Notre Dame reminds us that we don’t play the games on paper

We always talk about how the games aren’t played on paper when looking at teams that don’t do what we expect. It’s a cliché, and it sticks around because everyone loves to predict how things will turn out in sports, no matter how wrong we could wind up being. All the while, the teams that end up better than we project can just laugh at us all they want.

Enter the 2011-12 Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

Notre Dame lost a great deal from last season’s team that entered the month of March playing about as well as any team in the country. Gone from that team are Big East Player of the Year Ben Hansbrough and important role players Tyrone Nash and Carleton Scott, the latter a big defensive leader for that team and a surprise early defection. Already, projections for this team were going to be that they were unlikely to contend for the top of the Big East. When they went 0-2 in Kansas City, including an 87-58 thrashing at the hands of Missouri, it looked like they would be who many thought they would be.

That wasn’t all. The Fighting Irish were not certain to have Tim Abromaitis back, as he played in two exhibition games in the 2008-09 season where he redshirted. But the NCAA granted him this year, so that helped as he was an experienced player and was second on the team in scoring last season. Then in late November, he tore the ACL in his right knee in practice, putting him out for the season.

At that point, the outlook was decidedly not good. But no one told head coach Mike Brey and his team that, and after Saturday’s convincing 76-59 win over Marquette, the Fighting Irish are alone in fourth place in the Big East.

“From the start of the season, no one thought we would be here,” said sophomore point guard Eric Atkins.

Notre Dame hasn’t compiled its record by beating up on the bottom feeders of the conference. Along the way, they have knocked off Louisville, Seton Hall and Connecticut on the road, and now Syracuse and Marquette at home.

“I am very proud of my group,” said Brey, who at this point looks like the runaway Coach of the Year in the Big East, if not nationally. “I told them in one of the final media timeouts that I felt like I was coaching men today. Last year’s team was men. That had a look of more than one fifth year senior on the court. I am thrilled where we are.”

Notre Dame can only get better given that this is a young team with a lot of players who are just finding themselves. Scott Martin is the only other senior besides Abromaitis on the team, while the emerging perimeter unit of Atkins, Jerian Grant and Pat Connaughton are sophomore, sophomore and freshman respectively. Connaughton wasn’t expected to play much, but he scored 21 points on Saturday and now starts on the hardwood as well as the mound (the San Diego Padres drafted him last year).

“Right now, we’re really confident that we can beat any team – we can play with any team,” said Grant. “Our team confidence is really high right now, and I’d like to keep it that way because we are playing really well.”

That’s one thing no one can doubt at this point. The Irish have proven that to this point, and as a more confident team they will be even tougher to beat.

We take you coast to coast with news from around the college basketball nation.

Arizona had a big weekend, sweeping their trip to northern California after a 56-43 win at Stanford on Saturday. The Wildcats may be starting to come alive at a good time.

Syracuse got Fab Melo back for Saturday’s game, and they rolled to a 95-70 blowout win at St. John’s. The win was the 879^th in Jim Boeheim’s career, tying him with Dean Smith for third on the all-time list.

Seton Hall’s struggles continued as Connecticut annihilated them 69-46 in Hartford.

Kentucky had an easy time at South Carolina, committing just three turnovers in their blowout win.

The Big 12 gets a little more interesting at Missouri rallied to knock off Kansas in a big rivalry showdown. Both teams are now 8-2 in conference play.

Who’s on top of the ACC? No, not Duke, although the Blue Devils will be tied if they beat Miami on Sunday. North Carolina is in a tie after a big 83-74 win at Maryland to move into a tie for that spot. The team they are tied with is Florida State, as the Seminoles are 7-1 after a 58-55 win over Virginia.

Temple is now alone in first place in the Atlantic 10 after a 73-56 win at Rhode Island, combined with Saint Joseph’s knocking off La Salle earlier in the day. Temple’s perimeter trio continues to be the driving force for this team.

Wyoming knocked off road-weary UNLV in a close one after the Runnin’ Rebels ran into snow-related travel delays en route to Laramie.

Northern Iowa beat Creighton on a buzzer-beater, right after Creighton had tied it on a big shot.

Iona won a big showdown against Manhattan for the lead in the MAAC.

George Mason grabbed a share of the lead in the Colonial Athletic Association with a 54-50 win over Old Dominion in a first-place showdown. The Patriots are joined by VCU, 59-56 winners over Northeastern, and Drexel, 65-57 winners at Towson, at 11-2 in the conference.

Mississippi Valley State is now 10-0 in the SWAC and two games ahead in the standings, after knocking off Alabama State.

Sunday’s key matchups:

• Michigan at Michigan State
• Miami at Duke
• Northwestern at Illinois
• Stephen F. Austin at McNeese State
• The biggest one of all: New York Giants vs. New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLVI

CBS’ Doyel has the guts to step back from the controversy trap

Good journalism isn’t easy.

That’s especially true when a juicy story comes along that’s sure to rile up the masses, generating lots of readers and charged opinions. Those stories force editors and reporters to make critical decisions about the validity of sources and effort required to seek comment from an opposing side.

In the emerging brouhaha about the transfer of Todd O’Brien from Saint Joseph’s to UAB, we have an awful lot of information spewing from the O’Brien side and almost nothing from the Hawks’ side.

If you missed the background, Sports Illustrated’s website ran a lengthy column by O’Brien, who outlined his journey through college basketball, which has landed him at UAB as a graduated senior with one remaining year of eligibility. However, before O’Brien can play for the Blazers, Saint Joseph’s must grant him a full release from his scholarship. And supposedly coach Phil Martelli refuses to do so. Without that release, O’Brien won’t play college hoops again.

Frankly, it’s hard to imagine a legitimate reason for not letting a guy play, especially for a team in a different conference and not on the Hawks’ schedule. But that’s not the point.

As the media outcry has sided with O’Brien — who is seeking legal recourse to force his way onto the court — only a handful of commentators have taken a measured approach to this story. So I tip my hat to CBS Sports’ Gregg Doyel, a man with plenty of strong opinions, for leaping into the fray waiving a gigantic caution flag.

While everyone is crying foul, Doyel cried, “Wait!” He rightfully observed that Saint Joseph’s is remaining mum because they are respecting student-athletes’ privacy. The bottom line is we don’t know the Saint Joseph’s side of the story, and we might not for some time. So it’s presumptuous at best and flat-out wrong at worst to side with the supposed victim in this story.

Of course, it’s far less engaging to remain on the fence when others are going all in and calling for Martelli’s ouster. That bloodlust is unhealthy and not reflective of this country’s innocent-until-PROVEN-guilty judicial system. If mob rule dictated justice, we’d have a lot of major mistakes to apologize for whenever we learned the truth — if we ever learned the truth.

A good journalist’s duty is to present clear, accurate and precise information. Commentators who espouse opinions based on incomplete information aren’t doing anyone any good. As unsexy as it may be, we all need to follow Doyel’s lead and wait and see. Let the established rules play out in the NCAA, and if the courts get involved, let the state and local laws as interpreted by the courts decide the matter.

But there’s no need to call for Martelli’s head on a platter until there’s substantiated evidence that he acted like a callous, vindictive control freak.

We go coast to coast with news from around the college basketball nation.

Kentucky had no problems getting past Samford, 82-50, even without Terrence Jones, who missed the game to recuperate from a dislocated pinky, writes the Associated Press’ Colin Fly.

California will be without one its big men this week as sophomore Richard Solomon recovers from a left foot injury, writes Diamond Leung for ESPN.com’s “College Basketball Nation” blog. The sophomore forward is one of the team’s best rebounders, averaging 6.9 rpg, and he’ll miss at least the team’s games against UNLV Dec. 23.

Miami will get back DeQuan Jones, who figured to play a bigger role for the Hurricanes this season — if for no other reason than he’s one of the bigger players on the teams. Jones missed the first month and a half of the season because the school suspended him for the season while the NCAA investigated his possible involvement in the recruiting scandal that has rocked the university. However, according to an Associated Press report, the Hurricanes have reversed that decision, and Jones could be back in the lineup as early as this week.

Some tech-savvy pranksters punked Oregon’s website Sunday night and Monday morning, writes the Washington Post’s Steve Yanda, and the hackers posted some disparaging comments about Virginia that were attributed to Oregon coach Dana Altman. The Ducks lost to the Cavaliers 67-54, and the hacker made up comments ranging from Mike Scott’s hair to the Ducks’ pregame meal. Oregon apologized to the Cavaliers for the malfeasance.

New Mexico State is bringing suspended guard Christian Kabongo back into the fold after the sophomore had been suspended for two games for making obscene gestures in a game against UTEP, writes ESPN.com’s Diamond Leung for the “College Basketball Nation” blog.

NCAA Division I programs couldn’t get enough support to overturn a rule that bans universities from hosting high school prep tournaments, according to an Associated Press report.

Houston boosters might have lost as much as 40 percent of their investments in the David Salinas Ponzi scheme affair, according to the Associated Press. Salinas committed suicide last year, a few weeks before the Securities and Exchange Commission filed a lawsuit that detailed the deceptive investments and behavior that swindled a bunch of Division I programs and coaches.

North Carolina-Kentucky lives up to the hype

The matchup between North Carolina and Kentucky lived up to its billing. It was a well-played game that came right down to the wire, and was close throughout. The eighth-largest crowd in Rupp Arena history saw it, and even more watched on television. And it’s possible that the game will mirror the teams’ seasons.

Kentucky probably has the most talent of any team in the country, but the Wildcats’ youth hasn’t been hard to see. Their freshmen have had their share of growing pains, from Marquis Teague’s early struggles taking care of the ball to Anthony Davis learning how physical the college game can be. It’s for exactly that reason that senior Darius Miller has never been more valuable than much of the early going this time around.

North Carolina is right up there with the Wildcats, but this is an older and more mature team. Whereas the Wildcats start three freshmen, the Tar Heels only played two freshmen yesterday and both came off the bench. But they start a senior, two juniors and two sophomores, and on the whole this is a team quite a ways from its ceiling just like Kentucky.

In the first half, North Carolina led by as many as nine and was the better team. They were hot from long range, going 6-9 from behind the arc in the opening frame. But Kentucky scored seven in a row at the end of the first and start of the second half, momentarily grabbing the lead and then staying right with the Tar Heels until they took the lead for good on a Davis jumper with less than eight minutes to play.

The Tar Heels had one more chance after Teague missed the front end of a one-and-one with 21 seconds left. They got the ball to John Henson, known more for his shot-blocking than scoring, and in a length-versus-length matchup, Davis got a hand on his short jumper and the Wildcats were able to run out the final seconds for a 73-72 victory.

It’s a game that many would love to see a rematch of, and considering that both teams are a ways from their respective ceilings, no one would be surprised if it materialized in the month of March.

While that was the best matchup of the day, there were a few other teams, conferences and player of note.

Marquette

Winning at the Kohl Center is hard for visiting teams to do, but Marquette pulled it off on Saturday and did so without their starting point guard. Before the game, the Golden Eagles announced that Junior Cadougan was suspended for the game due to a violation of team rules. Wisconsin has lost two straight, but neither is a bad loss as they lost to North Carolina earlier in the week. The Golden Eagles, meanwhile, are 7-0 with a blowout win over Ole Miss and Saturday’s win at Wisconsin.

Xavier

Xavier is becoming quite the second-half team. On Monday, they trailed by ten in the second half before rallying to beat Vanderbilt in overtime in Nashville. But yesterday they did themselves one better, as they trailed Purdue by 11 at the half and 19 in the second half before coming back to edge the Boilermakers 66-63. In the last 10:44, Xavier outscored Purdue 30-8.

Illinois

It seems like Bruce Weber has been on the hot seat forever in Champaign, but let’s acknowledge not only the job he has done thus far but especially what he is doing this season. After an 82-75 win over Gonzaga on Saturday, the Illini are 8-0 with wins over Richmond and at Maryland as well. Neither of those two is a big NCAA Tournament resume win, but they are worth noting because the Illini haven’t beaten up on a slew of terrible teams and could be 12-0 when they take on Missouri on Dec. 22, though they will have to get by UNLV at home before then. Saturday was the first time all season Gonzaga did not have at least four players score in double figures.

Brigham Young

No Jimmer, no problem for Brigham Young. After Saturday’s 79-65 win over Oregon in Salt Lake City, BYU is 6-2 with a win over Nevada included and the only losses being at Utah State and against Wisconsin. Granted, this isn’t the Oregon team we all thought we would see before the season with the departures of Jabari Brown and Bruce Barron, but the Ducks aren’t pushovers.

Head-scratching in the CAA

A number of conferences have their opening games this weekend before teams resume non-conference play for a little while longer. Perhaps none has had results that might leave one scratching their head as much as the Colonial Athletic Association, where three teams won on the road and preseason favorite Drexel lost to Delaware by 11 (albeit on the road). The Dragons have had a rough go of it thus far, but Chris Fouch is back so they’re closer to having their full team together. Still, Fouch was 0-9 yesterday and the Blue Hens won the battle on the glass by a 40-32 margin over a Drexel team that routinely beats up opponents on the boards.

The one other score that jumps out is Georgia State thumping William & Mary 66-34 in Atlanta. The Tribe didn’t look to be far from being a good team last season, but they’re struggling mightily out of the gates and Saturday may be the low point thus far.

We go coast to coast with other news from the college basketball nation

• Ohio State didn’t miss a beat despite Jared Sullinger being out with back spasms.
• College of Charleston lost a wealth of talent and experience from last season’s team, but the Cougars are 7-1 overall and are one of four teams that went 2-0 in early Southern Conference games this weekend. Chattanooga, who the Cougars beat last night and was picked to win the North Division, is 0-2.
• Connecticut got a big lift from Ryan Boatright with 23 points and six assists in his home debut.
• UCLA is now 2-5 after a home loss to Texas that saw them blow an 11-point lead.

Some of Sunday’s Key Matchups

Sunday is a day full of interesting matchups of teams that we’re trying to find out something about. None of these are like North Carolina-Kentucky, but they will be worth keeping an eye on.

• Baylor at Northwestern
• UNLV at Wichita State
• California at San Diego State
• Dayton at Murray State
• North Carolina State at Stanford
• Notre Dame at Maryland
• VCU vs. George Washington (BB&T Classic at the Verizon Center)
• Kansas State at Virginia Tech

Kentucky’s youth can be easy to forget at times

UNCASVILLE, Conn. – With all the talent Kentucky has, it can be easy to forget a basic thing: this team is young. And experience matters in college basketball, although it doesn’t always make the difference in the ballgame. On Sunday, that was evident as the Wildcats struggled to fend off an Old Dominion team that lost a great deal from last season’s team in terms of significant contributors.

The growing pains of the Wildcats were all there for people to see on Sunday. Point guard Marquis Teague struggled with turnovers once again, as he’s had more of those than assists in all but one game in his young college career after handing out two assists and giving it away six times on Sunday. Their big men didn’t respond well to the physicality of the game, especially Anthony Davis, who had his moments early on but fouled out in just 20 minutes.

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ACC’s hot start could be a harbinger of better times ahead

After six full days into the regular season, the ACC is the only undefeated conference remaining. And that pretty much guarantees that Maryland will lose to Alabama Thursday night or Georgia Tech will fall against Saint Joseph’s.

No one really keeps track of which conferences go the longest without a loss, but hoops pundits love to banter about which conference is tops in the game. The ACC hasn’t been part of that conversation for a few years now, despite claiming two of the past three champions and a contender or two for this year’s title.

As of this week, the ACC has North Carolina, Duke and Florida State in the top 25. No other team even received a vote from the pollsters. As Rodney Dangerfield often lamented, this conference doesn’t get any respect these days, with everyone focusing on Tobacco Road and ignoring most of the rest of the conference. That would be a mistake this season.

Already, Virginia Tech, Clemson and Virginia have flashed plenty of promise. They’ll need to bring down some of the big boys from conferences like the Big East, Big 12 and Big Ten before they rise into the public spotlight. That’s probably going to start happening in the next couple of weeks as the early season tournaments gain steam and more power conference squads go head to head.

When it’s all said and done this season, don’t be surprised if at least five different ACC teams spend some quality time in the top 25, and the conference once again joins the discussion as tops in the land.

We go coast to coast with other news from the college basketball nation.

• New Providence coach Ed Cooley and the Friars returned to his former employers at Fairfield Monday, and Providence escaped with a hard-fought 80-72 win, according to a CBS Sports.com report. The Friars’ head honcho had plenty of reason to feel emotionally torn after enjoying success in the MAAC in his first coaching gig and building strong relationships with players such as Rakim Sanders, writes Matt Norlander.
• UCLA suspended Reeves Nelson for bad behavior after the junior forward blew off a practice Monday and looked selfishly frustrated in the Bruins’ opening loss to Loyola Marymount, writes Peter Yoon for ESPN Los Angeles. The Bruins dropped their second consecutive game Tuesday when Middle Tennessee State handled the Nelson-less squad.
• After an 0-2 start, UCLA fans must be yearning for the golden age led by the legendary John Wooden. Those days are long gone, but Wooden — or at least a statue bearing his resemblance — will greet every player and fan entering the renovated Pauley Pavilion, Peter Yoon writes on ESPN.com.
• St. Bonaventure will play the rest of the season without forward Marquise Simmons, who tore his Achilles tendon against Cornell, according to a CBS Sports.com wire report. The junior provided solid depth for St. Bonaventure, averaging about four points and rebounds per game last season.
• If “best” refers to most talented, CBS Sports.com’s Jeff Goodman explains why Kentucky, not North Carolina, is the best team in the country this season.
• No sleep till Brooklyn! The Beastie Boys can lend that motto to Kentucky and Maryland next year when the Wildcats and Terrapins meet in the first-ever Barclays Center Classic, to be held at the new arena under construction in Brooklyn, N.Y., according to the Associated Press.

And here we go…

Today marks the official start of the 2011-12 season, though we’ve already had a few games in action this week as part of the 2K Sports Coaches vs. Cancer Classic tourney.

The highlight of today’s action will be the North Carolina vs. Michigan State match up, which — if you somehow haven’t heard yet — will be played on an aircraft carrier in San Diego. The move is a fantastic way to honor our military services on Veterans Day and kick off the season with two of the sport’s premier programs.

In addition to the top-ranked Tar Heels and Spartans, here’s a  list of other noteworthy games.

1. Marist at No. 2 Kentucky, one of the frontrunners for this year’s national championshipWright State at No. 3 Ohio State, which returns Jared Sullinger, possibly the best big man in the country
2. Columbia at defending national champs No. 4 Connecticut
3. Belmont at No. 6 Duke, which needs two wins for coach Mike Krzyzewski to match his mentor, Bob Knight, for most Division I wins in NCAA history
4. Oregon at No. 7 Vanderbilt, one of the only match ups between power conference teams
5. North Florida at No. 17 Alabama, a potential sleeper in the top-heavy SEC
6. Rhode Island at George Mason, a solid match up of mid-majors in Paul Hewitt’s first game as the Colonials’ coach
7. BYU at Utah State, the in-state battle continues to rage on, even without Jimmer-mania in effect in 2011-12
8. Army at Air Force, on Veterans Day, the two services look to claim a little bragging rights for superiority on the hardwood
9. Citadel at VMI, another military-centric match up worth highlighting

Kentucky’s Terrence Jones and Stacey Poole were in a car accident at 2:30 a.m. last night when a driver crossed into their lane on the road and hit the car they were in, according to Sports Illustrated.com. Everyone was fine, and the driver of the vehicle that hit Poole and Jones has been charged with driving under the influence.

The bad luck continues for Jim Larranaga in Coral Gables. Miami’s new coach will be without DeQuan Jones for the entire season as the NCAA investigates allegations that Jones received $10,000 from a booster while he was a recruit, according to a report at Rivals.com. Jones figured to play a bigger role for the Hurricanes this season, especially with Reggie Johnson and Julian Gamble injured.

Globetrotters’ Basketball Soul Outshines Rash of Rough News

BASELINE TO BASELINE

Go coast to coast with a round up of the nation’s top stories.

1. Although Phil Jackson seems pretty convinced that there won’t be a next season for the NBA next season, several college players are gambling that they’ll still be making NBA money within a few months. Here are a few of the players who announced during the past few days that they’ll be entering the NBA Draft.

• Arizona’s Derrick Williams, with agent
• Butler’s Shelvin Mack, no agent
• Connecticut’s Kemba Walker, with agent
• Florida State’s Chris Singleton, with agent
• Kansas’ Josh Selby, with agent
• San Diego State’s Kawhi Leonard, with agent
• UCLA’s Malcolm Lee, with agent

2. ESPN.com’s Andy Katz breaks down the NCAA Legislative Committee’s proposal to move up the deadline for declaring for the draft. If the Board of Directors approves the measure, players will need to decide by April 10 whether they intend to declare for the draft — and they can’t turn back. It essentially ends the test-the-waters approach, which isn’t good for the kids, Katz writes.

3. One player who won’t be testing the waters this season is Baylor’s Perry Jones, ESPN.com’s Andy Katz writes. Somewhat surprisingly, Jones will return to the Bears, who had a disappointing season but will return a start-studded team, anchored by Jones.

4. Despite the uproar about the early entry deadline, that’s small change compared to the fiasco in San Diego. The Associated Press reported this week that the FBI is investigating former members of the Toreros program for running a sports betting business, and 10 people have been charged in the case, including the team’s all-time leading scorer, Brandon Johnson. In addition to Johnson, former player Brandon Dowdy is accused of fixing games.

5. Jorts-mania could be coming to a town near you. Kentucky’s Josh Harrellson will be launching a Jorts Tour — after his now-famous nickname — to sign autographs and hawk his clothing line, according to Diamond Leung of ESPN.com’s “College Basketball Nation” blog.

6. As Nebraska prepares to move to the Big 10 next season, the Huskers have reworked coach Doc Sadler’s deal to pay him an extra $100,000 per year, making his salary $900,000 per year through 2015-16, according to a CBS Sports.com wire report.

7. One of Nebraska’s former Big 12 rivals, Iowa State, is dealing with some drama after police arrested freshman center Jordan Railey for punching a man late Wednesday night along a hot spot for Ames restaurants and bars, according to the Associated Press. Coach Fred Hoiberg has suspended Railey while gathering more information about the incident.

HOME COURT ADVANTAGE

Man, what a rough week for news in the world of college basketball.

Several players landed in trouble with the law (Nebraska, Florida). An NBA-minded freshman skipped his team’s season-closing banquet to work out in Vegas (Kansas). And speaking of Sin City, the gambling bug apparently migrated south to San Diego, where the very integrity of the game is in question after the FBI unearthed a supposed sports business ring that included former Torero players who are accused of fixing games.

And just to pile on, the NCAA looks pretty selfish and uninterested in the welfare of student-athletes after moving forward with a proposal to give players until about a week after the championship game to decide whether they want to return to school or enter the NBA Draft. Needing only an affirmative vote by the NCAA’s Board of Directors to become official, the proposal applies tortured logic that benefits schools and coaches but not players. And the players already are limited because the NCAA won’t let them profit from their name or likeness in commercial products, such as video games. However, the NCAA is happy to take its cut from those sales.

That’s enough to get you pretty down about the game.

Thankfully, I watched the Harlem Globetrotters play tonight on ESPN. And that evaporated my creeping cynicism. The figure-eight weaves, between-the-legs passes and crowd-pleasing interludes don’t look like traditional basketball. All those fancy moves make for great entertainment, and everyone in the arena is having fun — even the tough-luck Generals.

Basketball is supposed to be fun. Yes, the game can be a means to a career — and a small fortune — for the most talented players. But for the 99 percent of players who don’t come within sniffing distance of an NBA pay check, the game needs to be fun. If it’s not, why play? The Globetrotters take fun to an extreme, but they embody the soul of the game.

Despite the spate of bad news, the game goes on. By November, optimism will be the mood du jour as nearly 350 Division I teams embark on the journey toward a 2012 championship. And with any luck, most of them will have plenty of fun along the way.

Final Four Teams All Overcame Adversity

Adversity is part of life. Sports are no different, as no team ever goes through a season without adversity of some sort. Some teams and players go through more than others, but it’s all part of competing. This year’s Final Four teams are all studies in exactly that, because each has had to overcome adversity along the way.

VCU had more than its fair share of adversity, some of which wasn’t expected. This is a team picked third in the Colonial Athletic Association before the season, with some picking them second. The non-conference slate went reasonably well, but had some missed opportunities. It included blowing a lead at UAB right before Christmas, then a couple of wins right before CAA play that left head coach Shaka Smart concerned about leadership – not exactly what one would expect of a senior-laden team. Joey Rodriguez remembered going home after the UAB game, namely that it felt like an even longer drive (he drove from Birmingham to his home in Florida) because it was a missed opportunity.

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Newark Regional Notes: Kentucky Advances to Final Four

NEWARK, N.J. – Kentucky is Final Four bound. The Newark Regional started off slow but gave us two outstanding contests to cap off a wild weekend. A tempo free look at the games, beginning with the final.

Kentucky 76, North Carolina 69

Possessions:

Kentucky 69

North Carolina 71

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Bracket Breakdown: Critical Questions for the Elite Eight – Part 2

(11) VCU 71 (1) Kansas61

Will Cinderella’s slipper fit on VCU? At this point, the better question might be: Why wouldn’t it?

Led by coach Shaka Smart and point guard Joey Rodriguez, the Rams have burned through USC, Georgetown, Purdue and Florida State to move within one game of going from the First Four to the Final Four. If they make it happen, the run will look awfully familiar.

Five years ago, George Mason captured the country’s attention by receiving a controversial at-large bid as a No. 11 seed, then tore through Michigan State, North Carolina and Wichita State to set up a meeting with tournament-favorite Connecticut. The Colonials shocked the world with an overtime upset of the Huskies. … Continue Reading

SEC Player Rankings

All John Calipari does is load teams with winners.

Or at least, so it would seem. The Kentucky coach brought John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins, Eric Bledsoe and Daniel Orton to the Wildcats last season, and they delivered a dominant season and Elite Eight run. This season, Calipari imported Brandon Knight, Terrence Jones, Doron Lamb and Josh Harrelson to keep the Wildcats on top of the SEC and in the discussion for a national championship. … Continue Reading

Game On!

Cream of Draft Crop Have Plenty of Promise

With the NBA Finals in full effect and the LeBron James sweepstakes as the preferred topic of discussion in the background, not everyone remembers the NBA Draft is also on this month’s schedule. And no one’s to blame, really. Despite the talent the 2010 class holds, the draft has seen better days.

These 2010 guys are out to prove something, though. One won’t know just how great a draft class it will be until years down the road, once these soon-to-be-rookies go on to participate in several All-Star games, win an MVP or simply bust out to play in Europe.

With that disclaimer in play, here is the best the 2010 NBA Draft has to offer.

1. John Wall, point guard, Kentucky

Wall’s undisputedly No. 1. Not only did he help make Kentucky one of the best teams in college basketball last season, he did it as a freshman while averaging great numbers: 16.9 points, 6.4 assists and 4.2 rebounds per game. The 19-year-old is a pure point guard with terrific size, speed and court vision. What he needs to improve is his inconsistent jump shot. But other than that, he’s exactly what troubled Washington — owner of the No. 1 pick — needs after such a tumultuous season.

2. Evan Turner, small forward, Ohio State

Averaging 20 points and almost 10 rebounds per game, Turner got to the rim and grabbed misses almost at will in college. He’s an offensive workhorse who can pass while also excelling on defense. His court vision also is outstanding, evidenced by his six assists per game in 2009-10. Just call him Mr. Versatility. It would be interesting to see how much he gets the ball in Philadelphia, which has the No. 2 pick, though. He was the man in Ohio, but he would be Andre Iguodala’s sidekick in Philly.

3. DeMarcus Cousins, center, Kentucky

So Wall didn’t make Kentucky a contender by himself. He had himself a stud of a big man helping him. Standing at 6-11 and weighing 270 pounds, Cousins averaged 15.1 points and 9.8 rebounds per game in limited playing time — mostly because of foul trouble. He’s only 19 years old and has a lot of potential, good and bad. He has great hands and a scoring mentality, but there are concerns about his weight and maturity. There’s no question Cousins has all the tools necessary to be very good in the NBA. The New Jersey Nets, who have the No. 3 pick, would hope he decides to use them.

4. Greg Monroe, power forward, Georgetown

Two seasons at Georgetown was all Monroe needed to be NBA ready. He’s a double-double machine with great passing ability, and he’s a lefty. He can create his own shot but needs to work on his jump shot, a lot. He’s only 20, though, so there’s a lot of potential for the already-skilled big man. He’ll be a nice pickup for Minnesota, if the Timberwolves take him with the No. 4 pick, who could really use the help after going 15-67 last season.

5. Derrick Favors, power forward, Georgia Tech

The youngest player entering the 2010 NBA Draft, Favors was among the top players in field goal percentage (61 percent) during the 2009-10 season. He averaged 12.4 points and 8.4 rebounds in 27.5 minutes per game. He’s a very effective big man with quickness and athleticism. His youth also means his body hasn’t fully developed, though, so he’ll need to gain some muscle to be a difference-maker. There’s nowhere to go but up for Favors, and the Kings (No. 5 pick) will likely take him.

The only certainty in this 2010 Draft, it seems, is that Wall will go No. 1. Turner at No. 2 is also as good a prediction as a Tim Duncan bank shot. Picks No. 3 through 5, however, can be switched around among New Jersey, Minnesota and Sacramento. None of those big men will be immediate franchise saviors. Potential is their main label.

Sixers, Nets Poised to Surprise People in Draft

In recent days, we’ve shined the spotlight on the Washington Wizards and their likely top pick, Kentucky’s John Wall. Will Wall be good for Washington? Equally important, will Washington be good for Wall?

The next two teams picking at the top of the draft should deliver plenty of story lines, too. The Philadelphia 76ers were the other big winner in the NBA Draft lottery, moving up to the No. 2 spot. New Jersey, which was the favorite to land the No. 1 pick, slid to No. 3.

The 76ers have a chance to solve a fundamental flaw in their team composition. The team’s top player, swingman Andre Iguodala, and several young guards, including Lou Williams and Jrue Holiday, are best suited for an up tempo game. However, the team’s best big man is Elton Brand, who has been beset by injuries and surgeries that have rendered one of the most dominant post players to a plodding half-court player.

The 76ers intend to do everything they can to ditch Brand this off-season, which might be difficult to do because of his injury history and massive contract. But regardless of whether he’s on the team, the 76ers are in prime position to upgrade their athleticism at power forward. Georgia Tech’s Derrick Favors or Kentucky’s DeMarcus Cousins would be great picks. Favors might have more upside than Cousins, who is the more polished player at this point. However, Favors didn’t have as tumultuous a season as Cousins, who frequently came across as a prima donna.

Meanwhile, the New Jersey Nets desperately wanted to land Wall to help market the team to this summer’s top free agents. Of course, free agents can’t start signing with new teams until July, so the Nets will enter the draft June 24 uncertain of what their team will look like in a matter of weeks. That makes projecting the team’s pick more difficult.

However, we do know that new owner Mikhail Prokhorov is extraordinarily rich and extraordinarily determined to win — and fast. He said he wanted to bring a championship to New Jersey/Brooklyn within two or three years. Those are lofty expectations for the worst team in the NBA.

Despite their awful record, the Nets have a decent foundation with Devin Harris at point guard, Brook Lopez at center and a cadre of wing players: Courtney Lee, Chris Douglas-Roberts and Terrence Williams. Prokhorov’s draft strategy might reveal which free agents he believes he can land. Everyone knows LeBron James is his top target. In addition, the Nets need a power forward. If Prokhorov plans to sign Carlos Boozer, Chris Bosh or Amar’e Stoudemire, drafting a player like Favors or Cousins wouldn’t make sense. However, if one of those elite big men won’t be wearing a Nets jersey next season, Prokhorov likely would go with Favors or Cousins.

But if Prokhorov intends to open his checkbook wide enough to draw in one of those top big men, he could use the No. 3 pick on a shooter. Syracuse’s Wesley Johnson comes to mind. Johnson had a sensational year for the Orange, and he is a popular fellow in the greater New York City region. He also has a special talent for shooting the long ball, something the Nets desperately need. If Prokhorov can land Boozer, Bosh or Stoudemire to beef up the post and get James or Dwyane Wade, the Nets would be making an excellent selection by choosing possibly the most talented shooter in the draft.

After Washington makes its pick, the draft promises to become wide open. Expect the unexpected, possibly as soon as Philadelphia makes the No. 2 pick.

Will Washington Be Good for Wall?

Barring any shocking developments between now and June 24, the Washington Wizards will be drafting Kentucky’s John Wall with the No. 1 pick. Should Wall be scared?

None of Washington’s recent draft picks has emerged as a superstar. And if Wall thought Tennessee or Florida created a hostile environment, wait until he arrives in the city that spews criticism for a living.

Since 2000, the Wizards have made eight first-round picks. Only two are still with the team — Nick Young and JaVale McGee — and neither averages more than 20 minutes or nine points per game. The last time Washington picked in the top 10, the Wizards promptly traded Devin Harris to Dallas in a package for Antawn Jamison. And Washington’s last No. 1 pick was an unmitigated disaster. The Wizards took Kwame Brown straight out of high school in 2001. He never lived up to his hype, averaging only 10.9 points and 7.4 rebounds per game in his best season with the Wizards. By Brown’s fourth season, he was a locker room pariah and quickly became expendable. Washington booted him to the Los Angeles Lakers for Caron Butler and others.

The Kwame Brown experience has left Wizards fans cynical about overhyped, so-called franchise saviors. When Wall arrives, he will need to earn their respect and adoration — something he won’t be accustomed to doing after receiving nothing but praise and adulation during the past three or four years. Washington is a tough town, filled with people waiting to share a negative opinion. It’s the home of ESPN’s “PTI” program, which features Michael Wilbon, one of the most respected NBA analysts. Co-host Tony Kornhesier is no slouch either, and he’ll have a firsthand look at Wall’s development.

In addition, the Washington media will naturally compare Wall to his counterparts in other sports. Washington Nationals fans are worked up into a frenzy with the first start of star rookie pitcher Stephen Strasburg scheduled for tonight. The Washington Capitals have one of the best players in the NHL in Alex Ovechkin. And the Washington Redskins will always be the No. 1 game in town.

Wall will enter a challenging sports environment in which he must excel — as in, at least 20 points, nine assists and a steal or two per game — to even crack the top spot on Washington sports pages. Yes, his early season performances will be big news. But the luster will fade fast, especially because the congressional midterm elections will coincide with the start of the 2010-11 NBA season.

And the most closely watched contests in Washington involve men and women in suits whose home court is several blocks southeast of the Verizon Center.

No. 1 Spot Doesn’t Guarantee Success

If the Washington Wizards stick with conventional logic, they will be picking Kentucky’s John Wall with the No. 1 pick June 24.

By most accounts, Wall is the undisputed top pick in the NBA Draft. However, the last time Washington owned the No. 1 pick in the draft, the Wizards ended up with current journeyman and all-around disappointment Kwame Brown. The man that Michael Jordan picked to be the future franchise player of the Wizards just finished this past season with the Detroit Pistons and averaged 3.3 points and 3.7 rebounds per game.

Ouch.

Brown’s career numbers are not much better: 6.7 points and 5.4 rebounds per game. Those are the worst averages for any No. 1 pick who has actually played an NBA game. And recent draft history could give Wizards fans more nerves.

Last year’s top pick, Blake Griffin, has not played a minute in the regular season for the Los Angeles Clippers after a stress fracture worsened and forced him to undergo season-ending surgery. Griffin isn’t the only recent top pick to miss significant time.

The Portland Trail Blazers’ Greg Oden also missed all of his rookie season. Microfracture surgery on his right knee sidelined the Blazers’ top pick from 2007. In the three years since the Blazers drafted Oden, their No. 1 big man has played exactly 82 games, averaging 9.4 points and 7.3 rebounds per game.

That news could frighten Wizards fans, who are accustomed to bad luck. However, Wall has no injury history. He’s not a massive guy whose knees take a pounding. He’s not an unproven high school head case.

For Washington fans, Wall’s most likely comparison could be the Chicago Bulls’ Derrick Rose. Like Rose, Wall comes to the NBA after playing for coach John Calipari for one season. Both are uber-talented point guards who have already proven that they can lead their team to victory, often scoring in bunches when their teams need them. If the Wizards land a Rose clone, they will be thrilled — and set to rebuild a franchise looking to relaunch its identity.

Mr. Wall Goes to Washington

In a matter of weeks, Kentucky’s John Wall will become one of the most popular men in Washington, D.C. — a town where public opinion decides your fate.

Yes, nothing is official until the NBA Draft arrives June 24. But when the Washington Wizards won the NBA Draft lottery a few weeks ago — despite finishing only tied for the fourth-worst record in the regular season — Wall’s future home was all but decided. For the past two years, nearly every expert has pegged Wall as the No. 1 pick in the 2010 draft, almost regardless of team need. Wall is supposed to be that good.

In just one season at Kentucky, Wall certainly teased NBA executives into a giddy state of optimism. The freshman point guard averaged 16.6 points, 4.3 rebounds and 6.5 assists per game. Those numbers would have made Wall the Wizards’ leading man for scoring and assists by the end of the regular season — discounting players no longer with the team, for one reason or another. And Wall tallied those numbers while playing in 40-minute college games.

For Wizards fans who just can’t embrace their good luck — and the professional sports legacy in Washington justifies a healthy amount of skepticism — there are a few reasons to tone down the optimism surrounding Wall. Despite leading the Wildcats in scoring, Wall proved to be an inconsistent shooter. He shot 46.1 percent from the field and just 32.5 percent from three-point range. And there was some concern about Wall’s potential to be a prima donna after he publicly complained that coach John Calipari criticized him following a poor performance in a loss to South Carolina.

The source for Calipari’s criticism was Wall’s propensity for turning over the ball — another chink in Wall’s seemingly impenetrable armor. Despite finishing as one of the best passers in college basketball, Wall also had 4.0 turnovers per game. He cannot afford to play sloppily and shoot poorly in the NBA or else he’ll be considered a bust.

However, the Wizards will focus on Wall’s undeniable upside. He is an electric player who can attract fans to the Verizon Center. Washington figures to undergo a massive overhaul this season. The team is dedicated to trading Gilbert Arenas, who Wizards execs reportedly labeled a cancer. They don’t want the young, impressionable Wall to come within shouting distance of their banished star. With nine unrestricted free agents and three restricted free agents on the roster, the team could be completely different next season. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, especially considering the huge number of big name free agents who will be looking for a new home. Washington will be able to use Wall as the centerpiece for its marketing pitch.

And that includes selling Wall to a fan base that is desperate for a reason to embrace a floundering franchise.

Kentucky Starts Dancing on Hot Coals

Less than 13 months.

When Kentucky hired coach John Calipari in April 2009, skeptics rhetorically asked how long it would take controversy to follow him to Lexington. And now we have the answer.

The Lexington Herald-Leader discovered that of nine SEC teams that reported GPAs for their men’s basketball teams, Kentucky’s squad came in last with a 2.025 GPA for the fall semester. Collectively, that’s a solid C average for every player on the team.

Calipari and the Kentucky athletics department deserve an F.

It’s no secret that Calipari has been present during controversies at past jobs. The NCAA vacated both of his two trips to the Final Four because of ineligible players. In 1996, the NCAA discovered that Marcus Camby had received money from an agent, which compromised his status as an amateur player.

More recently, the NCAA found that a Memphis player — later revealed to be Derrick Rose — had someone else take his SATs in high school. Because of “knowing fraudulence or misconduct,” the NCAA decided that Rose was ineligible even though the fraud was discovered after Memphis’ run to the championship game against Kansas in 2008. In both cases, the NCAA did not peg the blame on Calipari.

Yes, this is America, and we cherish our justice system’s central tenet: People are innocent until proven guilty. But Kentucky athletic officials should know better.

With so much baggage accompanying Calipari to Lexington, it was important for Calipari and Kentucky to have a clean first year. Technically, he’s been on the job for more than a year. But his first academic year with the Wildcats won’t end until June 30. And thanks to some educationally disinterested players, Calipari will have to yet again answer questions about how he runs a program.

But Calipari shouldn’t have to field all of those questions. For a program as financially well endowed as Kentucky’s, it’s impossible to believe that the Wildcat players didn’t have plenty of resources at their disposal to help them with their studies. In addition, there should be at least one person who is responsible for monitoring the weekly and monthly academic progress of each player. More likely, Kentucky has a team of staff members in charge of monitoring academics that is large enough to double as a scout squad at practice.

With tutors, academic advisers and regulators, Kentucky has no excuse for allowing student-athletes to slip into such mediocrity. Calipari delivered a bounty of talented freshmen, many of whom clearly are destined to play in the NBA by fall 2010. That makes it especially shameful that Kentucky’s academic team didn’t keep a watchful eye on the players’ progress.

Not to diminish personal accountability, the players who earned a bunch of C’s and D’s should be embarrassed by their academic indifference. But imagine being an 18- or 19-year-old who constantly hears that he’ll be a millionaire in less than a year. That makes studying for a boring subject’s exam a lot less enticing. College students with far less affluent futures often struggle with their academic discipline when they arrive on campus.

The difference is that most students don’t have the extensive support network that student-athletes have, especially men’s basketball players at Kentucky.

This incident won’t be the downfall of Calipari at Kentucky. But it is an early opportunity for the coach to set the tone for his tenure with the Wildcats.

Kentucky: Calipari Masters the Art of Managing One-and-Done Players

NBA point guards Derrick Rose and Tyreke Evans’ success stories have only served as encouragement for a decision that didn’t need much thought for Kentucky freshmen John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins after their first college season came to an end: Bye-bye Wildcats, hello NBA lottery.

Rose and Evans, starters for the Chicago Bulls and Sacramento Kings, respectively, have transitioned fantastically into the pros after spending only one season in school under coach John Calipari at Memphis. Calipari, now with Kentucky, is some kind of first-year player virtuoso. Wall, a point guard, figures to go No. 1 overall, and Cousins, a forward, is expected to be off the board not long after.

And what about the two other Kentucky freshmen and a junior who also declared themselves ready for the NBA? First-round picks, too.

Junior forward Patrick Patterson is the only player who’s left the door open for a return to the Wildcats next season, saying he’s “half in, half out,” while guard Eric Bledsoe and center Daniel Orton look confident in going for the leap. They can all opt to change their minds by May 8 as long as they don’t hire agents, but that seems unlikely. Calipari, while happy for his pupils, will have to work some more recruiting magic to make Kentucky (35-3 in 2009-10) a powerhouse again next season.

Wall was a favorite to go pro even before the season began, and he backed up the hype. His mind-blowing play that generated 16.6 points and 6.5 assists per game led the Wildcats to regular-season and conference tournament championships before they fell to West Virginia in the Elite Eight. He set a single-season school record with 241 assists. Many of those went to Cousins.

Cousins was at his best when not in foul trouble, something he struggled with mightily — along with a temper problem — early in the season. He averaged 15.1 points and 9.8 rebounds per game and book-ended Kentucky’s monster guard/forward duo.

But if it wasn’t Wall or Cousins dominating the game, it was Bledsoe or Orton, the two other excellent freshmen who lived in their teammates’ shadows — hence the mild surprise when they announced the move to the NBA. The speedy Bledsoe averaged 11.9 points per game and was one of the Wildcats’ best three-point threats. Meanwhile, Orton kept Kentucky’s paint safe when Cousins was in foul trouble. He was a shot-blocking machine.

Patterson averaged a career-low 14.3 points per game, which might be one of the reasons he’d like to come back next year, along with the possibility of an NBA lockout. However, he backed out of the NBA Draft last season when many thought he was ready, which only tilts the balance in favor of him leaving this time around.

Patterson’s dipping numbers, down from 17.9 points per game last season, are a reflection of the kind of talent Calipari brought along after signing with Kentucky. A star alongside guard Jodie Meeks last season, Patterson was only the third-leading scorer this season. It’s a misleading statistic because — as with Bledsoe and Orton — if he had been the program’s featured player, he would have been a standout. There would be no “half in, half out” decision to make; it’d be an all-in while holding a full house.

Luckily for Patterson, Bledsoe and Orton, NBA scouts will see beyond their numbers, which should be a huge sigh of relief for Orton and his modest 3.4 points and 3.3 rebounds per game. They’re as good as gone. Calipari will be left with only five returning players from this season’s team.

But if anyone can rebuild a team, it’s Calipari, someone who transformed a team not good enough to make the NCAA Tournament one year into one of the Big Dance’s No. 1 seeds the next. The coach, who was a Mario Chalmers’ desperation three-pointer away from winning a national championship with Memphis in 2008, lost Rose to the NBA as the No. 1 pick in 2008 only to replace him with Evans in 2009, keeping the Tigers among the elite teams. He then left to Kentucky, where he turned an NIT team into a championship contender.

Calipari’s 2010 recruiting class, as usual, is among one of the top in the nation. Six-foot-10 Turkish center Enes Kanter has verbally committed, as has 6-5 slashing shooting guard Stacey Poole. Kentucky still doesn’t have an answer from point guard Brandon Knight, a crème-of-the-crop recruit, but the Wildcats, along with Kansas and Connecticut, are in the mix for his services.

Having Calipari at the helm certainly won’t hurt the Wildcats in their hunt to replace their departing young guns with other fresh-blooded talent. Kentucky will be back as one of the top teams next season. But before that — and a la North Carolina in 2005 — several Wildcats will hear their name called aloud on June 24, date of the 2010 NBA Draft.

Happy endings for everybody.

Bracket Breakdown: How the SEC Will Fare

The biggest difference between this season and last season in the SEC is the arrival of coach John Calipari at Kentucky. Coach Cal has the Wildcats positioned among the elite teams in the country thanks to one of the best recruiting classes in the past decade. Kentucky will now roll the dice with a bunch of freshmen who have no postseason experience but all the talent needed to make a run.

Besides the Wildcats, the three other tournament teams look vulnerable to first-round knockouts. Here is a preview of the SEC’s NCAA Tournament representatives.

Kentucky Wildcats (Overall: 32-2, SEC: 14-2)

No. 1 seed, East Region

When John Calipari bolted from Memphis to Lexington after last season, Kentucky faithful knew they had a proven winner who could lead the Wildcats back to the basketball’s elite. But even the most optimistic fans must be surprised by the immediate success Calipari has enjoyed with one of the youngest but most talented teams in the country. Super-frosh John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins delivered the Wildcats a No. 1 seed in the East Region and have the team poised to make its deepest tournament run since 2005.

However, the Wildcats will need its freshmen to play like veterans, even though no one on this team has played in an NCAA Tournament game. Their lack of big-game experience would seem to bode poorly for the Wildcats’ Final Four chances. However, the team’s balanced offense and defense should easily carry Kentucky to the Sweet 16. Getting any further will be a major challenge, though.

Kentucky’s weaknesses are three-point shooting, occasional sloppiness on offense and downright bad free throw shooting. Either No. 4-seed Wisconsin or No. 5-seed Temple has the defensive fortitude necessary to slow down the Wildcat’s uber-athletic lineup. They also play a painfully slow pace, which will encourage Wall to try to force plays. Wisconsin and Temple are great at getting back on defense, so the Wildcats won’t have many opportunities in transition. And the Owls and Badgers are among the top teams in defensive field goal percentage. That spells trouble for Kentucky.

Look for Wall and company to make some noise with spectacular plays throughout three games before falling to a more veteran and controlled Wisconsin squad.

Vanderbilt Commodores (Overall: 24-8, SEC: 12-4)

No. 4 seed, West Region

Vanderbilt has had another strong season, entering the NCAA Tournament with 24 wins. After seemingly being on the hot seat each year, coach Kevin Stallings has established the Commodores, the No. 4 seed in the West Region, as a perennial SEC contender. That’s impressive in a conference that contains the likes of Kentucky, Florida and LSU.

This season, the Commodores have a squad that can beat great teams or lose to mediocre ones. Vanderbilt needs to be ready to play in San Jose against No. 13-seed Murray State, which has a balanced, experienced lineup. Unlike past seasons, Vanderbilt does not get a high percentage of its points from three-point territory, preferring to work the offense through Aussie big man A.J. Ogilvy. However, the Racers are No. 4 in the nation in field goal percentage inside the arc. If Vanderbilt cannot get good looks inside the three-point line, the Commodores will struggle.

Six of Vanderbilt’s wins this seasons were decided by five points or less. Although it’s good that the Commodores know how to win close games, they might have benefited from a statistical anomaly. Vanderbilt’s opponents shoot an absolutely putrid 63.5 percent from the free throw line. How many points did those opponents leave at the line? Would Vanderbilt even be in the tournament if they had lost four of those six games and had 12 losses? The deciding factor in a major first-round upset will be the Racers’ 70.3 percent shooting from the line, including the performances of three players who log at least 50 percent of the team’s minutes and shoot at least 77 percent from the line.

Tennessee Volunteers (Overall: 25-8, SEC: 11-5)

No. 6 seed, Midwest Region

When we last saw Tennessee, the Volunteers were getting stomped by Kentucky, 74-45, in the SEC Tournament. Will that loss portend a short NCAA Tournament trip, or will coach Bruce Pearl rally the troops, starting against No. 11-seed San Diego State? Tennessee has the defense necessary to bounce back but the offensive inconsistency to lose ugly again.

Tennessee’s defense ranks No. 8 in defense efficiency, mostly on the strength of great three-point defense. Opponents shoot only 29.3 percent from long range. However, that might not matter against San Diego State, which focuses more on the inside game than perimeter. Neither team looks strong, and the Volunteers should find a way to win before losing to No. 3-seed Georgetown in the second round.

Florida Gators (Overall: 21-12, SEC: 9-7)

No. 10 seed, West Region

Several spurned teams, now in the NIT, probably take issues with Florida’s inclusion in the NCAA Tournament. The Gators will try to justify their bid against No. 7-seed BYU, but they won’t have much success. The Cougars have offensive and defensive advantages, while the Gators don’t excel at anything. They are an all-around solid club, as evidenced by wins against Tennessee and Michigan State. But Florida lacks consistency and generally loses to better teams. Look for that trend to continue as the weakest SEC team in the tournament bows out without much fanfare.