Un-Lucky

With the NFL finishing its regular season, the teams on the outside looking in have the NFL draft to prepare for rather than their next opponent. The Carolina Panthers are the team that have the first selection in the draft. Since they finished last in the NFL they obviously have lots of needs, but throughout the college football season one player has stood out and would definitely help the team that drafts him - Stanford QB Andrew Luck.

Andrew Luck has the all the talents to be a great NFL QB and that is what made him so appealing to the Panthers who struggled through this season with a rookie QB who doesn't seem to have the moxie to be a starter in the NFL. Luck is a player who could have turned the franchise around similar to a Peyton Manning or Sam Bradford. Unfortunately for the Panthers and their fans, Luck being a college sophomore didn't have to declare for the NFL draft and decided this week that he would rather spend another year in college than turn pro. This has created a bunch of discussions and the majority of them didn't revolve around who the Panthers will now be taking in April's draft, they were about Luck's decision not to leave Stanford.

There are two sides to this argument, either he was right to stay in college or he should have turned pro. Those that say he was right to stay in college do so because Luck would have been drafted into a bad situation in the NFL (by going to Carolina) and therefore never would have reached his potential. Therefore he made the right decision by staying and waiting for the 2012 draft. The other argument for him staying in college was the uncertain NFL labour situation faces going into next season. With that cloud hanging over the league Luck would actually get to play next fall instead of hoping the league and the players association can come to an agreement.

The side arguing that he should have declared for the NFL draft has a much more compelling argument in my opinion. First, if you are ever the first overall pick in any draft, you are going to a bad team. Many players have turned franchises around whether it was the aforementioned Manning or Bradford in the NFL or players like LeBron James in the NBA or Sidney Crosby in the NHL. Going to Carolina wouldn't have been that bad for him. He would have had the patience of management and fans, also he would have been out of the media spotlight and therefore the pressure of playing in NY doesn't apply.

Luck says he decided to return to Stanford instead of pursuing the NFL because he wanted to finish his degree. This is an absolutely ridiculous statement. Many players have left school to play pro sports. The ones that do want to complete their education do so during the offseason. The prime example that comes to mind is Vince Carter. Carter returned to North Carolina to complete his education after getting drafted by the Toronto Raptors. There is always time to return to school. Even if Luck waited until he was done in the NFL (age 30-35), Stanford would still be there for him, its not like he was attending some online school.

If Luck really did stay for his education, he really needs to take some business courses. Since there is a good chance this NFL draft will be the last before some type of rookie wage scale is put in place (similar to the NBA), Luck is forfeiting approximately $22 million by staying at Stanford if the rookie cap gets put in place. He is also turning down a guaranteed $50 million dollars (approx) by staying at Stanford. No degree is worth that kind of money. With his first NFL contract he could have started a university and printed himself a degree.

So now that we know Luck really does need the education, why else should he have turned pro? His team will be worse than the Carolina Panthers next season. The Cardinals are losing several starters on offense and defense and won't be the same team that was 12-1 this season. Also, he is losing his coach - Jim Harbaugh who has decided to become the head coach for the San Francisco 49ers. Harbaugh was a former NFL QB himself and without that tutelage there is a big question whether Luck can have the same success without Harbaugh. The precedent for a QB staying and having success the following year is not good - look at the Matt Leinart situation. Leinart would have been the first overall pick in the draft, the following season at USC he struggled and dropped to number 10 in the draft, costing him millions. The potential for Luck to struggle next season is always there and not only struggle, but what if he gets injured? Playing with less talent around him it is always a possibility or if he tries to do too much and puts himself in harms way. Then he would really need his education and could only dream about how $50 million would have changed his life.

The window to be a professional athlete is very small and very few people have the chance to play at that level. If you are one of the lucky few, you need to take the opportunity when it presents itself.

Bowled Over

The NCAA and all of its sponsors released the list of 35 bowl games that feature 70 out of the 116 teams, and because no one has time to watch all 35 games here is a cheat sheet on the 5 games you must watch this bowl season...

5. Sheraton Hawaii Bowl - No. 24 Hawaii vs. Tulsa
8 p.m. ET, Dec. 24

Because there is never anything else on Christmas eve anyway so why not pretend you are in Hawaii and you get to watch football! The Warriors always play an exciting brand of football and this year is no different. They lead the country in passing yards with 387.8 yards per game. With coaches wearing lei's look for this game to be wild.


4. New Era Pinstripe Bowl - Kansas State vs. Syracuse
3:20 p.m. ET, Dec. 30

This bowl gets the nod because of the great turnaround of the Syracuse football team. Just a few years ago the Orange were the laughing stock of the division one football. Now they are back and bowl eligible. Kansas State has also gone under a huge turnaround in the last few years, playing exciting football and turning themselves into a power. Also, this bowl will probably have the best swag of any for the players and sideline staff, thanks New Era.


3. Chick-fil-A Bowl - No. 20 South Carolina vs. No. 23 Florida State
7:30 p.m. ET, Dec. 31

This bowl game makes my list for a couple of reasons. One, some friends are alums of the USC and therefore I cheer on the Gamecocks every chance I get. Also, because of their good season, I've seen alot of freshman running back sensation Marcus Lattimore and he should be fun to watch in a bowl game. My other friend is an FSU fan so it is a grudge match with the added bonus that he and probably most of the Seminoles fans despise Steve Spurrier so it should be great on a bunch of different levels. Also, I might learn how to pronounce Chick-fil-a properly.


2. Hyundai Sun Bowl - Notre Dame vs. Miami
2 p.m. ET, Dec. 31

This isn't the heated rivalry it was in the mid-90's when both teams were always top 10 in the country, but it should still be a good game featuring two big programs. Notre Dame finished the year on quite a run beating Utah, Army and Southern California. The 'Canes on the other hand, lost two straight to close out the year and got their coach fired. Everyone from Luke to Donald Trump has weighed in on who should be the next coach.


1. Tostitos BCS National Championship Game - No. 2 Oregon vs. No. 1 Auburn
8:30 p.m. ET, Jan. 10

The grand daddy of them all? Not quite but it does feature two teams that have been the most consistent throughout the college season. Not only that, but it features probably the two best players in the nation - Heisman and tabloid favourite, Auburn's Cam Newton and likely Heisman runner up LaMichael James. The other thing to look for in this game will be the uniforms. The battle between Under Armour and Nike could get out of control. The Ducks are the guinea pigs for Nike and this is the biggest stage for Auburn and UA, so what is created for the field could be funky. Also, with the game on January 10, you don't have to be worried about being hung over for the New Year's bowl bonanza.


So enjoy as many games as you can over the holiday season.

Who To Cheer For This Weekend

This weekend is the calm before the storm. It is like the rogue wave hitting the cruise ship, not the 8.8 magnitude earthquake that lets loose the tsunami.

This weekend you again have a few choices of what to cheer for...you can go for the Oscars. When cheering for the Oscars you have sub-categories of what to cheer for. Best dressed, best speech (shortest or funniest), most drunk and dumbest comment to the ETalk! reporter are all good things to cheer for.

Check back tomorrow to get my picks for Oscar night.

Other stuff you can cheer for this weekend - small conference NCAA basketball championship games. These small conferences teams all fight for the one automatic bid into the March Madness tournament. They all fight till the death for the 13 to 16 seed only to be eliminated on Thursday by 3pm. Still fun to watch them celebrate and not sweat it out like Louisville, Notre Dame or Florida.

If basketball isn't your thing, you can always cheer for Spring Training baseball! Most of the country is experiencing unseasonably high temperatures this weekend (which means it is 5 degrees) so pretend it is April not March and watch some players you will never see in a Major League uniform again. Also,make sure you boo the new spring training hats - what were you thinking New Era?

Names To Know...Kris Joseph

If you have been watching any college basketball this year, you know that staying at the top of the polls has been tough. Kentucky, Kansas, Texas and Villanova have all either been at the top or close only to lose. The one team that has managed to stay in the top 10 is the Syracuse Orange. They started the year at number 6 and have moved to number 2 this week after beating Cincinnati this past weekend.

One reason they are near the top of the NCAA basketball world is the play of 6'7", 210 lbs sophomore from Montreal, Kris Joseph. Although Joseph didn't make much of a splash as a freshman, but now he is widely considered to be one of the best 6th men in college basketball.

Averaging just over 25 minutes a game, Joseph has been averaging 11pts and 5 rebounds a game. These are the type of stats that will get him noticed by NBA scouts and by Canadian national basketball coach Leo Rautins (who, no doubt watches plenty of the 'Cuse anyways because of his son Andy Rautins).

Joseph has been a great boost of energy off the bench for Syracuse and is making a push to be a starter. Although, with coach Jim Boeheim giving seven players just about equal playing time, coming off the bench isn't that big of a deal.

His best performances of the season has been put up this month. February 2nd vs. Providence he put up a season best 23pts and complimented that with 7 rebounds, a block and 4 steals. Then, this past Saturday vs. Cincy he hit two big three pointers to help the Orange pull away in the second half as part of a 17pt performance.

The Orange are looking to make their deepest run in the NCAA tournament since Carmelo Anthony led them to the title in 2003 and Kris Joseph hopes to be a big part of it.

Bowled Over

The NCAA football season is almost over.

After almost four months of games to decide the best team in the country we are down to the final two, or is it final four? In the official BCS championship game, Alabama will take on Texas. We also have two undefeated teams in the Fiesta Bowl TCU and Boise State. So who gets the number one spot at the end of Bowl week - no doubt the winner of the Alabama vs. Texas. Deservedly so. They played the toughest schedules and proved over the course of the season that they are the two best teams and will get to play a game to decide the champion.

This is what everyone wants, this is what they got this year (and for the past number of years), but that doesn't stop people from complaining that the BCS is broken and why is football the only sport in the NCAA that doesn't have a tournament to decide a champion. The proponents of this say that it makes the regular season the most important in sports and they are right. Every game is do or die. One loss can make your season meaningless (ask Oregon when they lost to Boise St in the season opener).

Since football is one game that on any given Sunday (or Saturday in this case) where one team can beat another this does seem very odd, so to fix this problem, here is what the Sandwich Shoppe proposes;

All the conferences stay as they are with the exception of the Big 10 or Big East who accept Notre Dame, Navy and Army into the division. It would be weird for Notre Dame to join the Big 10 since they are already in the Big East for basketball and other sports, but it would be fun if they joined the Big 10 because there are some great rivalries (ND vs. Michigan, ND vs. Penn St.) and it would be great to see what the Big 10 logo would become.

So here we go. Each division plays an 8 game schedule. All games would be within there own division. This would unfortunately eliminate some great inter-conference rivalries, but so be it. After those 8 weeks, we will have champions of each conference. The conferences that have east and west or north and south would still crown champs on both sides. Those champions would make it into the Bowl Championship Series. 16 teams in total. The breakdown would be;

ACC - 2
SEC - 2
Big East
Big 10
Big 12 - 2
Conf USA - 2
Mid America - 2
Mountain West
PAC 10
Sun Belt
WAC

Now the polls only matter to rank the teams 1-16 for the tournament. Just because a team like TCU isn't ranked at the start of the season, doesn't mean they can't make the BCS and there ranking would still be high enough at the end of 8 weeks to get a good seeding in the tourney.

From here it is single elimination and we get to name all the playoff games so the sponsors are happy.

The first round games (8 in total) are played over two weekends, 4 each weekend. Imagine football at 11am, 2pm, 5pm and 8pm for two Saturdays in a row!

Then you have 8 teams remaining (4 games) can again play over two weekends, followed by the final four played on the same Saturday and then the finals being whenever the BCS wanted.

These would be huge ratings generators and alot of fun to watch. Plus it would spread out over 6 weeks, making the season - 14 weeks about what it is now.

Over at Deadspintoday they linked to this playoff predictor for 2009.

Here is how my system would have played out;
#1 Alabama
#16 Temple

#8 Ohio State
#9 Georgia Tech

#5 Florida
#12 Central Michigan

#4 TCU
#13 Troy

#6 Boise State
#11 Houston

#3 Cincinnati
#14 Clemson

#10 Nebraska
#7 Oregon

#15 East Carolina
#2 Texas


In the end, for me, I think Florida plays Texas in the finals. Tebow doesn't lose twice to Alabama and then beats Texas in the finals to cap his unbelievable college career.

Put Me In Coach...

It isn't easy being a coach.

Whether you are a volunteer parent coaching kids or a well paid man coaching 53 professional football players there are many stresses, hand holding and decisions that have to be made. Some are better than others, and right now we seem to have very few good ones.

Two situations highlighted this over the weekend;
Les Miles at LSU Tigers vs. Ole Miss Rebels. LSU was considered a national title contender but have already lost twice and were trying to continue almost a decade worth of winning vs. Ole Miss. The Rebels played a spirited game and took the lead into the last minute of the game - 35-34, but LSU had the ball and were threatening, just needing a field goal to win. After making a couple of bad plays on first and second down the LSU QB took a sack on 3rd down to set up a 4th and 26 with just under 30 seconds left, but for some inexplicable reason, they don't call a timeout until there were 9 seconds, they let 21 seconds expire. Hail Mary play and miraculously the receiver pulls it down with one second on the clock (think they could have used those extra seconds?). At this point Coach Les Miles had to run out his field goal unit for a chip shot to win the game. The players aren't ready, so the offense stays on the field for the final play and with only one second on the clock the QB for some unexplainable reason, spikes the ball, the clock expires and the LSU Tigers lose. With one second left, don't you just throw the ball in the endzone if you aren't going to kick the field goal to win.

After the game Coach Miles said that there wasn't time to get the field goal unit on the field. I disagree. Last year, the Denver Broncos pulled off something similar at the end of the first half of a game versus the Buffalo Bills. Later, it was shown that Coach Miles was actually yelling at his QB to down the ball. The player was so confused he just did what his coach told him.

Coaches need to be in control and understand the game situations, getting paid as much as Coach Miles does, he needs to know how to handle this and WIN the game.

The other coaching situation that put the lack of coaching skills on display was in the NFL. Brand new Buffalo Bills interim coach Perry Fewell had a brain cramp at the end of the first half with five seconds left and the ball at the Jacksonville 7 yard line. With a timeout remaining, the Bills had a chance to take one shot at the endzone to try for a touchdown. If they succeed, they go into the half with a commanding lead, if they fail, call your last timeout and kick the field goal. Coach Fewell by choosing a running play allowed the clock to expire. The Jags looked to have a victory, but one of the referees took pity on the first time coach and granted him his timeout. The Bills kicked the field goal and ended up losing the game by 3 points - think they could have used the extra 4 points a touchdown would have given them?

Other more seasoned NFL coaches are notorious for mis-managing clock, from Andy Reid to Norv Turner. Why can't these guys get it right? When every fan at home is screaming at the TV for a coach to call a timeout or run a play into the endzone and then they do the complete opposite...ESPN's Bill Simmons has been calling for teams to hire 16 year old kids that play Madden to help with clock management at the end of games. Better yet, why not just hire another coach? They have too many as it is and it is the one thing that isn't capped (like player salaries). If it helps you win a game, that coach could be more valuable than you Assistant Long Snapping Coach.

UCONN Basketball

An impressive feat was accomplished last night, and I'm not talking about my consumption of 12 Krystal Burgers, the UCONN Women's basketball team won the NCAA championship in St. Louis by crushing their Big East rival Louisville Cardinals for the third time this season.

Louisville wasn't the only team UCONN destroyed on their way to the championship, they won 39 other games - in a row. They finished the season 39-0, becoming only the 5th women's team to go undefeated in a season. Although finishing the season 39-0 is pretty good, apparently that wasn't enough for the UCONN ladies. They won every game during the season by 10+ points. If that isn't dominance, not sure what is.

Take that UNC Tar Heels...

NCAA Championship

Since I was correct last week in predicting a MSU vs. UNC final, I think it is my right to be able to predict the winner of the final. As I did last week, I am sticking with my prediction of UNC. For no other reason than they are the better team.

When the championship is on the line, all the other factors, home court, loud fans, Ty Lawson gambling at the Greektown casino's - they don't matter anymore. The line is 7.5 points in favour of UNC and if I were a gambling man, they would get my money. Not just because they have already beaten MSU by 30 points earlier this year, or because UNC is playing some of the most dominant basketball in recent memory - it is because this tournament has been BORING. There have only been a handful of close games, only a couple of upsets and this trend will continue in the finals. UNC will hand MSU their lunch and claim the title for Chapel Hill

Fantastic Four

After the first round of the NCAA tournament many people complained that there were no upsets, everything went "chalk" and this was going to be the most boring tournament in years. Then during the sweet sixteen and elite eight we were given some very exciting games (Villanova vs. Pitt and Kansas vs. Michigan St.) and the teams that are moving on to Detroit for the Final Four have definately played the best during the tournament. Here is an early preview of what we can expect next weekend in Motown...

Michigan St. vs. UCONN

Michigan St. went and beat last years champion Kansas and the vaunted Big East champion and overall number one seed Louisville Cardinals during a two day spree. Led by sharp shooting, rebounding and the good coaching of Tom Izzo they have played consistently and will be a tough game for another Big East team, the UCONN Huskies.

The Huskies led by freshamn Kemba Walker and future NBA centre Hasheem Thabeet are a physical team that control the boards and have the ability to make the big shots when they are called for. Although the team is going through some off-court turmoil they have so far managed to put the distraction behind them and have turned in the performance many expected from the squad.

Look for the both teams to play lock down defence, a big battle in the middle between the Spartans Goran Suton who had a great game in the Elite Eight and UConn's aforementioned Thabeet will be a determining factor. Many of the games in the tournament have come down to which team comes out firing and playing in their backyard of Ford Field, the MSU Spartans will take the early lead and hold off a late charge by the Huskies, booking their ticket to the Championship game.

Villanova vs. UNC

Is this 1985? Seeing the Villanova Wildcats in the final four, it sure does feel like it. The Wildcats get to play in Detroit based upon a victory of Big East rivals Pitt in the Elite Eight. 'Nova beat Pitt for the second time this season, demonstrating that the Big East really was that good from top to bottom. After seeing such strong competition during the regular season and during the tournament so far, Villanova won't be scared of who is waiting for them - the UNC Tar Heels.

The Tar Heels are making their record 18th appearance in the final four. Led by the returning player of the year Tyler Hansborough and super guard Ty Lawson, they have been playing inspired basketball. A deep team that can attack from anywhere on the court, the Tar Heels put an end to the hopes of a title of this year's player of the year Blake Griffin. Hansborough returned for one reason - to win a national title and cement himself as one of the best college players of all time. He is two games away from his dream.

Villanova will have the Detroit crowd behind it as they are the underdog team playing in the semi-finals, but that won't be enough to stop the Tar Heels as they roll into the finals. UNC has too many options for 'Nova to defend, whether it is Hansborough or Ellington or Lawson, the Tar Heels will put this game out of reach for Wildcats.

Well - that will leave Michigan State vs. UNC in the Finals. My early pick should this scenario play out would be UNC. Again, too many options, veteran players and the determination of Tyler Hansborough to win that title and cement himself as the greatest collegian ever.

Another Reason to Hate Duke

On Sunday we were given another reason to hate Duke.

If you weren't aware one of the best freshman in the NCAA basketball action this season was Seth Curry at Liberty. Seth Curry is the younger brother of Stephan Curry who has been shooting the lights out at Davidson for the past couple of seasons. Both sharp shooters are the son of former NBA player Dell Curry. Well, on Sunday, Dell confirmed the rumour that Seth Curry would transfer out of Liberty to a bigger school to play against better competition. Today, we learned that school is Duke.

After being ignored during the recruiting process by all the ACC schools, apparently Coach K has been putting in some extra time wooing the freshman sensation who averaged 20.2 pts per game this season. Although Curry will need to sit out next season, he will start play in 2011 as the man since the current group of Dukies Gerald Henderson and Jon Schreyer will have graduated.

Enjoy losing in the second round of the tournament Seth!

March Sanity?

Well the first two rounds of the NCAA men's basketball tournament are behind us and with everything going pretty much to form (I don't understand the term 'chalk'), it is much less madness and way more sanity.

With almost all the top seeds advancing, this tournament is void of a Cinderella story, unless you can call Arizona the Cinderella. A 12 seed and by most accounts the last team to make the tournament, the Wildcats have impressed with wins over #5 Utah and #13 Cleveland St., who had real Cinderella potential after having the only 'real' upset of the first round against Wake Forest.

So now it is the best of the best remaining, which is probably good for college basketball. Although, the casual fan might like to see an underdog play in the sweet sixteen, it is much better to have the good teams remaining.

So who is the best of the best? UCONN looked extremely tough in their first two games, as have the Orange of Syracuse and Oklahoma. Unfortunately for them they play in the sweet sixteen. The other #1 and #2 seeds have done just enough in their first two games to progress. They have the week to regroup, watch some film, get players healthy and come out swinging for when it matters.

A quick viewing guide for the weekend, just the good match-ups;
Thursday
East: Duke-Villanova - Can the Big East keep everyone alive?

West: UConn-Purdue - A legitimate test for the best team in the tourney so far and another test for the Big East.

Friday
Midwest: Michigan State-Kansas - Will this be the end of the road for the defending champs?

South: UNC-Gonzaga - The original Cinderella, looks to play spoiler again. Ty Lawson better be fully healthy for this affair.
Oklahoma-Syracuse - The best game of the sweet 16 featuring two future NBA players Blake Griffin and Johnny Flynn.

Tips for Filling Out Your Brackets:

I would like all the diners at the Sandwich Shoppe to welcome "NorthernGuy". He is very well versed in NCAA Football and Basketball and over the next couple of weeks, he will be sharing his insights on the March Madness tournament. Here is his first installment...

Tips for filling out your brackets:
I have had moderate success at filling out my bracket year in and year out, and I have tried to document each lesson and try to come up with an overall concept. There are many types of pools; many have various weighing factors, so know what pool you’re entering, before submitting picks.

Concept #1:
Take the top 4 seeds in each bracket, establishing the way the committee saw the Top 16 teams in the Tournament. If you survive the 1st weekend you’re in the sweet 16. This is where I like to begin. Do all these teams belong in the top 16? Let’s look at some candidates who I believe are flawed:

1. Xavier had a tough finish; they went 4-4 in Conf play and were eliminated in the semi’s of the A-10
2. Wake Forest looked like world beaters before Mid January, and if they were going to hand out the trophy then, I wouldn’t have listed them. They look like a Turnover prone team that could get frustrated and unglued in the tournament.
3. Kansas falls under the defending champs, who are not going to win it all again this year, and once they realize this; the Jayhawks will come apart in the 2nd half of one of their 1st 2 games.

Concept #2:
Offense wins championships. Often I hear the talking heads at ESPN talking about Defensive Efficiency, and how important it is at this time of year, and it is, and I won’t down play it, but hear is the truth...Defence in basketball is predominately effort based, no matter what your playing, match, man, 1-3-1, 2-3, 3-2, box in 1, etc.... In this single elimination format, effort is always there and the difference in games is the guards who can break your zone, timely rebounding, and clutch shooting. The key stat in watching games is 5 or 6 minutes without a FG. Every time this happens you’re going home. If you score 60 points or less you are likely going home. If you are less than 20% from the arc, you’re going home. If you have more turnovers than the Pillsbury dough boy, you’re going home. If you’re not averaging 70 points a game, I can’t even look at you.

So how can you spot this? Here are the Offenses that look shaky and are primed for an upset:

1. Illinois, this is like taking candy from a baby. The Illini played a game where the final score (against a team that was on the bubble, and most people thought would have qualified in Penn St.) was 38-33. Also, Illinois is playing with injuries.

Here are other Offences that are not consistent enough:
Ohio St
Wisconsin
Michigan
Purdue
Minnesota
Florida St
USC
Arizona St.

Concept#3:
Picking your upsets. In many years, and this year in particular, I wouldn’t choose upsets from the 7-10 or 8-9 match ups, considering these winners will be playing the 1 seed or the 2 seed, and your coin is as good as mine. Most of us are aware of the success of the 5-12 game; I like the 6-11 games. There are 8.5 upsets per tournament. Use them wisely. It will pay off. Here are my upset selections:

#12 West Kentucky over #5 Illinois
#13 Portland St over #4 Xavier
#11 Utah St over #6 Marquette

Note: I really like VCU-UCLA upset, but everybody picked that, and generally I like to go against that much public sentiment. I loved Siena coming into the tournament, but Ohio St, practically at home? Then followed by Louisville? They would have been better off being a 11 or 12 seed. Both West Virginia and Arizona St could have a hard time from the A 10 entries but should survive.

I’ll be back after the weekend to pick the Big Boys and a National Champ.

First Impressions

Growing up I used to sit in front of the TV as CBS announced the field of 64. With my pen and pad I would write down all the seeds and match-ups - with nicknames of course. Then I would have the whole family reluctantly fill out brackets. Now I get to get all my friends to reluctantly fill out brackets.

This year, the number one seeds could have been any of 7 teams. Three Big East teams get the nod as number one seeds this year, UCONN, Pitt and Louisville. The fourth number one is filled by UNC. Louisville is a small surprise as a number one, but Rick Pitino will have his squad ready to defend their placement. As always the biggest talk is over who is in and who was left out. The biggest bubble team on the outside looking in is St. Mary's (CA) who had a great season, for the most part without their star Patrick Mills. They were still able to make it to the finals of their conference tournament losing to Gonzaga. Unfortunately, their conference schedule is not the most difficult and the tournament selection committee could not put them into the big dance. The other team that got their bubble burst was the Creighton Blue Jays. The biggest surprise team that actually got into the tourney is Arizona. The Wildcats have been struggling recently and this will usually get a team on the sidelines come March, however the committee took into account the entire Wildcats season and put them in for the 25th year in a row, heck maybe the selection committee just wanted to see the streak continue.

Here is a blimp view of the different regions and who to look out for. My picks will be printed on Thursday morning, no one cares about the play in game.

Midwest Regional
Louisville as a number one seed over Memphis, Oklahoma or Michigan St. is a little surprising even though they did very well in the tough Big East which produced 3 of the #1 teams. The Cardinals won't be tested until they probably meet Wake Forest in the sweet 16. The bottom half of the Midwest is a little trickier. The teams that were placed here all seem to be on a nice run to end the season and have momentum into the tourney, Kansas, Boston College and USC. If USC's freshman DeMar DeRozan and junior Daniel Hackett continue their stellar play, I really like the Trojans in the Midwest.

West Regional
The West bracket is one that could go to form with all the top seeds winning in the first round. UConn has been near the top of the Top 25 all year long and should have a nice run in the tourney. UConn standout Hasheem Thabeet needs to have big games and stay out of foul trouble for the Huskies to succeed. Missouri and Memphis are the two teams to watch out for in the bottom half of the West bracket. According to Bob Knight, Memphis is the most dangerous team in the tournament. Even though they play in the weaker Conference USA, they play great defence and can now shoot free throws. They won't surprise anyone when they start racking up the wins.

East Regional
Led by player of the year candidate DeJuan Blair, the Pitt Panthers will take advantage of their number 1 seed. They have only a few roadblocks on their way to the final four in Detroit. They need to look out for Xavier who have played well recently and could pose a threat. The bottom half of the East Regional won't be a cake walk for number 2 seed Duke, but the "DUKIES" *Kornheiser voice* should have enough in the tank to outlast Villanova and UCLA who are travelling across the country with Texas to play in Boston.

South Regional
Probably the toughest bracket looking at the teams involved. Two of the best players in the country will be involved in Tyler Hansborough from UNC (number 1 seed) and former "Name to Know" Oklahoma's (number 2 seed) Blake Griffin. Also involved in the South Regional will be Syracuse who played an unbelievable Big East tournament, Arizona State (runners up in the Pac-10 tourney), and LSU who feature senior guard Marcus Thornton. This bracket will become a knock down and drag out affair and although some of the best teams may be in the South Regional the best (Oklahoma) might not make it to the final four.

Seniors Looking to Impress During March Madness

More and more excitement is starting to build with regards to this year's NCAA tournament. It definitely has something to do with the quality of teams at the top and the fact that there are 5-6 teams that will have a legitimate shot at cutting down the nets at Ford Field.

Some players make their name in the tournament (see: Curry, Stephen), and this year is no different. Here is a list of seniors who are looking to make a name and hence improve their draft stock.