MITCH BLATT

SHANE SMITH

The official start of college basketball is still a few weeks away, but with the recent release of the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll now seems like a better time than ever to speculate about the 2011-12 front runners.

There is no doubt that UNC and Kentucky will be great this year. Both teams have outstanding freshman recruits and decent retention of last year’s core talent. However, it is hard to look at this poll and see the UConn Huskies with not ONE  vote for the number 1 ranking.

Lots of sports analysts want to knock the Huskies going into this year since they lost Kemba Walker. How often does a championship team only lose one key player and not even be in consideration for the top preseason ranking? It’s understood that Kemba was the glue to last year’s team and carried them through chunks of the season, but it was the team around Kemba that made the Huskies champions, not just the man himself.

Jeremy Lamb, Shabazz Napier, Alex Oriakhi, Roscoe Smith, and Tyler Olander were all crucial parts to the Huskies title run last year. Shabazz emerged as an elite PG by the end of the season and Lamb emerged as a potential top 10 pick for the 2012 NBA draft. Oriakhi, Smith, and Olander all showed signs that they could carry the team when need be and all look like future NBA players as well. Many will try to knock Oriakhi for his inconsistency, Smith for his boneheaded shot against Texas, and Olander for his softness around the rim, but these guys brought it when it mattered and have developed so much since the beginning of last season that it is scary to think that this core is all the same.

Not only do the Huskies retain 4 of their starting 5, and 2 key role players, but they bring in arguably the best big man recruit of the 2011 class, Andre Drummond. Drummond is a big man that will put Husky greats like Emeka Okafor and Hasheem Thabeet to shame (maybe not to shame, but he will be an overall better player). Drummond can play big around the rim, he can pass, he is athletic as all hell and he’s only 18!

The progress he will show from day 1 will be amazing and it’s a safe bet to say that he will emerge as the Freshman of the Year and a Big East first team all conference member before conference play even begins.  Drummond gets the benefit of superstar talent with no expectation of carrying a team in his first year. Drummond can ease his growing pains under tutelage of Oriakhi and Olander and can let his game come to him on his own time. So often super recruit freshmen are expected to come in and carry a team from day 1, but Drummond gets the luxury of playing with guys who have already won as a unit. He will develop on his own time and what UConn fans will see throughout this year will be nothing short of brilliance.

Drummond isn’t the only major addition to the Huskies this year. Freshmen sparkplug Ryan Boatright will let his name be known to the Big East when they witness his explosive speed and first step:  just wait until he throws down on his first big man and for a moment UConn fans will say, “Kemba 2.0”. While Boatright may not have Kemba’s scoring prowess yet, his athleticism is equal to if not better than what Kemba brought to the table his freshmen year, and after a full year of Shabazz learning under Walker this backcourt is going to be a nightmare again for every opponent this season.

It may be just the preseason coaches’ poll, and yes the Huskies are still ranked 4^th, but there is no doubt that the Huskies will be the top team in the Big East and undoubtedly will impress the entire college basketball nation this season with their success. Husky fans, don’t fear a season minus Kemba, embrace the beginning of a new Husky dynasty.

Photo: Getty

SCOTT JACOBS

Syracuse finally ran out of gas, Baylor didn’t have one final stunner in them, and Memphis padded its resume as the best team that no one wants to take seriously– and that wasn’t even the half of it.  In a wild day that saw more potential number one seeds fall, and an SEC bid stealer potentially emerge, you couldn’t help but think that this is the most wonderful time of the sports year.

FSU hadn’t beat the Tar Heels in 10 straight tries, and they had never advanced to the ACC Tournament Final, so what better time for them to accomplish both by upsetting number one North Carolina in a thriller that came down to clutch FSU foul shooting and who else– Toney Douglas.  FSU’s rise from ACC afterthought to legitimate threat is certainly complete now, and if they can beat Duke tomorrow to claim their first ever ACC crown, well that would just be the icing on the cake for a team that no one thought would be here.  Moving on…

Michigan State made a crappy case for a one seed today falling to Ohio State.  Louisville won the Big East, and in doing so locked up a number one seed in the tourney.  And if they’re not a top seed, well, I’d be stunned quite honestly. 

So here are some predictions tomorrow, because I won’t be able to watch any of the games on Sunday:

One seeds
Louisville- Big East regular season title, Big East tournament title, no doubts, no more.
Memphis- I know, I know it’s Memphis!  But c’mon, they lost three games all year, ran over their conference (AGAIN!) and have proven in the past (LIKE LAST YEAR) that they can compete with anybody.  So what the hell, here you go Tigers.
North Carolina- Hard to penalize them for losing without ACC Player of the Year Ty Lawson, and they played FSU nails tough.  We’ll take their body of work overall, and give ‘em a one.
Pitt- They beat UConn twice this year, and I don’t by the whole 6 OT thing.  Pitt’s been playing better overall lately, and they deserve this.  UConn will be a terrific two.

**(by the way, my projections have no relevence to any other Bracketologist, simply my opinion)

All I have to say is this: let the madness begin.  O wait a minute, I think it’s safe to say it’s well underway!

SCOTT JACOBS

It only took six!… overtimes for the Syracuse Orange to take down the UConn Huskies tonight in one of the wildest, longest, and most compelling games in the history of college basketball.  Just six.

127-117!

Syracuse never led in the first five OT’s– YES, FIRST FIVE OT’s– but in number six they dominated the exhausted Huskies 17-7 to advance to the semifinals of the Big East Championship.  Johnny Flynn had 34, to lead the Cuse in scoring, in one of the most entertaining battles college basketball has ever seen.  All in all the Orange had five guys in double figures, including Eric Devendorf who hit what appeared to briefly be a game winning three at the end of regulation.  But the ball appeared to still be in his hands as time expired and the refs reviewed it and waived it off.

So we went to overtime… and then a 2nd, and a 3rd, and a 4th, and a 5th, and hey, why not play a 6th if we’ve already played this much!  And it was survival of the fittest from there.  Eight players fouled out including Huskies center Hasheem Thabeet who had 19 points, 16 rebounds, and six blocks.  But it really came down to shot selection, and UConn’s shot selection was not exactly textbook in the waning moments.  Instead of taking it to the basket and creating something, the Huskies continually settled for pullup threes, and most of the time didn’t end up close.

There were 208 shots– I REPEAT 208 SHOTS– and it took almost every last one of them to crown a victor.  Believe it or not, it was tied for the second longest game.  The longest?  Happened in 1981 when Cincinnati and Bradley played seven OT’s, and the Bearcats beat the Braves 75-73.

As for this one: the game went to OT tied at 71, and it didn’t end until 102 more points were scored.  What seemed like a low scoring game ended in a Suns like shootout.  They usually play 40 minutes in the average college basktetball game.  Well, in Syracuse’s marathon win it took 30 more minutes.  Consider, they were two overtimes away from playing TWO complete games.

But that’s moot now, and unbelievably, Syracuse has to get up later today, and do it all again, when they play West Virginia at 9 p.m. est.  And don’t forget this: with UConn and Pitt both losing Louisville is all but assured a number one seed in the NCAA Tournament.  Pitt’s loss to the Mountaineers hurt them, but SI.com’s Andy Glockner still believes that the Panthers will be on the top line when the brackets are announced.  North Carolina and UConn are his other two number ones.

But let’s take a minute to soak in this one.  UConn could not put away the Cuse, whether it was their 27 turnovers, or spotty three point shooting, and Syracuse stayed close long enough to outlast the Huskies in the end. To say this one was wild is an understatement.  UConn won every tip-off in every overtime, except the sixth, and scored first in overtime, except the sixth, and that was the one they ran out of gas.  The Orange looked like they were in trouble in a few of the overtimes, but made their foul shots, and capitalized on free throws that UConn missed.  They hit timely shots, and stayed in it, long enough to win it.

It was something special indeed.  Something you probably won’t see anytime soon.  This isn’t college football where 5 and 6 OT games happen every now and then.  This is college basketball where 3 OT’s is a marathon.

What’s six?

The Tour De France?

The NCAA: Where Amazing Happens!

Photo: Getty Images

SCOTT JACOBS

Bill Laimbeer was one of the elite centers in the NBA in the 1980’s, and one of the nastiest players as well.  He was aggressive, hard nosed, and relentless, and he played every game like his job depended on it.  Laimbeer may have been a  mean, ruthless player on the court, but he’s a class act off of it. He talked to us for fifteen minutes, but we had more questions, so we continued our candid conversation a few hours later.

All in all we talked about 25 minutes, and I came off very impressed by how honest and easygoing he was to talk to. He may seem like a mean cuss on the court, but off of it, Laimbeer is one of the nicest and most respectful athletes I’ve ever spoken with.  So here in it’s entirety is my entire conversation with the Laimbeer.  It’s a Juiced Sports exclusive.  Enjoy!

Juiced Sports: You went to Notre Dame, but flunked out as a freshman.  How did flunking out your first year change your perception on things, and drive you to work harder at a technical school for one year so that you could rejoin the Irish and show them what you could do?

Bill Laimbeer: As a freshman I admit that I didn’t like going to class. You had to go to class to get the grades you needed to play, and I didn’t.  I learned thorough the experience about having more discipline in my own life.  You had to do what was asked, if you wanted to play the game.  I had to do what was asked of me if I wanted to participate.

JSB: College Basketball is huge today, and the NCAA Tournament is like a national four day holiday the third week of March, but you played when the game was not always on center stage.  In fact, there was no ESPN during most/if not all of your college years.  What’s it been like for you to see college basketball’s explosion from well kept secret to one of America’s national past-times?

BL: No question that TV has created the explosion.  It spread the talent out.  There are great players now spread apart on more and more teams.  The number of teams that can compete for a title has increased dramatically.  It draws more fans in, and it’s great for the players, because not everybody is going to play pro basketball (the majority won’t), so it gives them recognition that may help them one day in a business career.

JSB: You were drafted by the Cleveland Cavaliers, but they took so long to offer you a contract that you decided to go to Italy instead.  Was that a really difficult decision to make?

BL: No, Italy gave me a guaranteed contract of $40,000.  {So I guess times have changed, huh?} Yeah, Times have certainly changed.

JSB: You got dealt to the Detroit Pistons in 1982 who were not very good.  Every athlete seems to have a comically bad story from their days playing on a hapless team; Any memories that stick out for you?

BL: Isaiah Thomas didn’t like practice one day, and Coach Scotty Robertson told him that he we very serious about practice and asked Isaiah if he was serious.  Isaiah said no, so Roberson told him to leave.

JSB: In 1989 and 1990 the Pistons repeated as champions.  Which championship was sweeter: the first or the second?

BL: Winning the first one was a relief.  Finally we could say we won something!  We believed we’d win the first one.  The second one was fun, and you could enjoy it more.  We didn’t believe we were going to repeat, we knew!

JSB: Now a lot of people probably forget that you were one of the NBA’s Iron Men at one point during your 12 year career.  You played 685 games in a row.  How did you do it?  Were NBA players tougher back then compared to the more pampered stars of today?

BL: I would have played over 1000 in a row had it not been for suspensions.

JSB:  So Cal Ripken would’ve had nothing on you!

BL: (Laughs) NBA Players were definitely tougher then.  The competition for jobs was stiffer.  You couldn’t take any nights off, because this was the pre-expansion era and because of tht there was less teams.  There were much deeper teams back then, and I made sure I played hard every night to keep my job.

I think I hold players respect by what I accomplished in my playing days, but that only goes so far.  I am honest, I say what everybody else is thinking, but they’re afraid to say.  Team comes first, before me, them, or any star.

JSB: Did you ever feel threatened that you might loss your job?

BL: No, I played hard every night, so I always kept my spot in the starting line up.

JSB: Do players today take their starting jobs for granted?

BL: Definitely, I think players take their starting position for granted. Not everybody does, but a lot of them.

JSB: You were not exactly the most beloved player by any means, due mostly to your physically rugged style of play.  But players respected you.  Do you think that if you played in the NBA today, where the game has become more about quickness and finesse that your style would be just as effective?

BL: I think so.  I rebounded, set good screens, hit open shots, and I was a good teammate.  Those are traits that never go away.

JSB: You were called the Prince of Darkness, amongst other things, and collected some of the most unique nicknames in NBA history.  Did you get a kick out of all the nicknames people gave you, and what’s the best one someone ever called you that few people know about?

BL: It was funny to read a lot of the stuff that people would say and write.  I didn’t mind it because I knew we were doing something right.  You have to laugh at all of them.  It’s no big deal.  The best one was Prince of Darkness.  That would be my favorite

JSB: You played the majority of your NBA career with just one team.  It seems rarer by the day with free agency, the salary cap, and luxury taxes for a great player to play the duration of his career with the same team; Is this a trend that we as the sports fan just need to get used to?  Is loyalty dead?

BL: Yes, fans need to get used to it.  The trend will continue.  There is loyalty, however there is money.  Salary caps and players wanting bigger contracts cause moves to be made, as well as trades.  That’s business.

JSB: What was it like playing with Dennis Rodman?

BL: Rodman was great.  He was a great teammate; he worked hard, knew his responsibility, and did his job very well.

JSB: Were there any antics with Detroit?

BL: There were no antics during his Pistons years; we would not have allowed it.  When he started to go that route, he was traded.

JSB: Were you upset when he was dealt or was it something that needed to be done?

BL: It was something that needed to happen.

JSB: In 2003 you took the WNBA’s Detroit Shock from worst to first in just a single year.  What was that experience like for you?  Is there anything more rewarding for a coach than to lead a turnaround that remarkable and that quick?

BL: It was a great experience.  We rode an emotional wave that year.  It was a great reward to have that quick of a turnaround and to cap it off with a championship.  That’s a rare feat.

JSB: You’ve won three WNBA titles since taking over the reigns in Detroit in 2002, including last year’s title over the San Antonio Silver Stars.  Clearly you’re doing something right.  So my question to you is what makes you such a great coach?

BL: I think I hold players respect by what I accomplished in my playing days, but that only goes so far.  I am honest, I say what everybody else is thinking, but they’re afraid to say.  Team comes first, before me, them, or any star.

JSB: A lot of people disrespect the WNBA, some even say that it’s a joke.  Does that bother you?  Do you just laugh at people who make those remarks?  As a coach who’s had a chance to see these girls year in and year out what would you say to that?

BL: Those that disparage it have not watched it.  Ten years ago the WNBA was average basketball, but today it is great basketball.  It bothers you, but you have to laugh about it, because they’re just naïve.  Once they watch it, we’ll get many more fans.

JSB: How much longer do you plan on coaching?

BL: I don’t know.  There is no timetable, and I enjoy what I’m doing.

JSB: You’re promoting Coke Zero’s Taste the Madness, which is a very cool interactive site for college basketball fans.  If you could tell all of our readers a little bit about the contest and the site that would be much appreciated.

BL: Sure. Coke Zero is a huge sponsor of the NCAA Tournament.  They want fans to send in videos of their crazy rituals, traditions, fight songs, etc. and the more bizarre and wild the better.  You upload it at www.tastethemadness.com and every video is posted.  Judges will judge every last one of them, and the winning videos will be shown during the title game on CBS.  Papa Johns will even throw all the winners a pizza party.

JSB: How’d you get involved?

BL: They asked me to.  Previous experience in the Final Four with the Irish was a big reason.

JSB: So I take it when it comes to the Coke versus Pepsi debate you like…

BL: Coke.  I am a big Coke supporter.

JSB: Mr. Laimbeer, thanks so much for your time.  You may have been a Bad Boy and a rugged hard nosed player on the court, but you are a hell of a nice and cordial guy off of it.

BL: Thanks very much, I enjoyed talking to you.

Photo: AP by Eric Gay

SCOTT JACOBS

Cornell rolled to an Ivy League championship last year.

This year wasn’t nearly as easy.  To claim their fourth NCAA Tournament berth the Big Red just needed a loss from second place Princeton, which fell earlier in the day to Columbia.  Cornell (20-9, 10-3 in Ivy League play) is projected to be a 15 seed in the Midwest region according to our friend and SI Bracketologist Andy Glockner.  Who does Mr. Glocker have them facing?  None other than Duke, which he has as a projected 2 seed.

Last year if you recall, a fiesty and game Belmont squad nearly pushed the number 2 seeded Blue Devils to an epic first round defeat, before flaming out in the waning seconds of an agonizing 71-70 loss.  So does Glockner see history repeating itself should this matchup come to fruition?

“No, this isn’t a very good Cornell team, he said. “Duke should handle them comfortably if that’s the matchup.”

Now the Ivy League conference is interesting in the fact that they award their automatic tourney berth to the winner of the regular season champ.  Most conferences, even one-bid conferences like the Ivy League, put their automatic invite in the hands of a post-season champ, thus making it more likely that some mediocre or less deserving school can come out of nowhere and steal a spot.  I asked Andy if he thought this was fair.  I’d say his answer was pretty straightforward:

“All small conferences should give the auto bid to the regular-season champ,” he said. “Tournaments make no sense in one-bid leagues.”

It’s hard to disagree.  What kind of value does a regular season have for a one bid conference when some undeserving team can get hot and win a few games in a row? I guess that’s the Ivy League’s logic as well.  No wonder they’re the smartest~

Photo: AP

SCOTT JACOBS

Yesterday, I asked the question: where does the NCAA Tournament committe come up with its geopraphical pairings for the first and second rounds?  Quite simply I was baffled that a team like FSU could be slotted in to the East region, yet end in Portland for the first round game, when a location like Miami was also available.  The idea was to provoke a discussion, but who needs that, when you can just get the answer straight from the source.  Yesterday, when I cited the latest tournament projections I linked back to Mr. Glockner’s latest tournament bracket.  Well, apparently he stumbled onto it later in the day, and lo and behold, sent me an email.  Here in it’s entirety is our email exchange.  I think it answers a lot of questions.

Andy Glockner: Stumbled across your entry on the lame georgraphy for the NCAAs. You missed the pivotal point, though. There are only two foursomes that end up in each subregion, and the committee will give precendence to the highest seeds. UNC and Duke are both going to end up in Greensboro, so FSU can’t end up there. Right now, Clemson and Wake are both 3-seeds, so they get regional preference and end up in Miami, so FSU can’t go there.
Likewise, Memphis gets KC, Michigan State gets Minneapolis, etc. The end result is that the leftover teams end up in the West because there are very few highly seeded teams out there. Villanova ends up in Philly because only UConn is ahead of them to end up there.  Memphis can’t play in the South regional, btw. They are the regional host.

Juiced Sports: Thanks for that explanation.  I guess I understand what you’re saying, but my qualm is that it doesn’t seem fair.  I don’t truly understand why Portland would be a location for the East.  That just baffled me. But that makes sense I suppose. I do have a question though:   What did you think of my suggestion that they group the locations like this:

SOUTH (Memphis): Greensboro, Miami
WEST (Glendale): Portland, Boise
MIDWEST (Indianapolis): Dayton, Kansas City
EAST (Boston): Philadelphia, Minneapolis

That seems to make the most sense to me, but there must be a reason that they don’t do that.  Any chance you could clarify the reasons why?

Glockner: The goal is to hook teams up for the first two rounds, and then by geography as possible for the regionals.

Portland has nothing to do with the East regional. They are two distinct events. FSU can be in the East or South, which makes the most sense for the Sweet 16, and still end up in Portland because that’s what’s left over after all the 1s, 2s and 3s get sites closer to them.

Ideally, they would work out similarly to your batching, but that would require a much more equal distribution of high seeds nationally, and that’s simply not the case. If FSU ends up as a 3-seed ahead of Clemson or Wake, they would get Miami. Or if the committee decides that Philly is five inches closer to Winston-Salem, they could put Wake there and screw Nova.

JSB: O wow, okay that’s interesting… I guess it just comes across as misleading when you’ve got teams from the East regional playing in Portland.  But I suppose since there’s a week in between regionals the whole thing becomes moot.  So pretty much the committee does a balancing act of getting the top teams the closest locations, and the others be damned. While at the same time they have to try to to logically give teams that make it to the sweet 16 the closest place to play from their campus.

So while my batching makes sense it’s more complicated because there is a different balance of power, ala: North Carolina, Duke, Pitt, UConn, Wake Forest, etc.  So in other words, if FSU beats Virginia Tech in its final game and then advances to the last round of the ACC Tournament they’ll end up in Miami?

How about Memphis? Are they next in line to get a number one seed should one of the other four falter?  Who’s the closest one seed to being on the verge of being a number two?

Glockner: What you said is more or less correct. They try to do their best with the protected (top-4) seeds, but it doesn’t always work out for everyone because of the different geographic concentrations and the set arena locations.

I think a lot of people are overlooking Duke as a potential No. 1 seed. I don’t think Memphis has the schedule strength or good wins to deserve one, but we’ll see.

Photo: AP by Michael Perez

SCOTT JACOBS

Don’t let the bare simplicity fool you.  A quick look at the NCAA Tournament regional final locations for 2009 show Boston (East), Glendale (West), Memphis (South), and Indianapolis (Midwest) as the hosts.  But to get to those respective cities, schools have to go places that don’t make a whole lot of sense.

You hear more and more with the current economy and with schools trying to save money that it’s smarter to keep these teams closer to home.  Okay, no debate there.  I agree that in these tough economic times that giving fans the opportunity to see their team is the right thing to do.  But would someone explain the NCAA’s logic when they put they pair these locations together.

Take a look for yourself:

SOUTH (Memphis)
Greensboro, Minneapolis, Miami

WEST (Glendale)
Kansas City, Philadelphia, Boise, Dayton

MIDWEST (Indianapolis)
Dayton, Portland, Boise, Greensboro

EAST (Boston)
Philadelphia, Portland, Miami, Kansas City

The first thing that immediately jumps out at me from those locations is the East.  Who came up with the logic that Portland, Oregon (one of the most westernmost cities in the U.S.) should be part of the East?  I was looking at a mock Tournament Projection Bracket on SI today, and Andy Glockner believes that FSU will be a four seed in the East.  Great!  That means they’l play in Miami right, you know seven hours away from home, but relatively close to where their friends and family can see them.  Right, right?  Wrong!  If that projection played out, not only would Florida State not play their first round game in the Sunshine State, they wouldn’t even play their first game in the Southeast.  Instead, somehow they’d end up in Portland.  That makes a whole lot of sense, right?

While Florida State would be traveling practically out of the country, number four seed Villanova (from the West region) would somehow end up with a de facto home game in Philadelphia.  They play in the Wachovia Center with the 76ers!  Both teams are four seeds, yet one would end up three time zones away, and the other wouldn’t have to move a muscle.  Yeah, that seems fair.

Here’s where things also get tricky: Memphis should be a number two, possibly even a one seed when the tourney starts.  There is a Memphis regional.  However, under his current projections, Glockner has the Tigers in the East regional… in Boston!  Meanwhile, Michigan State would head out to Tennessee should they make it past the first weekend.  It’s an interesting dilemna: give the team a blatant home advantage in their regional, and allow them to save money, or send them away from home, location be damned!, because it’s unfair to have a team playing for a Final Four berth in it’s own city?

So with that said, if I was the NCAA Tournament committee, here’s what I would do to keep things as economically friendly as possible:

SOUTH (Memphis)
Greensboro, Miami

WEST (Glendale)
Portland, Boise

MIDWEST (Indianapolis)
Dayton, Kansas City

EAST (Boston)
Philadelphia, Minneapolis

Given the selected locations, doesn’t this make a heck of a lot more geographical sense than the current system? Don’t want Florida State playing at home?  Fine, send them to North Carolina, where people from Tallahassee could actually drive to.  Don’t want Villanova playing in it’s back yard?  Send them to Minneapolis.

You get the idea.

The current system reminds me of a ludicrous flight plan I once had back in the day. The goal was to get to New Mexico, particularly Santa Fe.

We left from the Fort Lauderdale airport, flew to Philadelphia, from there we went to Denver, then flew to Albuquerque, before finally driving an hour and a half to Santa Fe.

Does that make any sense whatsoever?  To get to New Mexico we went to Philly!  What?  That’s like going from Tallahassee to Portland, with the motive of getting to Boston.  Makes no sense whatsoever!

But hey, that’s just my opinion.

Photo: AP Mary Ann Chastain

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