Over the Edge + March 2, 2011 1 5

March Madness Mayhem
A look at the best of the NCAA

BROCK CAMPBELL
SPORTS EDITOR
For college hoops fans the greatest time of the year is upon us, March
Madness. The NCAA National Men’s Basketball Championship is under a
. month away and the buildup to this year’s tournament is without a doubt one
Top 25 (Associated Press. As of February 21/2011 of the most anticipated tournaments in recent years. The tourney begins
March 15th with the Final Four wrapping up in Houston, Texas on April
Team Record Conf. Record Conference 4. The regular season thus far has been full of major upsets, a number
. of surprise teams, and at the moment there is no outright number one to
1. Duke 25-2 12-4 Atlantic Coast (ACC) consider a National Championship favourite. Exactly how crazy has the
been? | k fift for the first ti i 2003, all top f
2. Ohio State 25-2 42-2 Big Ten Season been? In wee ifteen, for the first time since , all top four
3. Kansas 25-2 11-2 Big 12 Of course the great thing about the tournament is its sixty-four team single
. . elimination format which gives all teams a chance, albeit a small one, to
4. Pittsburgh 24-3 12-2 Big East take home a National Championship banner. Here’s a look at some of the
. teams whose odds are greater than most and a few that may fly under the
5. Texas 23-4 11-1 Big 12 radar come tournament time.
6. San Diego State 27-1 12-1 Mountain West Top Contenders
7. Brigham Young 25-2 11-4 Mountain West Kansas: Kansas has been hanging around the top ten all season, and was
. number one for one week before losing to conference rival Kansas State;
8. Purdue 22-5 11-3 Big Ten their only other loss came against number five Texas. Come March expect
. the Jayhawks to receive a number one seed. Kansas is led by the frontcourt
9. Notre Dame 21-5 10-4 Big East brother combo Marcus and Markieff Morris. Marcus is the Jayhawks leading
. scorer with 16.7 points per game, while Markieff leads Kansas and the Big
10. Arizona 23-4 12-2 Pac 10 12 with 8.2 rebounds per game. It is problems off the court that may hurt the
. Jayhawks. Kansas has one of the most talented young guards in Division |
11. Georgetown 21-6 10-5 Big East basketball, freshman Josh Selby. Selby sat out the first nine games of the
. . . season as a result of violating recruitment rules, and now has struggled
12. Wisconsin 20-6 10-4 Big Ten with a foot injury. After missing the first nine games of the regular season
. Selby made his Jayhawks debut dropping twenty-one on USC, if he can
13. Florida 21-5 10-2 Southeast Conference (SEC) stay healthy the Jayhawks may make a run. Also recently the Jayhawks
. . suspended starting point guard Tyshawn Taylor indefinitely for breaking
14. Connecticut 20-6 8-6 Big East team conduct rules.
15. Villanova 21-6 9-6 Big East Ohio State: The Buckeyes were the last undefeated team remaining up until
i. . their loss to Wisconsin February 12th in Madison, where no visiting team
16. Louisville 20-7 9-5 Big East has beat the Badgers. Their troubles continued against Purdue February
; 20th in a 76-63 upset. Nonetheless, OSU has a solid mix of young talent
17. Syracuse 22-6 10-6 Big East and experience that makes them a huge threat come tourney time. William
. Buford, a junior, and seniors Jon Diebler and David Lighty make up a
18. Vanderbilt 20-6 8-4 SEC Buckeye backcourt that averages over forty percent from behind the arc.
. On the inside OSU’s freshman phenom Jared Sullinger is making a bid for
19. North Carolina 20-6 10-2 ACC Big Ten player of the year averaging a double-double with 18 points and 10
rebounds a game.
20. Missouri 21-6 7-5 Big 12
. Duke: The biggest question for Duke entering this season was how they
21. Texas A&M 21-5 8-4 Big 12 would handle losing point guard and leading scorer Jon Scheyer. Early on
it looked as though freshman Kyrie Irving would fill the role nicely after
22. Kentucky 19-7 7-5 SEC averaging 17 points in his first eight games before suffering a toe injury
, ; that has left him questionable for the National Championships. Duke relies
23. St. John’s 17-9 9-5 Big East primarily on the perimeter offence of seniors Nolan Smith and Kyle Singler.
; Smith is putting up career numbers averaging 21 points a game while also
24. Temple 21-5 11-2 Atlantic 10 assuming the point position in Irving’s absence. Also Seth Curry, the younger
; ; brother of NBA star Stephen, is heating up as the season winds down; Curry
25. Xavier 20-6 11-1 Atlantic 10 recently hit four of five three-pointers against rival North Carolina finishing
with twenty-two points. Duke held onto the number one spot for the first ten

weeks of the season, the longest by any team this year

Texas: Having started the pre-season off the Top 25 the Longhorns may be the biggest surprise of the season, they’ve also been the most inconsistent which may mean an early exit from
the tournament. Texas likely has one of the toughest schedules having played eight nationally ranked teams already including Kansas, Pittsburgh and Connecticut. Texas lost narrowly to
both Pittsburgh and Connecticut, however, won convincingly versus Kansas and went 6-2 against Top 25 teams. On the flipside the Longhorns have also been upset by non-ranked USC
and more recently Nebraska. Texas has the top defence in the Big 12 holding all conference opponents except one under sixty points. The Longhorns are led by forward Jordan Hamilton
and the Canadian connection Tristan Thompson and Cory Joseph, who both hail from Ontario. Hamilton leads the Horns with 18 points and 7 rebounds a game. Thompson averages 12 a
night and leads the Big 12 in blocked shots with 60.

Pittsburgh: The Panthers sit atop arguably the toughest conference in the nation the Big East, with a 12-2 record. However, an excruciating 60-59 loss to St. John’s may limit Pitt's chances
at a number one tournament seed. If the Panthers can’t beat upcoming opponents Louisville, Villanova or even West Virginia their rank may drop out of the top five. Pitt has an experienced
balanced offence led by the backcourt of junior guard Ashton Gibbs and senior Brad Wanamaker. Gibbs returned from injury to pour in twenty-six in the lost to St. John’s. On the inside Pitt
has Gary Mcghee the 6’ 10” 250 Ib. workhorse, who averages 8 points and 8 rebounds a night.

Honourable Mentions

San Diego State: SDSU has the best record in college ball, however, the strength of their schedule limits them from moving up the standings; playing in the Mountain West Conference means
playing mostly mid-major schools. Come tournament time the big question will be how the Aztecs will fare against major conference teams. San Diego is an offensively balanced team with
all five starters averaging over eight points a game, led by sophomore forward Kawhi Leonard who puts up fifteen a game.

Brigham Young: Two words: Jimmer Fredette. Player of the Year candidate Jimmer Fredette has been torching opponents all season averaging an NCAA leading 27 points a game. Fredette
has three 40+ point games this year, including a forty-seven point night versus Utah and a forty-three point effort against SDSU. But just like the Aztecs, the Cougar’s schedule will be
questioned. SDSU is the only ranked team Brigham Young will play this season.

Purdue: The Boilermakers have climbed into the top ten by recently beating two ranked teams in a row. Purdue handed Wisconsin their sixth loss before upsetting number three OSU.
Seniors JaJuan Johnson and E’Twaun Moore lead the offence for Purdue. The power forward Johnson is second in the Big Ten in scoring with 20.4 points a game and fourth in rebounding
with 7.4. Moore, who averages eighteen points a game, proved he is a big game player dropping a career high thirty-eight on OSU, in the Boilermakers upset of the Buckeyes.

The Big East: The competition in the Big East is so tight that any team coming out of the conference has a substantial chance at a national championship. Pittsburgh leads the Big East which
has eight nationally ranked teams including number nine Notre Dame, led by guard Ben Hansbrough, and number fifteen Connecticut, led by Payer of the Year hopeful Kemba Walker. St.
John’s has also made its mark by cracking the Top 25 after beating Pittsburgh, the fifth ranked team to lose to the Red Storm this season.

I'd like to hear reader’s thoughts. Any teams | left out? Who do you think can reach the final four? Send your responses to over-the-edge@unbc.ca, subject: NCAA. Also follow my March
Madness analysis on twitter @bcampbell82.