Mark WiedmerCheck the latest Associated Press men’s college basketball rankings this morning and you’ll see the top three spots – No. 1 Duke, No. 2 and undefeated Michigan and No. 3 Tennessee – are unchanged from a week ago.
It’s a fair ranking. Probably accurate, too, at least where Duke is concerned, because if the Dookies play their best, no one’s beating them. At least no one outside of the NBA.
But that doesn’t mean the Blue Devils will win coach Mike Krzyzewski his sixth national championship come April in Minneapolis. At least one team beyond Gonzaga, which handed Duke its lone loss in Maui back in November, would appear to have at least a reasonable chance against Zion Williamson and Co., and that would be a certain team from near the Smoky Mountains that knocked off the Zags a couple of weeks after they shocked the Blue Devils.
That team, of course, is Tennessee, which may stand third in the AP poll but has been second to Duke in first-place votes for the past three weeks.
“They have all the things you look for in a team,” said Arkansas coach Mike Anderson, whose Razorbacks visit UT tonight at 7 (ESPN2). “Tennessee is a very physical team. They have five guys (scoring) in double figures. Tennessee does a good job of executing.”