Who Wants to be Number 1?

From now until April the sporting landscape becomes somewhat bare. We still have basketball and hockey, but it is only regular season games. For us reading in Toronto, both our teams are having less than spectacular seasons to put it nicely, so these regular season games mean less and less. Although you can get excited when pitchers and catchers report, watching split squad games isn't really how I want to spend Saturday and Sunday afternoons. Football takes a hiatus until the draft in April, unless you count the 9 versions of Don Banks's mock drafts. So what do us as sports fans have to look forward to? College Basketball!

This college basketball season isn't the best talent wise we have ever seen and that is partially due too many of the outstanding freshman and sophomores leaving early for the NBA. What this parity of talent has done however, is make the games more interesting and the challenge of staying near or at the top of the rankings something that should be appreciated.

Several teams this year have already tasted the number 1 ranking in the polls - Duke, UNC, Wake Forest, and Pittsburgh have now all spent time as the big dog, only to get knocked off after only a couple of games. Now UCONN gives it a shot. With the tough conference schedule don't expect them to stay there much longer.

Why is it so tough for these teams to consistently play well? We know it isn't school work getting in the way. One factor is players have realized they don't need to attend Duke, UNC or Michigan to get to the NBA. With the number of games on TV, and small schools making the NCAA tournament, all players no matter who they play for can get exposure. Scouts aren't ignoring them any longer. Whether it is Stephen Curry at Davidson or Patrick Mills at Saint Mary's these are names that are now known to fans and GMs. This is spreading the talent around, giving more teams the chance to win big games.

Another factor is the media coverage - who can concentrate on the game when Erin Andrews is sitting court side in a tight sweater! Beside the Erin Andrews distraction, there is more media coverage and pressure to perform. It used to be there were two games on TV Saturday afternoon, now with ESPNU, multiple "game of the week" broadcasts and blogs dedicated to each team and even some blogs written by players themselves, the coverage is daily and the pressure mounts on some of these young players.

These factors are going to contribute to a great March Madness tournament with many upsets, great finishes and maybe a number one seed will even win the tournament so I can win my bracket pool.