The Ohio State Buckeyes received 15 of 16 votes from ESPN’s college basketball experts, keeping them in the top spot on ESPN’s NCAA Basketball power rankings list.  The Buckeyes are the only undefeated team left.  “The Buckeyes have had a week to prepare for Saturday’s monster road game in Madison, Wis.,” it says in the rankings.  ”The good news for coach Thad Matta is that there isn’t much to tweak, especially when he gets offensive contributions from the likes of Dallas Lauderdale, who scored 10 points in OSU’s win over Minnesota.”

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A few weeks ago, it looked like last night’s North Carolina-Duke matchups wouldn’t have the usual sizzle that the rivalry offers, but UNC’s recent play made last night’s game a much-anticipated one.  North Carolina seems poised for the upset, at one time boasting a 16-point lead in the game, but Duke came storming back to secure a 79-73 victory over their most heated rival.  Nolan Smith scored 22 o his career-high 34 points in the second half to help lead the Dukies back from a 14-point halftime deficit.  Seth Curry chipped in 22 in what was probably his best game as a Blue Devil.

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Tennessee Vols coach Bruce Pearl was allowed to coach his first SEC game last night after serving a suspension for violating NCAA rules, but the Kentucky Wildcats didn’t do him any favors.  The Vols fell to 18^th-ranked team in the country by a score of 73-61.  The Wildcats were coming off consecutive losses to two supposedly inferior teams and needed a win.  UK head coach John Calipari said he had his team work with a heavy bag in practice following the two losses.  “I showed them how to jab,” Calipari told reporters.  ”You’ve got to be rough.  You’ve got to be willing to fight.  You can’t let people take our stuff.”

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The Ohio State Buckeyes remain the number one team in the ESPN/USA Today coaches’ poll, but the big story this week is the reappearance of the North Carolina Tar Heels on the list.  The Tar Heels started the season in the Top 10, but quickly fell out of the Top 25 all together after a rough start to the season.  North Carolina has won five straight and nine of their last 10 games, getting back into the Top 25 (at No. 21 this week) just in time for a head-to-head matchup with rival Duke on Wednesday.

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The number one-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes had a tough test on their hands yesterday when traveled to Williams Arena to take on the 20^th-ranked Minnesota Golden Gophers, but the Buckeyes had little trouble.  Ohio State took an eight-point lead into halftime and never looked back, winning the contest 82-69.  Each of the five OSU starters scored in double figures, led by David Lighty’s 19.  Jared Sullinger scored 18 points and added 13 rebounds, but shot just two of eight from the free throw line.  Sullinger is likely to be one-and-done this season, no matter what the reports might say, so OSU probably feels a sense of urgency about winning it all this season.

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ESPN’s Dana O’Neil thinks that Texas’ Rick Barnes has been the best coach in NCAA basketball to this point.  Coming off a 2009-10 season in which the program experienced quite the slide down the stretch, Texas has bounced back this season in a big way.  Jordan Hamilton’s much0improved shot selection certainly has been a big reason, but Barnes deserves a lot of the credit.  It’s been the stifling Longhorn defense that has carried the team this season, so much so that some are predicting that Texas will be the top seed in the NCAA Tournament this March.

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North Carolina freshman Harrison Barnes finally appears to be coming on, and so do the Tar Heels.  Barnes scored a career-high 26 points last night in UNC’s 106-74 victory over Boston College.  The Heels have been shooting the ball well as of late, something the team has been struggling with early in the season.  “I’ve said all year long I thought we’d be a good shooting team.  We hadn’t shot well, but we shot well tonight,” North Carolina coach Roy Williams said after last night’s game.  ”Everybody looks better when the ball’s going in the basket.  If they stink it up the next time, I’ll call them freshmen again.”

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ESPN’s Andy Katz named Xavier’s Tu Holloway as his Player of the Week for last week after his 33-point outburst against Richmond.  “During the preseason, Richmond’s Kevin Anderson — the reigning Atlantic 10 Player of the Year — understandably received more attention than Holloway.  But X’s 6-foot point guard was the star Saturday, and has been all season,” Katz writes.  “While Anderson scored 10 points, was just 2-of-9 on 3s and didn’t get to the line, Holloway dominated the ball and ultimately laid down a statement that he should be the A-10 player of the year.”

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It was quite the shocker, and it wasn’t close.  The St. John’s Red Storm, led by head coach Steve Lavin, upset the third-ranked Duke Blue Devils, one of the favorites for the National Title this season, by a score of 93-78.  Head coach Steve Lavin was waving his arms to the S. John’s fans during a second-half timeout.  “You’re caught up in the moment of the game and I wanted St. John’s fans to come to the party in terms of supporting the players on the court,” Lavin told reporters about that gesture.  ”We had this arduous stretch of games and having lost five of six, at that moment it was just wanting to jumper cable the crowd and bring energy for our players because they deserved a pat on the back and some appreciation for the yeoman’s effort and the cohesive brand of basketball they had been playing against the defending national champion.”

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After taking down the Syracuse Orange in a huge matchup last week, the No. 2 Pitt Panthers fell to the 14^th-ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish last night by a count of 56-51.  Irish guard Ben Hansbrough, younger brother of former National Player of the Year Tyler Hansbrough, was the driving force in the Notre Dame victory.  Hansbrough caught fire in the second half on his way to 19 points, four rebounds and seven assists.  “This was the first time we committed to an all-out ‘burn,’ and we beat Pitt doing it two times last year,” Hansbrough told the media after the game.  “This is probably the best win I’ve had … maybe ever.”

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