Wow! What a weekend of college hoops. Despite the talk of expanding to 96 teams and the criticism that college basketball is water down. The first two rounds of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament delivered plenty of exhilarating drama as usual. 

Here are some of final takes from the first four days of the tourney:

KENTUCKY – John Calapari has had his boys ready to play. After knocking out East Tennessee by 29, the Wildcats beat Wake Forest by 30 points. Eric Bledsoe’s eight 3-pointers in the first game was one of the best shooting displays in Kentucky’s storied history. For the critics that have insisted that despite its talent, UK is too young and inexperienced to win it all shame on you. Talent always wins when it plays to its fullest potential.

XAVIER – Sean Who? In his first season as head coach Chris Mack did something former coach Sean Miller couldn’t - beat Pittsburgh. The Muskies have made their way back into the Sweet 16 for a third consecutive season with an exhilarating win over the Panthers. Jordan Crawford is making a name for himself on a national scene here for something aside from dunking on LeBron James. He put up another 27 points in Sunday’s win.

KANSAS – Count me amongst the nearly 44 percent of people in America (according to ESPN.com’s online pool) that bought into Kansas being the team to beat. They failed to put 40 minutes together in Thursday’s opening round versus Lehigh and only had a lead at the 2-0 mark as they got knocked out by Northern Iowa, 69-67.

OHIO STATE – With Kansas officially out, the Buckeyes are the top team in the Midwest Region and they are playing like it. Not only are the Jayhawks out of the mix, but so too have gone No. 3 Georgetown and No. 4 Maryland. Evan Turner shook off one of the worst night’s of his career by tossing up a triple-double 75-66 win over Georgia Tech.

CORNELL – The Big Red followed up their first-ever tournament win by winning a second tournament game and advance to the Sweet 16 as they are the lowest remaining seed in the tourney. Now, they get the daunting task of playing the tournament’s highest ranked team left standing, Kentucky.

BIG EAST – All the talk surrounding the Big East entering the tournament suggested that the conference would once again flex its muscle. However, half of the league’s tournament-high eight teams couldn’t get out of Round 1, including Georgetown, Louisville, Notre Dame and Marquette. Pittsburgh and Villanova joined their league foes with second-round departures. Only Syracuse and West Virginia are left standing.

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Former Putnam City guard Xavier Henry says he is staying with his plans to play basketball at Kansas.

Henry texted a Kansas City radio station Tuesday saying he decided to stay with the Jayhawks. Earlier in the day, Henry's father, Carl Henry, told a Kansas City radio station that his son might have had a change of heart about attending Kansas, according to reports in the Kansas City Star and Louisville Courier-Journal.Kansas coach Bill Self flew to Oklahoma City on Tuesday night to talk with the Henry family.

In an interview that aired on 610-AM in Kansas City, Carl Henry said his son, one of the nation's top recruits, originally wanted to follow ex-Memphis coach John Calipari to Kentucky before committing to the Jayhawks.

Xavier Henry is a 6-6 shooting guard who was a McDonald's All-American and The Oklahoman's state Player of the Year honors after leading PC to the Class 6A state title.

CONTINUE READING

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It's Rivalry Week on ESPN.com, which leads us to which are the best rivalries in college hoops...

   1. Duke vs North Carolina - Always a classic and one of the best things about college basketball.

   2. Kentucky vs Louisville - The battle of Kentucky between a couple of basketball schools.

   3. Kansas vs Missouri - Kansas always seems to have a stacked team, but rivalries seem to see alot of upsets.

   4. Texas vs Texas A&M - A huge state known for its football doesn’t damper this heated college basketball rivalry. Look for both of these teams to do well the next few seasons.

   5. Duke vs Maryland - The ACC is full of fast paced, quick scoring teams. The Duke and Maryland rivalry has really been turned up the last couple of years.

   6. Indiana vs Purdue - A Classic Big Ten conference match up.

   7. Cincinnati vs Xavier - Its gotta be a rivalry when the schools are 10 minutes apart.

   8. Florida vs Kentucky - Kentucky has been the better team the last few decades, now its Florida’s time to rule.

   9. Arizona vs UCLA - Two big Pac 10 powerhouses who are historically successful.

  10. Michigan vs Michigan State - Even a better college football rivalry, this rivalry has moved down the list a bit due to a few poor seasons.

*from Campus Grotto

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The bowl games finally start this weekend. Fellow GetSportsInfo.com writer, Jeremy Fischer, and myself have put together our picks including how confident we are in them. In case you've never done a pick 'em game like this before, here's how it works. In addition to picking who you think will win the game, you assign a number to that pick as to how confident you think that pick is going to be right. There are 34 bowl games this year (way too many in most people's opinion, but that's beside the point), so the max number of confidence points you can give to one game is, yep, you guessed it, 34. The game you are least confident in you assign one point too, and fill in everything in between.

A lot of office pools are done like this and make it much more challenging than simply picking a winner for each game. As J-Fish states when it comes to doing a pick 'em game like this, "I have seen many strategies and I prefer the one that calls for using the higher confidence points on the bigger BCS games." He goes on to give his reasons as to why.

"Right or wrong, the larger conference teams get more coverage. The more information that is out there, the better informed pick you can make. The more informed you are, the more confident you'll be about a particular selection." Makes sense right? So picking the BCS bowl games really isn't as difficult as picking some of the more obscure games like the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl between Southern Mississippi and Troy that provide more difficulty in not only picking who will win, but deciding how confident you are in that pick.

J-Fish goes on to say, "Unless you fancy yourself as the next Jimmy the Greek, don't over analyze. The amount of games will definitely lead to paralysis-by-analysis." In my opinion, when it comes to picking some of the lower level bowl games, its almost more of a gut feeling when making that selection than anything else.

With all that said, let's get to the picks. What you'll find below is the bowl schedule starting with the first game on the docket all the way to the National Championship game on January 8th. With each pick you'll see both J-Fish's pick as well as my own with a little bit of analysis and how many confidence points (#) we have assigned to the pick we've made. Let's get to it with a look at the BCS games.

January 1st
ROSE - Penn State vs. USC
JFISH: USC (34) - Too much defense.
DICO: USC (32) - Too much USC! PSU hasn't seen anything like the Trojans this year. Ask OSU how things worked out for them. Plus this is a "home game" for the Trojans.

FEDEX ORANGE - Cincinnati vs. Virginia Tech
JFISH: Cincinnati (22) - 1st BCS bowl berth will drive the Bearcats.
DICO: Cincinnati (10) - Special teams could be the difference in this game. Mardy Gilyard for the Bearcats is one of the best in the country in the return game. A chance to finish the season in the Top 10 will push the Bearcats to a win.

January 2nd
ALLSTATE SUGAR - Utah vs. Alabama
JFISH: Alabama (32) - Utah hasn't faced a defense like this.
DICO: Alabama (33) - See JFISH's comments...the Utes will have a hard time stopping the 'Bama offense as well.

January 5th
TOSTITOS FIESTA - Ohio State vs. Texas
JFISH: Texas (33) - Too much speed on defense, and the Horns will be playing angry because of the whole BIG XII, BCS screw job.
DICO: Texas (31) - QB Colt McCoy will be too much even for a good Buckeyes' defense. Terrelle Pryor will see what team speed on defense is all about against the Longhorns.

January 8th
FEDEX BCS NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP - Florida vs. Oklahoma
JFISH: Florida (26) - Tebow/Harvin will find a way.
DICO: Oklahoma (22) - Bradford leads the most potent offense in the country. Even with the loss of DeMarco Murray at RB, the Sooners won't miss a beat. Expect a high scoring affair.

COMPLETE PICKS (ALL 34 GAMES) 

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As posted on YourTeamStinks.com 

The ESPN/USA Today preseason rankings came out today for college basketball. The team at the top, the North Carolina Tar Heels.

The Tar Heels made a deep run in the dance last year all the way to the final four, only to be knocked off by Kansas who would go on to win the national title. Kansas lost a lot of their key players from last season. Because of that they debuted at No. 23.

UNC received all 31 first place votes. That's a big vote of confidence from the voters to be ranked the unanimous No. 1 team in the country before even taking to the court. A big reason for the unanimous vote is due to their star player, Tyler Hansborough, who decided to return for his senior season. He'll get help from a couple other key players in Ty Lawson and Wayne Ellington.

The other half of the Final Four debut high in the polls as well as UCLA is ranked No. 4 and Memphis comes in at No. 12.

The top ten looks like this, highlighted by a handful of BIG EAST teams.

1. North Carolina
2. Connecticut
3. Louisville
4. UCLA
5. Duke
6. Pittsburgh
7. Michigan State
8. Texas
9. Notre Dame
10. Purdue 

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Two important things occurred this week in the world of college football:  1) The first BCS rankings of the season were released and 2) There wasn't a major tsunami at the top of the rankings.  Speaking of rankings...

POWER RANKINGS

1.  Texas:  Even I, a proud Texas graduate (I'm sure you've heard that before), didn't think we would pound Missouri that badly.  2 down, 2 to go in the gantlet.

2.  Penn State:  I don't care what the BCS, or the other polls say, the Nittany Lions are better than Alabama.  They'll prove it against the Buckeyes this weekend.

3.  Alabama:  Last weekend was the second straight game they jumped out to an early lead, then almost let it get away from them.  Not good.

4.  Oklahoma:  This team still scares me come BCS Championship.  I could easily see a scenario where the Sooners don't make the Big XII Championship game, because of their loss to the 'Horns, but still have the second best BCS rankings.  I'm just saying.

5.  Oklahoma State:  Again, I'm departing from the other rankings.  I'm giving the Cowboys the nod over USC and Florida because of the undefeated record.  But we'll see how good the Cowboys are this weekend in Austin.

6.  Georgia:  The Bulldog pups have bounced back nicely from the drubbing they took at the hands of the Crimson Tide.  But the next two weeks will go a long way in proving if they're ready to take that next step.  LSU this week, and Florida the following week.

7.  USC:  I think their rankings in the other polls this week were largely inflated, due to the tremedously one-sided pounding they put on Wazzou (69-0).  I still have my questions about this team.  The biggest concern being how long can Mark Sanchez stay healthy.

8.  Florida:  Bye week this past Saturday.  Tebow will continue his "Mission To Redemption" against Kentucky this weekend.

9.  Ohio State:  The Buckeyes have looked good since Beanie has returned.  Pryor is slowing beginning to come into his own at QB.  And they have the Nittany Lions in the 'Shoe this weekend.  All that, and I still think that Buckeye fans will go home crying.

10.  Utah:  The way they beat-down the Cougars last Thursday was impressive.  Far more impressive than my call about BYU being the BCS Buster lock for 2008.

DORM NOTES

--Any way I can get 1/2 credit for my BCS Buster pick?  I got the conference right; it's just going to be Utah, not BYU.  That's all.

--I'm still looking forward to the Nov. 22 tilt of BYU vs. Utah, in case you were wondering.

--When a game is as lopsided as USC vs. Washington State, shouldn't it just be stopped at some point.  Like a boxing match where one boxer is beating the crap out of another, and the ref steps in and stops it for the health of the other boxer.  The health of the Washington State football program sure could've used a rule like that on Saturday.

--I'm still not putting Texas Tech into my Top 10 because of their weak schedule.  I will consider it after seeing how they perform this weekend against Kansas

Until next weekend...

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In week 2, I predicted Miami (Fl.) would hold there own vs. Florida, and up till the 4th. qtr. began they did. OSU struggled a bit more than anyone would have thought against OU. UC realized they may only be half (52-26) as good as Oklahoma, and Michigan should have lost against Miami. This week, the matchups appear to be a bit more intriguing. I will save the best for last...

Kansas 37 South Florida 27-  The little QB that could, Todd Reesing, will lead his 2-0 Kansas Jayhawks this Friday night against #19 South Florida. Reesing is coming off a season where he threw for 3,400+yards, 33tds, and Kansas was the darlings of the Big 12. This season they try to better their performance and South Florida will have their 1st real test Friday. Coach Mangino and his Jayhawks will be without 2007s leading receiver Dexton Fields for this game. But don't fear, look for WR Dezmon Briscoe to step up and continue with his great 2008 start. South Florida just managed to sneak by a Kevin Smith-less UCF last week and this week won't be any easier. Super Man, lil' Tebow, 1 man show, whatever you call him, Matt Grothe has been USFs offense for the past couple of years. For those that don't remember, last year QB Matt Grothe threw for 2,670 yards, 60% completion percentage, 14tds passing, 10tds rushing, led the team with 198 rushing attempts, and led the team with 872 rushing yards. I am not sure what would happen to this team if Grothe went down. This offense was designed for him, but he can't do it all forever. The last big test SFU had was last years bowl against a Dennis Dixon-less Oregon and they were blown out 56-21. Grothe, struggled in that game. When Grothe struggles, SFU loses. This week, Kansas, even without Aqib Talib, will be able to control Matt Grothe and South Florida enough to pull out a win. 

Michigan 24 Notre Dame 23- This is a hard one for me to pick. It is honestly a tossup to me. Both teams will probably struggle to sniff .500 this year, but this game will always be special to me. So much tradition and pride is wrapped in this game. I am not exactly sure how I even expect UM to score 24 points, but I am hoping they do it with Steven Threet at QB and Sam Mcguffie/Mike Shaw at RB. Mcguffie and Shaw are about the only spark in the Wolverines offense. If the o-line can block well enough, and if Coach Rodriguez can rally the troops, I can see UM pulling this out in South Bend.  Sunshine, from Remember the Titans (google it), must have decided to transfer to Notre Dame and play QB. Jimmy Claussen (until Terrell Pryor came along) was the most hyped QB I have ever heard of when he came into ND last year. Claussen is a very talented QB, but just like former ND QB Brady Quinn, if Claussen gets rattled, it's hard for him to come back and regain his composure. If Brandon Graham and co. can apply pressure to Claussen, I have no doubt that Michigan will win on Saturday. The question will be can the Michigan offense put the ball in the hands of the play makers they do have. The talent on offense is there, but the handicap is at QB. Hopefully at the end of the day on Saturday, the sun will not shine for ND.

Georgia 31 South Carolina 17- Yes, I know that SC beat Georgia last year at Georgia 16-12. I also know that Knowshon Moreno only ran 14 times that day. With a national championship dream on the line, Matthew Stafford will lead his offense into South Carolina with a lot to lose. The 'ole ball coach is in for a rude awakening  when Moreno runs all over his gamecocks. Look for Mohamed Massaquoi to have another big game. Coming off a loss at Vandy last week, S.C. will be looking to bounce back, unfortunately they will fall below .500 before next weeks titanic struggle against mighty Wofford. Look, this has the making to be a season changer for S.C. and they will play their hearts out, but I just don't feel that Tommy Beecher, Chris Smelley, hell even Steve Taneyhill (google it) would have a chance to beat Georgia this weekend. I predict that S.C. keeps it close up till half time. After that, UGA rolls on...

 Now for the big one...

OSU 34 USC 31- OSU will have Beanie, stop worrying. This is a game that I have been waiting for for quite some time. Not because I am a OSU fan, because I am not, but this is a chance to, for at least a week, put the Big 10 back where it belongs. On top. As a die hard Michigan fan, it kills me to pick them, but I think the Vest will have his troops ready for USC. The pressure is on USC. They are at home, 10+ point favorite, OSU is expected to lose and to even some, lose big. You don't think the Vest has told his players all this? They are going to play the game of their lives and trust me anything less, will result in a loss. USC may have more talent and may even be faster at some positions, but the experience and talent that OSU has will trump USC. Also, Sanchez has never seen a defense like this before. James Laurinaitis will make his presence known early and often. If Todd struggles Saturday night, which I expect him to, look for Pryor to take the field more often than you would hope he would have to. Pryor loves the spotlight. He loves to showcase his talent on the biggest stage possible, and it will never get any bigger any sooner for Pryor than under the lights in Southern California. The nation will take notice, and OSU will move towards the #1 spot once again. The Vest has got to win this game because he knows that if they lose to USC, even if OSU wins out after the loss, the chance that the voters will take a 3rd chance on putting OSU in the national championship will be slim. Win this one for the conference. 

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The 2007-08 season hasn't even been over for a week, but that doesn't mean that it's too early to already start thinking about next year.  Don't rule Kansas out for a repeat, but North Carolina still tops many analysts' lists, especially if Tyler Hansborough returns for his senior season.

Rivals.com didn't hesistate to put out their list:

1. North Carolina (36-3)
2. UCLA (35-3)
3. Memphis (38-2)
4. Texas (31-7)
5. Kansas (37-3)
6. Connecticut (24-9)
7. USC (21-12)
8. Purdue (25-9)
9. Kansas State (21-12)
10. Gonzaga (25-8)
20. Ohio State (24-13)
25. Xavier (30-7)

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Isn't it ironic that on his way to claim his first title at Kansas that new head coach Bill Self knocked out old head coach Roy Williams. Williams' departure from Lawrence was abrupt to many and vast majority of the Kansas' fans still hold a grudge. 

Despite getting dismantled by the Jayhawks, though Williams' was in attendance for Monday's championship game and proudly was supporting a Kansas Jayhawks' sticker on his shirt. In fact, Williams appeared on the CBS halftime show and spoke openly of his desire to see his former players get what he was able to after leaving the school, a National Championship.

There are many fans though, particularly in Chapel Hill, that are in disbelief that Williams would be so open in his support of his former team?

Was Roy in the wrong? I tend to think not, but he has had his fair share of criticism.

Check out what some of the critics are saying:

SportingNews.com - Jordan Mason
I honestly do not mind Williams staying in San Antonio to watch his former team in the national championship despite the fact that his players returned after their game Saturday. I even do not mind Williams admitting that he was for his former team as he did last night. But the UNC coach crossed a line last night in supporting his former team. Carolina fans were weary all of Williams’s reluctance to play Kansas leading up to the Final Four game. The Tar Heels not showing up in the first half of that game did not help matters. But not even that was as bad as Williams wearing the insignia of the team that hastily dismissed his team from the Final Four just two days after the fact. What kind of message does this send to your fans? Or, most importantly, your players? Everyone understands your previous allegiance to Kansas, but that is no excuse.

Charlotte Observer - Tom Sorensen
Roy's intentions undoubtedly were honorable. Kansas gave him his first head coaching job, and he stayed 15 years. Based on his words, actions and sticker, he hasn't made peace with his departure. Before he accepted the job with his alma mater, he told his players he was leaving them. That hurt him deeply, and that's good. Some coaches treat players as if they're disposable. You want a coach who cares. Roy cares. Alas, he also cares about being liked. He wants Kansas to like him, thus Monday's show of Jayhawks solidarity. I wouldn't be surprised if before the game Williams approached every Kansas fan and said, "Hi, my name is Roy and I'm still sorry."

Burlington Times News - Bob Sutton
After Kansas put an end to North Carolina's season, Williams didn't skip an opportunity to prove that he meant it when he called Kansas his second-favorite team. The timing, of course, didn't thrill a lot of North Carolina fans, who expected Williams' team to perform quite a bit better against Kansas. So here was the coach after a tremendously disappointing loss chumming it up for the other team. You get the feeling that Williams tends to care what people think.

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This was supposed to be the greatest Final Four ever, but Saturday did not live up to the hype, that was not the case on Monday.  Here is my recap of my live blog posts throughout the game.

KANSAS 75, MEMPHIS 68 OT

Overtime Observations
--How big was the review of Rose' three-point now? What about Dorsey's cheap 5th foul?
--This is the first overtime championship game since Michigan-Seton Hall in '89
--Damn, I wish I would have bet the OVER...LOL
--Kansas scores first six in OT in overtime on 18-3 over the last 4:26 (2:29 left in OT)
--The Jayhawks appear much more fresh; depth paying off
--Kansas ends the game with 24-4 run to overcome a 9-point deficit
--What a title game. I am struggling to think of one better in this decade.
--I won my first bracket office pool in 12 years; and I didn't middle it

Second Half Observations
--Memphis gets 7-2 run in the first two minutes of half to retake lead, 36-35
--Dorsey follows up great dunk on oop by Rose, by picking up third foul at 16:00 mark
--This game is about as intense as you can get. Finally, one that is living up to the hype.
--Rose just scored for the first time in nearly 24:30 minutes of play. Now has 5 points
--Rose adds seven more points and Memphis takes a four-point lead with 7 minutes to go
--Kansas has gone 4+ minutes w/out a field goal and is now down by 7 points
--Finally a Jayhawks' bucket, but still a big hill to climb
--Rose just banked a shot in as the shot-clock was expiring. Jim Nantz called it 'the shot of the tournament'
--Memphis is 2 minutes away from title, the game is theirs to win up 60-53 w/1:54 go
--Huge steal by Kansas to cut it to four
--Can Memphis make free throws under pressure (they have all tournament long)?
--Joey Dorsey picks up his fifth foul 30 feet from the basket after getting caught in double switch
--Man, I am glad I didn't take the OVER
--Kansas on 9-2 run and have cut it to two points, 62-60. UNBELIEVABLE!!!!
--Memphis turned it over, but Kansas blew it
--No worries. Douglas-Roberts missed two more free throws, but MEMPHIS gets rebound
--Rose is going to line where he's made 13 straight and he missed his first one|
--Mario Chalmers hit a three-pointer to tie it with 2.0 seconds left
--WE ARE WATCHING THE GREATEST GAME EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!
--Free Throws have to win games 1/6 on last three trips to the line

First Half Observations
--Billy Packer has done 34 of these games, I respect him but maybe its time for a change
--WOW! The first two minutes of this game has made me dizzy...I love this stuff!
--I love the Kansas backscreens. Khan continues to perform
--Robert Dozier and Josh Taggard both head to bench with two fouls with 12 minutes to go in 1st half
--I love HDTV, man I just never get sick of watching mine
--Kansas is on a 21-12 run, but Memphis isn't going away.
--Memphis just hit 2nd three-pointer (2/5 early on, better than I expected)
--The Tigers have answered with a 11-4 run. Are you seeing a trend?
--Over/Under on total lead changes in game - 18 (it's that good of a game)
--Chalmers has hands like glue already 3 steals w/two minutes to go
--Kansas outrebounding Memphis by 8 and shooting 60%, but 8 turnovers keeping it close
--After being tied at 28-28, the Jayhawks score the first half's final five points and lead 33-28 at the break.
--Big foul trouble for Memphis (Dorsey, Dozier, and Taggard w/2 each); they don't have the depth to KU does
--Derrek Rose has more rebounds (4) than points (3) and is only 1 of 4 from the field
--Kansas' bench outscored Memphis' bench 8-0

Opening Observations
--I need Kansas to win to take my bracket pool ($300). I can't decide whether or not I should middle it
--Memphis is favored by 2 points in most Las Vegas casinos with the over/under at 147.5
--Will Kansas have an answer for Derrick Rose? The Jayhawks have a deeper team and play better defense than UCLA did.  Heading into the Final Four, the Jayhawks were holding opponents to 37.9 percent from the field, which ranked third in the nation. The Bruins' opponents shot 41.8 percent, which ranked 73rd. If they are going to stop Rose and the Tigers they will need to stop the dribble penetration and force them to shoot from the outside. That's easier said than done.

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