Sorting out College Hoops

Before the season started it was thought that the combination of more players staying in school due to the NBA lockout and with a strong freshmen class would make for a truly great college basketball season in 2012. Sadly as the calendar turns to February we are in the midst of another regular season that has been light on great games, lacks tense conferences races and an overall quality of play that has been quite poor. North Carolina returning their entire starting five from an Elite Eight team was hyped to be a once in a generation time now looks like it will struggle to beat out Florida State was the ACC title and other title contenders Ohio State and Kentucky have struggled offensively for large parts of the season. The Pac 12 seems like it will be the first BCS conference to get only one bid to the tournament and the last year of the mighty Big East seems destined to go out with a whimper.
 
  Mid Major leagues have offered some interesting story lines with Murray State currently sitting in the top ten and having a real chance to go undefeated topping the list. Creighton and Harvard are also ranked, with the Crimson poised to make their first ever NCAA Tournament. The question remains whether or not a mid major making the Final Four would be good for the game as Butler and VCU made it last year and the Bulldogs turned in the worst championship performance of all time. It really seems like a year the sport needs the top seeds to advance as far as possible to ensure marquee games in the later rounds.

  The fact that Syracuse topped the polls for six weeks shows just how weak things are at the top. Down center Fab Melo the Orange have been out rebounded in each of the last three games and seemed prime for another March disappointment. Big 12 members Missouri, Baylor and Kansas have all spent time to top 5 this year and have always appeared grossly unworthy of their records when going on the road against the bottom of the league. Duke and UCONN have struggled mightily with chemistry problem and Michigan State lacks the true grit of most Tom Izzo coached teams.
          
  I can take solace in the turn around going on at UMASS this season, but despite their glossy record they aren't nearly as good as the Travis Ford coached teams of four and five seasons ago. Their place on the Tournament bubble is an indictment on the state of college basketball. The Atlantic 10 conference now seems like a two bid league with Xavier and Dayton continue to slide.
  
  We seem destined for another year of major upsets and busted brackets, but the sport could really benefit from having traditional powers dominate the tournament. North Carolina and Kentucky staged the only memorable regular season game to date and would make for a very exciting rematch in a possible title game. With a lack of franchise players in the draft and the stink of UCONN-Butler still fresh in my mind the fewer upsets in the tournament this year the better, when it's time to fill out your brackets if you want what's best for the sport you'll root for "chalk".