NCAA Tournament: Weekend Preview

Well, the NCAA Tournament field has been trimmed from 65 to 16, with that number set to be dwindled to four by the end of the weekend. Before we get there though, a lot of good basketball is still to be played. Here is what to look out for this weekend.

Five Players To Watch In The NCAA Tournament

Every year players emerge from no-where to become household names come NCAA Tournament time. Here are five, that you’ll need to know before filling out your brackets this March.

Important March Madness Trends To Watch

It takes a full season to get to this point. We dissect teams, watch hundreds of games and learn the smallest nuances about our favorite schools and players. While picking your NCAA Tournament bracket will always be an inexact science, there are trends that stand out year to year that can help you when making those tough picks.

A Game For The Ages

Each time anyone hit a basket to start the game, it felt like the roof was about to blow off. The same at the beginning and end of each overtime. And when the game finally did end, there was both cheering and relief from Syracuse nation, and likewise from UConn fans. There are many things that I will carry with me from attending this game, well beyond what the final scoreboard read.

Contender Report: Louisville

Rick Pitino’s bunch is athletic and talented, and may be the deepest team of any of college basketball’s true contenders. Louisville has been great of late, but were the early season losses just blips on the radar, or a sign of things to come?

Contender Report: Pittsburgh

As successful as they’ve been in league play, Pittsburgh is still searching for NCAA Tournament validation because no one on this team – player or coach – has ever advanced past the Sweet 16. This is Pitt’s best team in the Howland/Dixon era, but can they silence their March demons and make it to Detroit for the Final Four?

Contender Report: Oklahoma

Oklahoma is led by everyone’s All-American Blake Griffin, a double-double machine as well as a slew of good guards. The Sooners are one of college basketball’s most talented teams, but will they be able to overcome their relative lack of experience, and make a deep run toward a championship?

Contender Report: Connecticut

UConn is currently tied atop the Big East, and amazingly has yet to lose a road game, despite playing the college basketball’s toughest conference. But with the recent news that the Huskies have lost starting guard Jerome Dyson for the year, UConn will be short-handed heading into March. Is the injury enough to keep Calhoun and his team from winning their third National Championship in the last decade?

College Basketball Power Rankings

Welcome to March, truly the most wonderful time of year for college basketball fans. For the third time in three weeks, we welcome a new No. 1 to the Power Rankings and a fresh, but familiar face into the top 10.

Contender Report: North Carolina

My Contender Report series is back by demand, as we start counting down the days, hours and minutes until the NCAA Tournament kicks off in mid-March. First up, the North Carolina Tar Heels.

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