Jeff Lund

The last month has hardly been a vacation in the world of college basketball. The break saw Duke ascend to No. 1 in the country in two polls following an Arizona slipup at LSU and a little help from Alabama. The shuffling and reshuffling of the top 25 always happens before teams settle into their conference seasons. This is what we know about the top 25 so far.

Starting at the top

The number-one ranked team is untested. Yes, the heading on the men's basketball site of ESPN.com said, "Duke has answered every test it has faced this season." This was following its win over previously unbeaten Wake Forest ÷ at Duke.

The 11-0 Blue Devils have a schedule ranked 12th, however, the Dukies have not played a quality team on the road. In fact, Duke has only played two games on the road. That was coupled with the fact that Wake Forest entered the game with the 214th toughest schedule (now 209th). Before the game at Duke, Wake Forest had beaten the likes of North Carolina, A&T Richmond and Elon University. So counting Wake Forest as a formidable opponent is a bit of a stretch, especially considering the game was in North Carolina.

Duke is a young team and will be dangerous in March, but its No. 1 ranking is about as sturdy as Luke Walton's ankle was around Christmas time, and Duke has had about as many tests as journalism majors have final exams.

No. 2 Arizona hasn't been winning pretty, but then again, other than a few blowouts, it's not really the Wildcats' style to lay the lumber. The Wildcats are in a state of transition between the controlled game anchored by solid and not flashy seniors Rick Anderson, Jason Gardner and Luke Walton, and the high-flying in-your-face youth movement that freshmen Hassan Adams and Andre Iguodala provide.

The rest of the Top 10 is filled with pretenders, good teams that have played decent teams, but are not the nation's elite.

As the conference season begins, the real classes of the country will fill the voids left by the Pittsburghs and Notre Dames.

Texas and Kansas have been playing legit schedules. Kansas has yet to find a third night in and night out scorer to compliment guard Kirk Hinrich and center Nick Collison. There is plenty of talent, but injuries and a bit of inconsistency have hindered the Jayhawks thus far. You can be certain that will not change the magnitude of the Jan. 25 match-up between Arizona and Kansas. No matter what the rankings may say, anyone and everyone involved in college hoops knows this is a potential national championship preview.

Oklahoma is also a team that will not go away. OU needs to figure out how to win close, low scoring games, though, as the recent loss at rival Oklahoma State is not exactly the type of ball a national contender should be playing.

The other 15 schools, like Louisville or Xavier, have the opportunity to speed into the tournament because their conferences are not strong top to bottom.

The Musketeers or the Rick Pitino-coached Cardinals, have the chance to move up and become a surprise No. 2 or No. 3 seed in the tournament, like Cincinnati often has been able to do out of Conference USA.

Of course Maryland, Indiana, Florida and Pittsburgh will stay in the national spotlight. Though their rankings might slip with losses, there is no doubt as to their ability to make things happen come March.

The best teams in the country right now, regardless of record, are Arizona, Duke, Kansas and Texas, and come tourney time it will be one of these teams smiling at the end of One Shining Moment.

In the Pac

As for the Pacific 10 Conference, Arizona, Oregon, California and Stanford look like they will reach the NCAAs.

Oregon's three losses in four games have proven that the team cannot ride the Lukes (Ridnour and Jackson) to the Final Four. Last year the Ducks had forward Freddie Jones (the team's MVP) and center Chris Christofferson to share the burden. While Christofferson didn't provide much of a scoring threat, he was a 7-foot-2 roadblock in the middle that had to be tended to.

In Oregon's wins, both Lukes preformed very well and had support, but there is nothing like the inside-outside game that allows them to compliment each other and gets others involved. Oregon is showing how one-dimensional it is despite having two exceptional players, Ridnour and Jackson.

The quackers will have a say in the Pac 10 when all is said and done. Fortunately for Arizona, the win in Eugene has the team in the early driver's seat in the Pac 10. But surprisingly it is Cal, and not Oregon, that is tied with Arizona atop the standings in the Pac.

With the Oregon trip already out of the way, and road games against struggling USC and UCLA this weekend, Arizona will be left with the Bay Area pairing as the biggest mountain to climb. Cal must still travel to Oregon and eventually visit McKale Center. With this in mind, Arizona might have an advantage even bigger than just a flawless league record so far.