Ten Things to Watch Before March Madness

It's been such an interesting season of college basketball thus far that March Madness will surely be one of the wildest we have ever seen. Will it match last year's craziness with two mid-majors in the Final Four? Probably not, but teams like Murray State and St. Mary's have looked fantastic and could be poised for a run deep into March. You could argue that Kentucky has separated themselves as the clear title favorite, and it seems John Calipari will surely get his mitts on the trophy this season, but besides the Cats there has not been a team that has stood out. Yes, there are several great teams such as Syracuse, Kansas, Missouri and North Carolina but all of those teams have shown weakness somewhere along the line. UK has had some close games during the season but they are a complete team with a loaded roster. Calipari has been thwarted twice from winning a title in Lexington, but odds are he and his group of talented freshmen will finally get one this season. However, before Selection Sunday here are ten things to keep an eye on in the college basketball world.

1. Who will win Player of the Year?

Right now it seems that there are two contenders for the Player of the Year award. Anthony Davis, the talented freshmen from Kentucky, has put up incredible numbers but Kansas big man Thomas Robinson has carried the Jayhawks to a 25-5 record while averaging 17.8 points and 11.8 rebounds per game. It's a toss up between those two but in my opinion I would have to give Robinson the award. Davis has had an amazing season but he has several other lottery picks on his team. Without Robinson KU would be in deep trouble. He is their best scorer and rebounder and there isn't any other player who could shoulder the load. All that said, the most interesting aspect of the PoY debate is that Draymond Green is hardly being mentioned. 16.1 points, 10.2 rebounds and 3.6 assists isn't a bad season at all but Green hasn't been given his due. Much like Robinson and Kansas, Michigan State would not be a top team if they did have Green. He is an invaluable player. Recognize his game before the senior departs for what is sure to be a solid NBA career.

2. Who will win the Big Ten regular season?
On Sunday at 4:00 ET make sure you are sitting in front of your television because the Big Ten regular season championship will be decided in East Lansing, Michigan. The Spartans come in at 13-4 while the Ohio State Buckeyes currently stand at 11-5, should be 12-5 if they beat Northwestern tonight. Michigan State won by 10 earlier in the year when the two clashed in Columbus and this game should be even more intense with the conference title on the line.

3. Can Missouri keep beating teams with better post players?

Nobody expected Frank Haith's Missouri Tigers to be playing this well, but here we are just a few weeks from Selection Sunday, and Mizzou is in line for at least a 2-seed. The backcourt is scary with Phil and Matt Pressey, Kim English, Marcus Denmon and Michael Dixon. The guards have been phenomenal and shoot extremely high percentages. Ricardo Ratliffe has played well inside and Steve Moore has been solid. Still, without Laurence Bowers the Tigers are missing their best inside player. Everytime they go against Baylor or Kansas I think there is no way they should win, yet they do. Will the guards be able to carry them through Big 12 tournament play?

4. Will the Pac-12 team get more than one team in the Big Dance?
Now this seems like a silly question. The Pac-12 was arguably the best conference in basketball just a few seasons ago, but this season has not been kind to the conference. Washington or California should win the conference tournament and receive the automatic berth, but neither team has any good non-conference wins to state their case for the committee. It's worth that mentioning that Arizona and Oregon also have records worthy of the tourney but they are both in the same boat. The Pac-12 simply hasn't won any good non-conference games.

5. How will Indiana fare away from Assembly Hall?
At Assembly Hall the Hoosiers are an impressive 17-1. When they are on the road though they are just 6-6. One of those wins came on a neutral court, but the point is that Indiana does not play as well away from home. They have some very good wins this year against #1 Kentucky, #2 Ohio State and #5 Michigan State, but all of those came at home. They have road losses to teams like Iowa and Nebraska. I believe the Hoosiers are a good team and a force to be reckoned with come tournament time, but after Sunday's game against Purdue they will not play in Bloomington any more this season.

6. Can North Carolina steal the ACC title in Durham on Saturday?

Is there a better scenario than this? North Carolina and Duke should meet on Saturday night for a winner-take-all matchup for the ACC crown. If UNC can beat Maryland tonight then the two teams will have identical 13-3 records for Saturday's game. Duke came away with a buzzer-beater victory after Austin Rivers nailed a three in Tyler Zeller's face earlier in the year and now the Dukies will get UNC in Durham in front of the Cameron Crazies. Safe to say the odds aren't in the Tar Heels favor.

7. Will Xavier make the NCAA Tournament?
Remember Xavier and Tu Holloway? They were supposed to be the mid-major that was going to take everyone down and make a deep run in March. All that changed though when the brawl broke out on December 10th against Cincinnati. The Musketeers won that game to advance to 8-0 but since then they have gone just 10-11 and are in no position to receive an at-large berth. The only thing they can do is win the Atlantic-10 conference tournament, which will not be an easy task with teams like St. Louis and Temple in their way.

8. How many teams will the Big East send to the NCAA Tournament?
We have grown accustomed to seeing a large number of teams from the Big East in the Big Dance and this year should be no different. However, the number could be lower than in recent years. In my mind there are six locks and then a host of bubble teams. Getting only six of sixteen teams in the tournament would not be a good year on the Big East's terms.

9. Are the defending champs going to be unable to defend their title?

There has been alot go wrong in Storrs, Connecticut and the Huskies are in danger of not being invited to the NCAA Tournament. After starting off in the Top 5 in most preseason polls and 12-1 for the season, they have limped to a 17-12 record with a poor 7-10 record in Big East play. A team with sure-to-be 2012 lottery picks Jeremy Lamb and Andre Drummond should not be having the problems they are. Yet they are going to have to make a Big East tournament run like last year to get in the tourney. Someone get Kemba a jersey quick.

10. Who will win Coach of the Year?
By now the candidates have basically all separated themselves with their team's play. In my eyes I believe Frank Haith or Mike Brey has to win the National Coach of the Year award. Haith was seen as a 'bad hire' for the Missouri Tigers and upon arriving in Columbia he lost his big man Laurence Bowers for the entire season. Didn't matter. His Tigers are a Top 10 team. Brey's situation is different. He lost several quality players from last year's team and then his best player this year, Tim Abromitis, was lost to injury. Despite that, Brey has led the Irish to a 20-10 record and should have them dancing.

I firmly believe there is no postseason better than college basketball. Conference tournaments will begin next week and then March 10th is Selection Sunday. If some of these questions are answered then filling out a bracket will be much easier. However, the unpredictability of the tournament is why we call it March Madness. So let the Madness begin.

Jayhawks Look to Rock-Chalk Their Way to Houston

Choke artists. If there were two words to describe the Kansas Jayhawks under coach Bill Self those two may be it. The Jayhawks have ruined many brackets through the years from their first round losses to Bucknell and Bradley to their did-that-really-just-happen second round exit to Northern Iowa last year. That’s why, when Kansas only led by four at halftime against 16th-seeded Boston University, people everywhere held their breath. KU, with the exception of 2008, has been known to choke in tourney time and what’s scary for those Jayhawk fans is that the Regional matchups look like the perfect trap games. Starting with their Friday night game against the Atlantic-10 postseason champions, Richmond, Kansas could get to Houston by playing two Regional games against double-digit seeds. No number one seed has anything close to that easy but that’s not to say that Richmond is totally incapable of winning the game.

The Spiders are riding a nine game winning streak into San Antonio and are winners of 13 of their last 15 games. Being hot at the right time is a key to success in March and Richmond definitely is hot but so are the Jayhawks. Kansas ended up beating Boston by 19 and then plowed through Illinois, Bill Self’s former employer, to get to San Antonio. Kansas is in the midst of a 10-game winning streak. Which hot team should win then? Surprisingly, Richmond matches up well with Kansas’s height but their big men will need to play exceptionally well to stop the Morris brothers and Thomas Robinson. The three of them may prove to be too much for Richmond’s Justin Harper and Dan Geriot. In the backcourt Kansas features two dead-eye shooters in Tyrel Reed and Brady Morningstar and Tyshawn Taylor has scored in double figures the past four games while dishing out five assists per game in that span. Kansas is the definition of a complete team.

Keep an eye on the Spiders’ point guard, Kevin Anderson. The junior averaged a shade under 17 points this season and shoots 42% from 3-point land. He was sensational against Vanderbilt in their opening round upset, pouring in 25 points while playing all 40 minutes. Harper has been solid averaging 17.5 points and 8 boards but his defense may be his most valuable contribution on Friday night. Between the Morris twins and Robinson they average 39 points and 22 rebounds and if Harper and Geriot can hold those three to 25 points then Richmond will win the game. It’s a longshot but definitely possible.

The Jayhawks are vulnerable and they are prone to cough one up in March but this season it seems their path to Houston is tailor-made. Were they to make the Final Four they would never play any team seeded higher than 9th and they could potentially face three mid-majors if they meet VCU in the Elite 8. However, with their recent history in the tournament, one cannot count out Richmond. The Spiders will be playing in their first Sweet 16 since 1988 and, if they both win their semi-final games, could face crosstown rival, VCU with a chance for the Final Four on the line. If somebody would have said that the city of Richmond would have as many teams as the Big East in the Sweet 16 they would have been considered a fool.

Here they are though, Richmond and VCU in the Sweet 16 and both will play Friday night. The Spiders have their hands full with the number two team in the nation standing in their way but of the number one seeds Kansas is the most vulnerable. If Richmond can take away some of the Jayhawks post play they have a shot to win. If not, then it’s likely Bill Self and the Jayhawks will dance their way across the state of Texas to Houston.
This article first appeared on http://www.thesportsbank.net/