If You Don't Know, Now You Know

Or you will know…This season.

It’s easy to pick Duke or Texas to win the national title in college basketball, but I won’t. The Blue Devils are almost an even money favorite in Vegas and the Longhorns aren’t far behind.

I love Connecticut but picking them might be a jinx.

Nope, when it is all said and done, the Memphis Tigers will become the first time in the current 64 team tournament era to cut down the nets a year after failing to make the NCAA tournament.

Now I know I’m going out on a limb here. There are plenty of other teams who are probably more talented and certainly more experienced. But the Tigers are fast and long and they have a flat out stud running the point.

Dee Brown may be the veteran and Daniel Gibson is certainly the most hyped but Darius Washington Jr. is the best point guard in the country. Dribble, pass, shoot, that’s the game and this kid can do all three.

The team’s lone senior starter, Rodney Carney, might be too much of a “tweener” for the NBA, but he will be one of college basketball’s most exciting swingmen. The key for the Tiger’s might be Shawne Williams, a top ten freshman who dropped 17 in his first college game versus Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

The final four
Duke – The best senior class in the nation welcomes the best freshmen class in the nation.
Connecticut – The point guard for the time being is an issue, but here stands the deepest team in the country.
UCLA – This might be a long shot but Jordan Farmer is terrific and can take the young Bruins back to where they should be.
Memphis – I love Washington and Carney. Home matchups with Gonzaga right before and Texas right after New Year’s should be a good indicator of how talented this team is.

You have to love…
Texas' Schedule – The Longhorns aren’t as good as everyone thinks, but their schedule provides them with every opportunity to prove me wrong. The team plays West Virginia, Duke, Memphis and Villanova out of conference and Oklahoma twice in Big Twelve play.