It’s none other than defending champion Kansas, and runner up Memphis

SCOTT JACOBS

Like a bat out of hell look who’s back on the scene: last year’s two participants from the national title game.  And they are back with a vengeance.  After opening the season 13th (Memphis) and 24th (Kansas), few expected the two teams ravaged by NBA departures and graduations to be legitimate title contenders.  But lo and behold, Memphis opens the 16th week of the AP Poll in the top 5, and Kansas is no longer just a cute little team hiding in the bottom 20.  Rather, the Jayhawks, 24-5, are now in the top 10, sitting at 9th, and on top of the Big 12.

Quietly Memphis has won 20 in a row, and an astonishing 56 games in a row in conference play.  The argument, well it’s Conference USA, holds no water here, because to win 56 games in a row against any conference is remarkable.  After losing all world point guard Derick Rose to the NBA, and a host of other young talented high flyers, the Tigers looked like they would take a step back in 2009. Apparently someone forgot to tell them that.

With senior Robert Dozier and Shawn Taggart proiding valuable experience for a relatively young team, the Tigers have four players averaging double figures, and with the rest of the top 5 crumbling on a weekly basis, the young Tigers have a shot to earn a top seed in the NCAA Tournament before its all said and done.

Kansas is another great story.  Coming off an epic National Championship win over Memphis, in which Mario Chalmers nailed a three in the waning seconds to send the game to overtime, the Jayhawks were expected to be a good team entering 2008-2009.  But no one anticipated them being a threat to repeat.  With a 13-1 mark in the Big 12 the Jayhawks are rolling towards a two or three seed, and if they were to secure a conference championship in regular season play and in the tournament, possibly a one.

So the question now becomes: is it possible that last year’s final two teams could meet again in Detroit?  Even more amusing is the idea that it could be as number one seeds.  Could you imagine?  No one in their right mind, even in the crazy, never boring world of sports, could have seen that coming when we started this season.

But then again, how many people thought FSU would be ranked higher than Syracuse at this point either?

My point exactly.

Photo: Getty Images

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