Tuesday Reading Room: Basketball rankings rub salt in wounds of Iowa, Iowa State

Look at it this way: What follows isn't a Charles Barkley Taco Bell commercial. So you can take it.

Iowa and Iowa State fans, what you see in Associated Press' Top 25 this week are insults atop your injuries.

First of all, here is this week's Top 25 with won-lost records:

* 1.Kansas (55)

* 2.Syracuse (8)

* 3.Kentucky (2)

* 4.Villanova

* 5.West Virginia

* 6.Purdue

* 7.Georgetown

* 8.Duke

* 9.Kansas St.

* 10.Michigan St.

* 11.Wisconsin

* 12.Tennessee

* 13.Ohio St.

* 14.Texas

* 15.New Mexico

* 16.Gonzaga

* 17.BYU

* 18.Butler

* 19.Northern Iowa

* 20.Georgia Tech

* 21.Temple

* 22.Vanderbilt

* 23.UNLV

* 24.Baylor

* 25.Pittsburgh

Let's take it from (near) the top. Syracuse is No. 2. It's the highest ranking the Orange have had in 20 years. Their star player is forward Wesley Johnson, who transferred from Iowa State.

"I do not have a vote in the coaches poll," said Keno Davis last week after his Providence Friars had been throttled by SU, 85-68. "But if did, I'd put them No. 1. I would."

Johnson is averaging 16.2 points and 8.8 rebounds per game.

In this piece by Peter May for Yahoo Sports, Johnson is ranked third behind Kentucky's John Wall and Ohio State's Evan Turner as NBA draft candidates.

Joe Sullivan of the Boston Globe wrote this:

Syracuse's Wesley Johnson is not a typical player who fits into a predetermined category. Simply, he's just a tremendous basketball player. It helps that he's also a tremendous jumper and runner.

Moving down the list, we see four Big Ten teams in the top 13. Purdue, Michigan State, Wisconsin, Ohio State.

These aren't programs that have undergone any sort of radical shifts lately. If anything, the opposite has been true. These are stable entities.

Purdue, MSU and OSU aren't surprises. Wisconsin, to me, is one even though it has been a rock of consistency under Bo Ryan.

Michael Hunt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel wrote this after the Badgers' 67-49 home pasting of Michigan State last Tuesday:

The Badgers jumped on Michigan State so quickly and beat them down so severely that it wasn't long until Sparty had that familiar, panicky, glazed Kohl Center look in their eyes. The Wisconsin three-balls went down as the lead continued to go up and up and up, until a frustrated Izzo said, "We just didn't guard very well."

Illinois plays at Wisconsin tonight. The Badgers are still without 6-foot-10 center Jon

Leuer, who has a broken wrist. Senior guard Jason Bohannon of Linn-Mar High in Marion has picked up some slack and then some. He had 19 points against Michigan State, followed by 18 in a win at Michigan.

Here's what Illinois Coach Bruce Weber recently said about Bohannon:

"They play small ball,'' Weber said. "These (guards) are really playing well. You've got three guys who can all shoot and all create. When (Bohannon) started as a freshman and sophomore, he was just a catch-and-shoot guy. Now he's coming off screens, shooting pull ups, step backs, fadeaways. His game has advanced. Now (Trevon) Hughes can create, Bohannon can create and (Jordan) Taylor can jump up and shoot it."

Bohannon is averaging 11.1 points this season. He's 59 points short of 1,000 in his career.

As far as Iowa is concerned, Bohannon should be known as one who got away.

The coach he "got away" from was Steve Alford, which brings us to . . . No. 15 New Mexico.

Alford's Lobos are 21-3.

This week marks the first time the Mountain West Conference has three teams in the AP poll. Also ranked are No. 17 Brigham Young and No. 23 Nevada Las Vegas. The three squads are tied for the MWC lead at 7-2. New Mexico began conference play 0-2, then peeled off seven straight wins. UNLV, which has won its last five games, hosts New Mexcio on Wednesday.

Alford's first two New Mexico teams got off to good starts, but finished the season in the NIT. This season could be different. The Mountain West could add teams in the NCAA tourney as the Pacific-10 loses them with its mishmash of mediocrity this season.

New Mexico is fresh off an 88-86 overtime win in Albuquerque. Nothing comes easy.

Finally, let's scroll down the AP rankings just a bit more to find Northern Iowa at No. 19. The Panthers, 21-2, have never been ranked higher nationally.

When the NCAA tourney droughts of Iowa State (a fifth year) and Iowa (a fourth) are numbing the senses of their fans next month, UNI is headed to its second-straight NCAA appearance barring a collapse of severe proportions.

None of that guarantees the Panthers will win at Drake Wednesday, of course. These games are hard.