Not much movement in this week’s ballot. I dropped Xavier from 14 to 17 based on the loss at Arizona State. Not surprising for Xavier to have a letdown after an emotional win over Cincinnati and a long road trip out West. I dropped Oregon and St. Mary’s out of my ballot for their losses to Nebraska and Southern Illinois, respectively. I added Miami (Fla). and UMass. It was a really close call for the last spot in my poll between three A-10 teams in UMass, Dayton and Rhode Island. I also considered Ole Miss, Creighton, Stanford and West Virginia. The deciding factor was road wins. All three A-10 teams have impressive road wins. Dayton won at Louisville, and Rhode Island won at Syracuse. But UMass has won at Syracuse AND Boston College. Though UMass definitely stubbed its toe against IUPUI, I’m willing to overlook it for one simple reason. Of the 10 games they’ve played, the Minutemen have only had three at home.

1. Memphis
2. Texas
3. North Carolina
4. Kansas
5. Duke
6. Georgetown
7. UCLA
8. Washington State
9. Michigan State
10. Marquette
11. Texas A&M
12. Vanderbilt
13. Pittsburgh
14. Clemson
15. Tennessee
16. Arizona
17. Xavier
18. Indiana
19. Villanova
20. Butler
21. Brigham Young
22. Southern California
23. Gonzaga
24. Miami – Fla.
25. Massachusetts

For those who watched the Grizzlies’ improbable, 123-119, win at Orlando Saturday night, it should be blatantly obvious now who the team’s go-to player is. Second-year forward Rudy Gay put an emphatic stamp on this team with his career-high 32-point, seven rebound performance that helped the Grizzlies snap their six-game losing streak.

Playing without Pau Gasol, Gay took the game over in the second half when his team needed him the most. He scored 23 of his points after the break, 13 of those in the fourth quarter when the lead changed hands nine times. With Orlando’s All-Star center Dwight Howard busy putting up 31 points and 20 rebounds, Gay wanted to put the Grizzlies on his back.

And he did so without shooting a ton of 3’s. He was taking the ball to the hole every chance he got. Gay also wasn’t forcing up bad shots. His ability to make 13 of his 21 shots, helped open things up for his teammates as well. Rookie Juan Carlos Navarro pumped in 27 and Mike Miller added 19.

During the fourth quarter, Gay was often encouraging players like Andre Brown, who unexpectedly played 21 minutes and grabbed a career-high seven rebounds, and Navarro. He took a leadership role, along with Miller, realizing they needed to have big games in order for the Grizzlies to win.

Through the first two months of the season, Gay not only has made dramatic strides over last season with his on the court play, but he continues to become more of a leader. By the end of the season, look for him to be the unquestioned leader of this team. That’s not to de-emphasize Gasol’s importance to the Grizzlies. But Gay is not far off from being the superstar former team president Jerry West envisioned when he traded Shane Battier for his draft rights.