TIMES’ RANKINGS

*--* Rk School (Rec.) Comment 1 KENTUCKY (26-3) Wildcats might be on way to their third NCAA title in eight seasons 2 ARIZONA (25-2) Like Kentucky’s, these Wildcats virtually assured of No. 1 seeding 3 KANSAS (24-6) Jayhawks won regular-season title in toughest of conference battles 4 TEXAS (22-5) Longhorns were only one game behind Kansas in the Big 12 5 PITTSBURGH (23-4) Offense can go cold, but defense can carry Panthers far 6 FLORIDA (24-6) Two-point loss to Kentucky is a badge of honor, not any shame 7 OKLAHOMA (21-6) Hollis Price is tournament-tough, and one of the best in the clutch 8 SYRACUSE (23-4) One of several in Big East to show conference better than believed 9 MARQUETTE (23-4) Dwyane Wade, Coach Tom Crean swept Conference USA honors 10 WAKE FOREST (23-4) Skip Prosser had hand in developing Wake and Xavier 11 XAVIER (24-4) David West is now the odds-on favorite for player of the year 12 DUKE (21-6) The loss to North Carolina was a big ouch 13 MARYLAND (19-8) Loss to Virginia a bad stumble as well 14 STANFORD (23-7) Pac-10 deserves one more Arizona-Stanford game 15 MEMPHIS (22-5) Dajuan Who? Wagner only took Memphis to the NIT 16 ILLINOIS (21-6) Place your bets: How long will Big Ten last in NCAA tournament? 17 CREIGHTON (29-4) Dana Altman will be on short lists for coaching jobs 18 DAYTON (21-5) Oliver Purnell might become a hot coaching name too 19 NOTRE DAME (22-9) Caution: Irish lost four of five down the stretch 20 CALIFORNIA (20-7) Shipp, Tamir and Wethers finished in top 10 in Pac-10 scoring 21 OKLA. ST. (21-8) Junior guard Tony Allen was Big 12 newcomer of the year 22 LOUISVILLE (21-6) Too many player setbacks to expect Cardinals to go far 23 ST. JOSEPH’S (22-5) The longer Hawks last, the more we get to hear Phil Martelli talk 24 WISCONSIN (22-6) Leading scorer Kirk Penney was an Olympian for New Zealand 25 GEORGIA (19-8) Shame on grown-ups whose misdeeds cost moment

*--*