Rebuilding Program ...

My beloved St. John's University basketball team and the BIG EAST Conference in which they compete might take a good look at the efforts of Patrick Dixon, the Johnnies' strength and conditioning coach, who is rebuilding his home in Hurricane Sandy-ravaged Long Beach, Long Island.

NBC's College Basketball Talk column called attention to the LI Newsday article which detailed Dixon's decision to go above and beyond a basic replacement of his dwelling.  Instead, Dixon dreamed a little dream that has come true in the construction of a three-story home with a real foundation to replace the single story house that might be subject to the next natural disaster.

Like many others who call wonderful Long Beach home, including a really good buddy, Eddie O, the daunting task of rebuilding was the focus of their lives beginning October 22, 2012 through October 29, 2012 when the storm approached New York City. To refresh your memory, just last fall Hurricane Sandy hit - with winds at some 175-mph and a record-low barometric pressure reading of 940 millibars (27.76 inches) a figure which placed Sandy with a punch that was more powerful than the 1938 "Long Island Express" storm, the longtime measuring stick for Atlantic-based hurricanes. The day after Sandy blew by and headed towards Canada, New Yorkers and their neighbors in New Jersey and Connecticut, were left with only two options. Clean up and rebuild or move on out.

Syracuse Jim Boeheim will be missed by BIG EAST

While not anywhere near as important and certainly nowhere close near the life-taking, life threatening ways of a Category 1 hurricane, the BIG EAST Conference, too, has been devastated and must rebuild. The news - they call it progress - left the BIG EAST in shambles. Gone are the likes of Boston College (to the ACC in 2005), UConn, Syracuse (to the ACC, much to coach Jim Boeheim's dismay), Pittsburgh, Rutgers and West Virginia - among others over the years. Left to the BIG EAST are the "Catholic 7" - a number of the original schools of 1979 (St. John's, Georgetown, Providence, Seton Hall, Villanova, an '80 member) to join with recent members Marquette (Milwaukee, Wisc) and DePaul (Chicago, Illinois) newcomers such as Creighton (Omaha, Nebraska), Butler (Indianapolis, Indiana) and Xavier (Cincinnati, Ohio).

The BIG EAST, while wallowing in its glorious past success, was left with no other path than to rebuild. To their credit, the university presidents circled their wagons around the success of the "Catholic 7" basketball history and took the necessary steps to sustain themselves and protect themselves on the athletic front while maintaining pretty serious and "high" standards in academia. The result was the "LITTLE EAST" that many of us called for many years ago when the (former) BIG EAST football schools (Miami, Louisville, South Florida, Notre Dame) began to ransack the conference.

The big step for the (new) BIG EAST was hiring my colleague Val Ackerman to head up the effort as conference Commissioner. Ackerman is a proven sports maven with a resume that approaches perfection in athletic and sports marketing circles. Ackerman also tapped a seasoned Direct TV, NBA, NY Road Runners and Pac-12 Conference veteran in Ann Wells Crandall to begin the process of bailing water out of the new conference's well.

Fall sports are competing and the winter sports schedules - especially in men's basketball - are on the calendar. Ackerman, Wells-Crandall and PR-man extraordinaire, John Pacquette, are on the job. Others soon will follow and the initial finish line for the conference will have the bright spotlights of Broadway focused on Madison Square Garden this coming March 12-15, 2014.

I'm hoping they gradually build a new, three-story home rather than trying to reconstruct what was once a mighty fortress. The (new) BIG EAST needs to practice its lay-ups before it strives for a 360-reverse slam dunk. The key issue is not just the re-building of the conference, complete with the fancy, new and financially pleasing FoxSports1 TV deal, it is building a real foundation for future success. 

To build that foundation, the (new) BIG EAST schools need to rebuild basketball program upon basketball program. Of major concern are the likes of Providence, St. John's, Seton Hall and DePaul, four once-proud basketball schools that have become irrelevant in the "tell me what you're going to do for me tomorrow" world of NCAA hoops. 

Georgetown and Villanova will hold down the fort amongst the old-school teams while Marquette will maintain its highly-credible program amongst the newer schools. Surely, Butler, Creighton and Xavier will provide the conference with depth and respectability with all three potential tournament teams.

My only concern is to wake up on March 15 and see the very real possibility of a Creighton vs. Butler BIG EAST final at a half-empty Madison Square Garden while the BIG EAST faithful pine for days gone by while their watching the ACC on TV.

Wouldn't Give Them a Nickel

Football rules in the new Big East

The football conference will pocket a grand $250,000 a game for up to 12 gridiron tilts a year, according to a posted report on CBS Sports last night.

Yippee. 

However, when you look at the 2014 basketball lineup, it's just a complete farce. The lineup of schools, which includes UConn and Cincinnati with both looking for the first train to the Krzyzewski-ville, might make Big EAST founder Dave Gavitt do a cartwheel in his grave, never mind what it'll do to Larry Brown, the new SMU hoops coach.

Please note:

Starting in 2014, the league's basketball lineup will include Connecticut, Cincinnati, Temple, South Florida, Central Florida, Houston, Memphis, SMU and Tulane. The football side will include 12 teams by 2015 with the addition of Navy and Tulsa.

My viewpoint:

1. Poor Temple. Aside from the fact the "Little East" already has Philly-based Villanova, the addition of Temple to the basketball-centric new conference would've been a nice fit, to me much better than the likes of Creighton (Omaha, Nebraska) or St. Louis, (well, St. Louis!).

2. UConn is going backwards. A year or two from now, the basketball tradition of UConn will be on par with the basketball tradition at NYU. That is once great, but now - GONE. Thus, the new name - U-GONE.

3. No auto berth?

4. Where - on earth - is this conference going to play its basketball tournament and how will it possibly draw a single soul? New Orleans might be the only chance to attract fans for travel.

5. It's a total disaster.

See this CBS Sports story by football columnist Dennis Dodd which was posted last night:

The soon-to-be renamed Big East will collect $3 million per year from CBS for the network to televise up to 12 games beginning in 2014, according to industry sources.The seven-year deal in basketball will total $21 million to $22 million, and comes after the announcement of a $126 million contract with ESPN to televise football for the new league. Both deals are for seven years.

ESPN.com reported there is an out clause in the football deal for the network if the league loses two members. It is not known if the same clause exists with CBS. ESPN.com also reported that language was put in an original deal with NBC Sports Network that stated Connectiuct and Cincinnati are "next in line" to move to the ACC if that league loses any more members to the Big Ten, SEC or Big 12. The language passed to the ESPN deal when it matched NBC's offer.
Cincinnati and UConn officials have not been shy about wanting to join a higher-profile conference. The reconstituted Big East does not get an automatic berth in the upcoming playoff era beginning in 2014.

Starting in 2014, the league's basketball lineup will include Connecticut, Cincinnati,Temple, South Florida, Central Florida, Houston, Memphis, SMU and Tulane. The football side will include 12 teams by 2015 with the addition of Navy and Tulsa. CBSSports.com reported on Tuesday that the addition of Tulsa was "a matter of when, not if."

The league said it will rename itself this spring. CBS will have the first selection from conference and non-conference games, including those played at neutral sites.
Half of those games will be league games.

Ahhhh!

Team D in the House that Russ Built...

Across the Pond
By Terry Lyons


BOSTON, Massachusetts, March 26 – Villanova head coach Jay Wright calmly strolled the sideline of the TD Banknorth Garden on polished hardwood floor that looked rather odd. There was not a block of parquet to be found under Wright’s nicely polished shoes. When the talented young Villanova coach looked up to check the scoreboard, there were no banners in the rafters to frame his view and remind him of the history of the great game of basketball that was played a few hundred feet east towards Causeway Street.

The NCAA Eastern Regional Finals rolled into The Hub, and the event organizers tucked the Boston Celtics’ 17 NBA championship banners away in a drawer for the weekend, along with banners that honored Walter Brown, Red Auerbach and all of the legendary Celtics of yesteryear whose uniform numbers have been retired to the dusty rafters. They even put away two Stanley Cup banners earned by the NHL’s Boston Bruins, along with a slew of retired Bruins numbers, including Bobby Orr’s #4.

The TD Banknorth Garden was buzzing with basketball, but upon further review, the building’s iconic landmarks from the original Boston Garden were nowhere to be found. The American flag and the great red Maple Leaf of Canada looked a little lonely up there tonight and only a silver microphone, placed in honor of legendary broadcaster Johnny Most, remained on the building’s bright white halo.

One legendary Celtics’ trademark did remain on court when the featured game of the NCAA East Regional tipped-off at 9:57pm EDT tonight. When Jay Wright’s Villanova Wildcats took to the floor to play the class act of American collegiate basketball, the Duke Blue Devils, Wright tapped into the key ingredient of all Celtics’ teams past and present.

The Villanova Wildcats came out and played defense. They played team defense.

They played “bust your ass” and “force a shot clock violation” defense, and they played it against one of the most disciplined and lethal offensive teams in the world.

The ‘Cats held Duke to 28% field goal shooting in the first half, limiting the sharp-shooting Dukies to 7-of-25 from two-point land and a lowly 2-for-11 (18%) shooting from beyond the 3-point stripe. Had Duke not converted 7-of-10 from the free throw line in the first half, they would have been buried. Instead, the Duke Blue Devils stayed close and strode to the hallways at the half, down 26-23.

In the second half, Villanova came out strong and gained the respect of the 18,831 fans that jammed their way into the building to see a college double-header that could have easily been billed as the best in the land, a “Final Four” level tournament. As the second half clock ticked toward its final 10-minute stretch, the Philadelphia faithful stood and cheered “Let’s Go ‘Nova,” at the top of their lungs as the score read 51-40, Villanova. The team mascots dressed as ‘Cats and Devils with a blue dress on danced and bopped as the marching bands battled it out and refused to yield to the enthusiastic co-ed cheerleaders, flipping their pompoms in the air as they performed cartwheels and gymnastics tricks during each and every TV time out.

The Iron Dukes and Coach Mike Krzyzewski seemed a little concerned as the game inched towards its close. Coach K, who brought the USA back to the medal stand last summer in Beijing, recognized his fate in the “Sweet 16” round of the NCAAS. He was coaching a team who had been “D’d” out of the building. While his Duke team defense was impressive, it didn’t come with the same intensity that Villanova brought during each second of the game.

Duke’s second half shooting was limited to 9-of-35 for 26%, along with 3-of-16 or 19% shooting from 3-point land. When the numbers from each half were combined, Villanova held Duke to 16-60 FG shooting (27%) and 5-of-27 three-point shooting ((18.5%). Case closed. Game over. Villanove 77, Duke 54.

“We’re getting better this late in the season, and it’s fun to coach,” said Wright in the press room after the game. “We can see guys improving. We can see our team improving, and that’s exciting.”

“This team can continue to get better,” said Villanova point guard Scottie Reynolds, echoing his coach.

Villanova will need to take its game even one step further in order to beat Pittsburgh and advance to the Final Four. The Pitt Panthers squeaked by Xavier 60-55 in the other Eastern Regional Semifinal, setting up an exciting Big East matchup on Saturday and ensuring one of a possible four Big East Final Four participants. Louisville, Syracuse and UConn also remain alive in the tournament.

Madison Square Garden Plays Host To Best in College Basketball .. The BIG EAST

I wrote this for the British audience of Basketball 24/7. Hope you enjoy.

Across the Pond:
Madison Square Garden Plays Host to the Best College Basketball Conference in all of the United States

Syracuse OUTLASTS Uconn in a Six-Overtime BIG EAST THRILLER

By Terry Lyons
http://www.terrylyons.com

NEW YORK, MARCH 12 – Sir Elton John called it the “World’s Greatest Venue.” U2’s Bono, Edge, Adam and Larry once said directly from the stage, “We’ve enjoyed some our very best nights as a band, here in New York.” The Concert for New York was a “Top 5” list for the greatest rock show on Earth, despite the fact in was staged at Madison Square Garden in October, 2001 and not long after one of the worst days of our lives. As a native New Yorker, now happily transplanted to Boston, Massachusetts since September, 2008, I quickly realized there was one thing I missed most about Manhattan.

I missed “The Garden,” the world’s most famous arena.

Well, I spent some serious time at my favorite arena on Thursday night when the Syracuse Orange outlasted the University of Connecticut Huskies, 127-117, in a six-overtime thriller. The game started at 9:30pm and finished up at 1:22am to become the longest game in the shot-clock era of US collegiate basketball. Prior to the Thursday night BIG EAST quarter-final game, the longest game in conference history was a 116-111 Notre Dame win over Georgetown on February 9, 2002.

The six-overtime thriller proved to be one of the very best BIG EAST games in the conference’s history. That, Basketball 24/7 fans, is one serious statement because the BIG EAST tournament is a spectacular event with a legendary history and it is an event that every sports fan should attend if they live by The Who’s insightful lyric, “Hope I die before I get old.”

The BIG EAST is that good and that much fun.

Here is a short tutorial: In 1979, although college basketball was enjoying unprecedented heights in popularity (see Indiana State with Larry Bird vs. Michigan State with Earvin “Magic” Johnson), the most popular college basketball conferences were the ACC (Atlantic Coast Conference) with teams such as Duke and North Carolina; the BIG TEN with powerhouses such as Michigan State, Wisconsin, and then-Coach Bobby Knight’s Ohio State; the Pac-10 with the great UCLA legacy of the 1960s and ‘70s with Coach John Wooden, all-time college player of the century Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (then Lew Alcindor) and NCAA standout Bill Walton, along with a smattering of others. None of the best collegiate basketball conferences had much of a presence in New York City, after some scandalous days in the 1950s, by the way.

Then, along came Providence College athletic director Dave Gavitt, a former college coach who enjoyed success beyond his wildest dreams as the first Commissioner of the BIG EAST and later with USA Basketball resulting in a well-deserved induction to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts (the birthplace of the game). Gavitt joined forces with the athletic directors of a few other “independent” schools and laid out a vision which included the following tent-poles:

New York: St. John’s University
Upstate New York: Syracuse University
Boston: Boston College
Providence, RI: Providence College
Hartford, CT: University of Connecticut
North New Jersey: Seton Hall University
Washington DC: Georgetown University

A short year later, in 1980, the very important Philadelphia (Pennsylvania) market was added when Villanova University joined the conference while Pittsburgh (PA) joined in 1982.

With a ton of foresight, a lot of hard work, planning and the stroke of a few important signatures, college basketball was reborn in New York City and the rest of the northeast USA. With the BIG EAST Conference as a start-up, along came regular weekly (national television) broadcast exposure from the upstart sports and entertainment programming network of ESPN, from sold out on-campus arenas. The “Big Games” were played in the likes of The Garden, the Providence or Hartford Civic Centers, the then-Capital Center in Landover, MD – home of the NBA’s (then) Washington Bullets. BC played its big games at the wonderful Boston Garden, Villanova played at the 76ers’ Philly-based home, The Spectrum, and Syracuse built the “Carrier Dome” to house record-breaking crowds while it created record-breaking basketball awareness in Upstate New York.

The conference grew to 16 members for basketball and later added the important outposts of Chicago (DePaul) and Notre Dame (South Bend, Indiana); Cincinnati (Ohio); West Virginia; Marquette (Milwaukee, Wisconsin) and South Florida. Both Miami and South Florida were ‘in and out’ conference members over the years and they were among others who joined, backed out, jumped ship or were added as associate members in sports other than men’s basketball.

Then, the bad news, the NCAA’s large eastern college football programs spread their wings and extended their budgets and the BIG East took on a college football powerhouse strategy at the cost of the original hoops havens, like Providence, Seton Hall, St. John’s and Georgetown. At that point, the smart move would have been splitting the conference in half to create “The BIG EAST” for the football mavens like Syracuse, ND, West Virginia, South Fla, Rutgers, Louisville and a couple others) and the “LITTLE EAST” schools listed above to be joined by DePaul of Chicago and maybe a replacement in the Boston area for the depart (to ACC) Boston College. Northeastern or B.U. might’ve been ripe for the taken in the sports thirsty Boston Hub.

With your BIG EAST tutorial now over, the column turns to report of a very rich history of basketball, played each year between the final conference regular season games and the start of “March Madness,” otherwise known as the annual NCAA Men’s basketball championship.

The winner of the conference championship is awarded with an ‘automatic’ bid to the NCAAs, regardless of their regular season record. That makes for some very competitive “one and done” basketball during the week of March 10-14, 2009 when all 16 BIG EAST converged on The Garden for the very first time. Until last season, only 12 teams advanced and four were not invited to the post season tournament.

To set the stage, paint a picture and add a little flavor to the event, picture a convention of college basketball fans and team boosters all traveling to New York City to take a long weekend, meet-up with old friends and watch hour upon hour of basketball.

In the 1980s, I would always take “BIG EAST” Thursday off and head to The Garden with my brother and other good friends, arriving by 11am for the Noon start of the first double-header. We would watch games, grab a beer and a bite, then head out to our favorite Greenwich Village haunts for a dinner-time snack and cold beverage. Then, it would be a sprint back up Eighth Avenue to see the 7pm and 9:30pm twin bill before sell-out crowds all day of 19,375.

Not a bad way to spend a spring day.

SOME NOTES to PONDER: The Syracuse vs. Uconn game pitted two of the conference’s original teams in their 84th all-time match-up. The Syracuse Orange now own a 49-35 advantage over Uconn … The Big East and Garden officials are "close to a contract extension" to keep the conference tournament at the world’s most famous arena and are in final discussions to extend the current agreement which expires in 2011, according to Big East Senior Associate Commissioner John Marinatto and reported today by Bloomberg News. The BIG EAST tournament has been at MSG since 1983, after its first three years as a rotating tournament hosted by the conference office but staged in conjunction with the original member schools in Providence, RI (1980), Syracuse, NY (1981) and Hartford, CT (1982)… Look out for Villanova. The suburban Philadelphia school, coached admirably by Jay Wright – a frequent junior national team coach for USA Basketball – advanced to the BIG EAST semifinals for the 16th time. Villanova is not a team to take lightly in the month of March … Marquette University finished their BIG EAST season at 24-9 and entered the tournament as the #21-ranked team in the country. Marquette is assured of getting an “At Large” bid to the NCAAs but hurt their seeding with the last second loss to ‘Nova. Marquette advanced to the Final 4 in 2003 behind the incredible performance of Dwyane Wade, now an NBA and USA Basketball champion. Marquette U is located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and is known in the USA as one of the top schools for journalism.

We Marveled at Six Overtime THRILLER ...

The "Cuse OUTLASTS UConn in longest BIG EAST game ever, second longest NCAA Div I Game ever:

From Ock and the AP:

NEW YORK -- Syracuse and Connecticut played a game for the ages Thursday night and into early Friday. When it was over, everybody in Madison Square Garden was exhausted and, except for the losing team, exhilarated.

Telling someone that Syracuse (No. 20 ESPN/USA Today, No. 18 AP) beat Connecticut (No. 4 ESPN/USA Today, No. 3 AP) 127-117 in six overtimes in the quarterfinals of the Big East tournament is equivalent to saying there's a star in the sky.

There's more, so much more.

"I've got no words," Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said when asked to describe the second-longest Division I game ever. "I've never been prouder of any team I've coached."

There were the numbers, from the 3 hours, 46 minutes it took to play the game that ended at 1:22 a.m., to the combined 244 points, 102 of which came after the regulation buzzer, to the eight players who fouled out, to the six who registered double-doubles.

And that wasn't nearly all. Just ask Syracuse point guard Jonny Flynn, who had 34 points and 11 assists in a game-high 67 minutes, only 3 fewer than were played.

"I just wanted to get the game over with," he said. "I was thinking, `Lord, just get this game over with. Whoever wins the game, let's just get it over with.' "

Much earlier in the evening, West Virginia beat No. 2 Pittsburgh 74-60, meaning that instead of a much-anticipated third meeting between two teams that held the No. 1 ranking this season in the semifinals, it will be sixth-seeded and Syracuse (No. 20, No. 18) and the seventh-seeded Mountaineers.

"I can't even feel my legs right now," Flynn said. "It was a tough game, we battled it out, but we have to turn it around -- today -- and face a tough team in West Virginia."

Top-seeded and fifth-ranked Louisville will meet fourth-seeded and Villanova (No. 13, No. 10) in the other semifinal.

Andy Rautins hit a 3-pointer 10 seconds into the sixth overtime, giving the Orange their first lead since regulation.

"We needed to get one tip and sure enough we had the set play and we had Andy coming off a set screen and boom, he made it," Boeheim said. "That was pretty big."

The game finished one overtime short of the record set in Cincinnati's 75-73 victory over Bradley on Dec. 21, 1981.

Paul Harris had 29 points and 22 rebounds, while Eric Devendorf had 22 points and Rautins had 20, all but two on 3-pointers.

The Orange made 40 of 51 free throws, but Connecticut made just 24 of 42.

"We lost the game because we turned the ball over 27 times and couldn't make a foul shot," Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun said.

A.J. Price had 33 points and 10 assists for the Huskies (27-4), while Stanley Robinson had 28 points and was one of three Connecticut players with 14 rebounds. Hasheem Thabeet had 19 points, 14 rebounds and six of the Huskies' 16 blocked shots.

What will almost be forgotten as this game is recounted over the years was that it was nearly over before even one overtime was played.

Connecticut's Kemba Walker, one of the smallest players on the court, grabbed a loose rebound and laid it in with 1.1 seconds left in regulation to tie the game at 71. After a Syracuse timeout, Harris ran the baseline and threw an inbounds pass past midcourt that was deflected by Connecticut's Gavin Edwards to Devendorf, who let a shot go from about 28 feet just as the red lights around the backboard went off.

It went in, and Devendorf jumped up on the courtside press table, pounding his chest and screaming as his teammates reached up and pulled him down to the court.

The play was reviewed -- as are all shots near the end of halves -- and veteran officials John Cahill and Bob Donato watched replay after replay, finally stepping back and ruling the shot was late, sending the game into the first overtime 5-minute overtime.

It wouldn't end until six of them were played.

"It would have been a lot better if they just counted Eric's shot and we could have gone home 2 hours ago," Boeheim said, "but that's the way it goes."

Connecticut took the lead in each of the first five overtimes, but Syracuse found a way to come back in all of them. Rautins' 3 to start the sixth overtime gave the Orange their first lead since 71-69 with 27 seconds to go in regulation.

"It's a loss. There was something historic about the game, certainly," Calhoun said. "Both teams competed. Rautins' big 3, A.J.'s big plays. ... I'm sure in the summertime I'll look back at what a historic battle it was. Right now. it's a loss.

"We wanted to play tomorrow night, and playing Friday night in Madison Square Garden, playing in the semifinals, is pretty special."

The first overtime ended tied at 81-81 when Walker ducked between two Syracuse players for a 3-point attempt at the buzzer that was short.

The second overtime almost had an ending for the ages when Walker let go with a shot from just inside midcourt that bounced off the back of the rim, leaving it tied at 87.

Connecticut scored the first six points of the third overtime, and the Huskies were still ahead by six on Jeff Adrien's follow dunk with 2:08 left. Harris scored consecutive field goals for Syracuse, and after Price made one free throw with 21 seconds left for a 98-95 lead, Rautins hit a 3 with 11 seconds left to tie it. Price missed a 3 and Adrien was off with the rebound, and it was time for the fourth overtime, making this the longest Big East tournament game.

Price missed a drive with 10 seconds left in the fourth overtime and Harris had two shots blocked in the final seconds to send it to No. 5 tied at 104.

Price took an NBA-distance 3-pointer with 6 seconds left in the fifth overtime and it bounced off the rim to Adrien, who was short with a jumper at the buzzer, leaving the game tied at 110.

The players were exhausted and most of the sellout crowd of 19,375 was still in the seats, or at least standing in front of them, for the sixth overtime.

Because four players from each team fouled out, players who rarely saw action all season were on the court in the final 5 minutes.

The only previous triple-overtime game in Big East tournament history was Syracuse's 83-80 victory over Villanova in the 1981 championship game, just the second one ever played. That game featured Leo Rautins of the Orange, Andy's father.

"The triple-overtime game was an unbelievable game," said Boeheim, who was still a relative newcomer on the sidelines then. "I think it'd be hard to top this game."

TL NOTES: I enjoyed the day in NYC and the MANY hours spent in MSG. I will write more on this later today....

Picking your brackets: My view of the 'Contenders' and the view of the pundits

I made reference to the Mike and Mike radio show in my last installment of "Ramble On" and stated that Bobby Knight's point on the attributes of an eventual NCAA champion was certainly right on the money. ESPN highlighted a few of their college basketball experts and their vision on post season success.

Here are a few of the basics:

Knight said: "Look for 'guards that can guard.' Look for teams that can take away post play. Look for teams that do not allow easy baskets and teams that have a little fire power."

As my buddy, Spy, said, "Anything else you need?"

Seriously though, Knight is right. The teams that can put the four key items together for the longest period of time in each game will advance through the tournament.

Team defense is the most important item, obviously.

Prior to Knight's pontification, Seth Davis agreed with his view on "guard play."

Tom Brennan said he looks for "interior play."

Andy Katz feels that "experienced coaching" makes the difference in the NCAAs.

Greenberg took that to mean: UCLA.

ESPN Insider and former Blue Ribbon basketball editor Joe Lunardi likes: UNC, Memphis, UCLA and Tennessee, with Kansas as a close #2. And, he said has Duke as another top contender but that was before Duke lost to Clemson.

I like Duke, but make note that Duke lost to UNC at Cameron and to Clemson in the ACC tourney. Not a strong statement in early March.

Lunardi champions two statistical categories that he created to analyze the tournament. The first is "ASM" or adjusted scoring margin. The second is "Lunardi-P-I" or "L-RPI,"a view of NCAA teams minus their home game stats and results.

Among the teams that Lunardi rates highly are: Butler, Drake and Washington State.

***

The TL skinny?

Pitt struck me as a team that can advance to the Sweet 16 or Elite 8. When we see the brackets later on tonight, we'll be able to see if Pitt's run to the BIG EAST title helped them grab a key 'seed.' I think they deserve a #2 or #3 seed by virtue of their BIG EAST success.

Georgia had to play two games on Saturday and a game on Sunday because of the intense weather conditions that forced the SEC to relocate the tournament from the Georgia Dome to the empty confines of Georgia Tech, not exactly the perfect days of rest and relaxation. By contrast, Davidson won the Southern Conference tourney a week ago Monday and enjoyed a week to rest up and tune up.

I would look for a team like Davidson to advance to the Sweet 16 this year while Georgia might falter in the Round of 32.

I can't argue a point against the likes of Butler, Drake and Washington State, but, to put cards on the table, I haven't seen them enough to even comment.

I will write more after the selection show.