With March being just around the corner…

…it’s not too early to start the discussion about possible #1 seeds in the NCAA Tournament.  That’s right, I start thinking about March Madness before the Super Bowl, I guess I lose my love for the NFL after fantasy football wraps up.  Oh, that reminds me, did I mention I was the Pantheon Cup CHAMPION this season?

But I digress.  To this point, Kansas and Kentucky look like the safest bets to secure top seeds.  Interestingly enough, though,both those teams face stern tests this weekend.  Vanderbilt, which is unblemished to this point in SEC play, travels to Lexington while Kansas visits a Kansas State team that’s probably this season’s biggest surprise.

Coming off a loss to South Carolina, Kentucky is suddenly in an awkward position.  Back-to-back losses this late in the season might be an indication that the team’s fantastic freshmen are losing a little bit of focus.  However, you have to think that if the Wildcats win the SEC Tournament with three or four total losses, they’re a sure bet to lock down a top seed.

The same goes for Kansas as well, although it’ll be interesting to see if they can outclass a Texas team that’s looked a little shaky in recent weeks.  I don’t see a Kansas team with three or four losses not getting a #1 seed, but I can also see a scenario unfolding where they and Texas can get the Big 12 a pair of top seeds in March Madness.

Another meaningful game this weekend pits Duke against Georgetown in a fascinating interconference tussle.  The winner in this one can start making a case for a top seed…if this win is followed up with a strong conclusion to the regular season and an equally strong conference tournament showing.

A victory for Duke would make them 8-2 against RPI Top 50 opposition, while a Georgetown win would make them 5-2 against teams currently ranked in the AP poll.  Something to keep in mind is that the Hoyas probably have tougher waters to navigate in the Big East than the Blue Devils have in the ACC.

Staying on the topic of the Big East, both Syracuse and Villanova are single loss teams that, after Kansas and Kentucky, have the strongest inside tracks to top seeds.  Syracuse is a sparkling 12-1 against teams currently ranked in the RPI Top 100 while Villanova’s only a slightly less impressive 9-1 against similar opposition.

As with Big 12, this is another league that could possibly boast two top seeds if the chips fall the right way for the ‘Cuse and ‘Nova.  But in a conference whose middle tier teams include UConn, Louisville and Notre Dame, getting out of Big East play relatively unscathed will be easier said than done.

A team that’s likely to encounter far less resistance down the stretch than any of the Big East teams I’ve mentioned is Michigan State.  Their three losses to this point happened to be in their highest profile non-conference games (Florida, North Carolina and Texas), but they’ve bounced back and are currently 8-0 in Big Ten play.

If Tom Izzo’s team cruises to the finish line and some other heavyweights stumble down the stretch, they get a top seed.  Keep in mind, though, that the Spartans still have a home-and-home left with Purdue.

Scanning the landscape, two possible dark horses to gain top seeds have already been mentioned:  Vanderbilt and Kansas State.  The SEC is tougher this season, so if Vanderbilt emerges as the class of the league, they can make a valid case to lead a region in March.

K-State’s already dispatched Texas and gets two cracks at Kansas coming down the stretch.  If Frank Martin can terrorize his team into two wins over the Jayhawks along with only one or two more missteps in Big 12 play, not many other teams would have a better resume.

A possible Redneck Sports Nirvana in the making?

With Bammer having won the national championship and Drew Orleans on the verge of winning the Super Bowl, would a Sprint Cup championship later this year from Dale Earnhardt Jr. complete a Redneck Triple Crown?  Or do most ‘necks adore the Braves more than they do the Saints?  Hmmmm…

North Carolina = Defending National Champion Fail

It’s looking more and more like North Carolina will get a shot at raising the school’s first NIT banner since 1971.  And that’s getting to Roy Williams.

The dude’s always been a little bit on the sensitive side, but his team’s slide into mediocrity really has him on edge.  It started when he had a Presbyterian (Presbyterian?!?) fan shown the exit at the Dean Dome last month, and he’s been awfully testy in his press conferences as of late.

Hey, you’d be pissed off too if you were coaching a team that’s dropped double digit decisions to Clemson and Wake Forest in the last week and a half.  Those losses sandwiched a furious comeback attempt against Georgia Tech that came up two points short.

So the defending national champs are a weak 1-3 in the ACC and face the very real possibility of not going to the NCAA Tournament.   How did it get to this point?

As good as Williams recruits, he couldn’t bring in enough instant impact blue chippers to make up for the loss of studs like Tyler Hansbrough and Ty Lawson.   And really, how many programs can just plug in new pieces and keep winning 30 games a season in perpetuity?  That would be none, and I’m sure Ben Howland would back me up on that.

That’s not to say that North Carolina’s returning talent isn’t any good, it’s that the current guys on the roster are either too green or just not quite talented enough to do what Roy really wants to do.

Take Larry Drew, for example. Is he a good point guard?  Most definitely, programs like Auburn, Oklahoma or Florida could really use him right now.

But is he the type of point guard to really run an offense at the breakneck pace that Williams prefers?   Not quite.   And while I understand that Ty Lawsons and Raymond Feltons don’t grow on trees, there are probably other point guards out there much better suited to do what Williams wants to do.

North Carolina currently ranks in the 200’s in turnover percentage.  Last season, the Heels were 10th in the nation in that category.   But I’m not going to put that all on Drew, it takes a village to fail like this.

At times, big men like Ed Davis and Deon Thompson look nice and relaxed on the court, as if they didn’t have a care in the world.  The Cool Breeze Brothers don’t have the fire and passion that was the hallmark of Hansbrough’s game.

And while people wanted to knock Hansbrough for a perceived lack of polish and skill, the spotty performance of the Tar Heel bigs this season has opened my eyes to how important it is to PLAY HARD.  If Davis and Thompson had Hansbrough’s sense of urgency, this Tar Heel team wouldn’t be staring at the NIT right now.

Can this be fixed in time to get an NCAA bid?  Well, there’s always the possibility of a run in the ACC Tourney that would lock down an automatic bid, but that seems unlikely.

To get an at-large bid, the Heels will have to make up some ground and finish with a winning record in ACC play and cobble together at least 22 wins overall.  Unfortunately for Carolina fans, I see that scenario being just as unlikely.

Angry Volunteer mob pursues Lane Kiffin

There’s no good way for coach who’s only spent one season at a tradition rich SEC school to quit his job in favor of another one. That goes double when it’s a coach who had his fair share of gaffes and missteps during his brief stay.

So is it any surprise that during Lane Kiffin’s press conference to announce he’s leaving Tennessee to take over at USC that an angry mob assembled in the building? Here’s the proof:

It also looks like the same mob did some landscaping around Knoxville during the night:

What would have happened if this scorned bunch of Volunteer fans had actually gotten their paws on Kiffin? I suspect it would have looked a lot like Homer Stokes being carted out of the building in “O Brother, Where Art Thou?”:

In the wake of all this, there’s message board fodder that Phil Fulmer might actually be a candidate to return to Tennessee. Yeah, that tells you all you need to know about the nutcases who inhabit college football message boards. But if that crazy scenario were to unfold, I guess Fulmer would be playing the role of Pappy O’Daniel to Lane Kiffin’s Homer.

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