest home average over 13 years. Potential NBA lottery pick Derrick Rose is on the money scoring 14.8 points on 47.2 percent shooting (with 4.5 assists per game).

Things are looking good in Memphis these days, but we’ll check back in on ‘em in March.

AP Top 25 for the week of January 7, 2008:

No. School Record Points Prev.
1 North Carolina 16-0 1768 1
2 Memphis 14-0 1742 2
3 Kansas 15-0 1674 3
4 Wash. State 13-0 1532 4
5 UCLA 14-1 1522 5
6 Michigan State 14-1 1422 6
7 Georgetown 12-1 1332 7
8 Tennessee 13-1 1282 8
9 Duke 12-1 1257 9
10 Indiana 13-1 1125 11
11 Texas A&M 14-1 1102 12
12 Texas 13-2 944 14
13 Vanderbilt 16-0 925 15
14 Butler 14-1 822 16
15 Marquette 12-2 751 10
16 Mississippi 13-1 650 18
17 Dayton 13-1 554 20
18 Clemson 12-3 518 19
19 Villanova 11-2 465 17
20 Pittsburgh 13-2 461 13
21 Wisconsin 12-2 407 25
22 Rhode Island 14-2 393 23
23 Stanford 12-2 185 24
24 Xavier 13-3 128 32
25 Miami (Fla.) 13-1 85 27

Kenny George isn’t exactly your “average” college student. He plays basketball for the University of North Carolina at Asheville (UNCA) and leads the nation in most blocked shots per game (5.4). But what really makes this guy stand out is…well, his height. George is 7′7″, weighs 360 pounds and wears a shoe size 25. (To give you some idea as to how big that actually is — Shaquille O’Neal wears a 22.) He is the tallest player to ever suit up for the UNCA Bulldogs and the tallest player to ever suit up for the Big South Conference.

One would expect a guy that tall to take up basketball early on in life but as it happens George didn’t start playing b-ball until he was well into middle school. And when asked if he didn’t make the pros George said he’d also like to pursue his other interests, which include graphic design, animation, comic books and cartoons.

George’s high school coach Dave VanderMeulen remembers how well George fit in with the team, despite the odd questions coming from other people: “His physical presence is always noticed, so he cherishes moments of not having that,” Dave VanderMeulen said. “Our team tried to allow him time away from people asking if they can put their hand against his hand or how big his feet are.”

And what do his UNCA teammates think of him?

“When he got here, he wasn’t having too much fun,” his teammate Bryan Smithson said. “But since he’s gotten healthy, he is. It’s great to see, because while he’s a great player, he’s also a great person.”

Although doctors haven’t confirmed George’s present condition, it is believed that he suffers from Gigantism (or acromegaly), a condition triggered by a tumor on the pituitary gland that causes an over secretion of growth hormone.

“There are basketball players out there who clearly have had acromegaly at some point, but if it’s controlled and treated, they can play and have a normal life expectancy,” said Dr. Dave Thorner, a professor of internal medicine at the University of Virginia.

The Bulldogs are 11-3 and have won five of their last six games…no doubt with the help of the big guy himself…Kenny George.