You ready?

As we move deep into the month of March, we inch ever closer to the 2010 March Madness bracket tournament and the madness that ensues each and every spring in college basketball. With just one week remaining in conference play, the right to automatic bids are already up for grabs.

On that note, here are the top five teams lording over the college basketball right now, starting with the best of ‘em all, the Syracuse Orange. Syracuse’s rise to the top of the national polls produced an Orange infusion in the college basketball power rankings.

The Orange’s 95-77 victory Saturday over Villanova helped Syracuse’s Jim Boeheim regain his position as the no.1 coach in the power rankings too, them rankings that measure the nation’s top performers at each position. Picked before the season to finish sixth in the Big East, Syracuse already has clinched at least a share of the conference title. With a 27-2 overall record and an incredibly effective two-three zone defensive scheme, Syracuse should be the team to beat once the brackets are here.

Following at the second spot are the Kansas Jayhawks. After suffering their first conference loss, the Jayhawks are determined to bounce back. Coach Bill Self said, ”I am believing we can get something out of (the OSU loss). I don’t think the thing is broken. I do think we need to evaluate our things. We need to take great pride in the things that help us win, especially this time of year.”

The loss at Oklahoma State could be a sign of fate for Kansas as the last time the Jayhawks visited Stillwater back in 2008, they suffered a one-point defeat. Then they went on to win out, capturing the NCAA title. The defeat also meant that the only team to ever go undefeated in Big 12 play remains the 2001-02 Jayhawks squad coached by…

You ready to rake in some cash on March?

What’s the biggest betting event of the year in North America? Not so fast if you guessed the Super Bowl. While the Super Bowl lays claim to being the largest wagered event of the year, March Madness surpasses the NFL’s crown jewel in total wagering volume, probably because the tourney stretches over three weeks.

There is still a little more than a month of college basketball to be played this 2010 NCAA college basketball season before Selection Sunday, but the talk of ”Bubble” teams and tournament seeds is starting to heat up as we hit the most exciting part of the NCAA hoops schedule.

One of the marquee games of every college b-ball schedule, Duke Blue Devils vs. North Carolina Tar Heels, tipped off already. It was the spotlight game for sports bettors as well, as it attracted the most action on the board. The sports betting public scored a solid win as the Tar Heels took it on the chin.

Online sportsbooks had Duke as a -5.5-point favorite, a number they easily covered and with approximately 75 percent of all the betting volume on the Blue Devils, it was a winner for the players. While NC won the NCAA basketball championship last season, they lost power forward Tyler Hansbrough to the NBA and have been a shadow of their former selves this season.

The North Carolina Tar Heels are near the bottom of the…

Bittersweet, that’s the feeling for sports bettors as they head into Final Four weekend.

On one hand, there is sure to be some great basketball served up by the remaining four teams in the 2009 NCAA Final Four, but on the other hand, the college basketball season will crown a champ and turn out the lights for another season in a few days.

The futures betting has been steady on the four remaining teams, with the Connecticut Huskies listed at +250 to win the NCAA national championship, the Michigan State Spartans at +500, the North Carolina Tar Heels the odds-on favorite at -125 and the Villanova Wildcats listed as long shots at +600.

Bettors have been enamored with the North Carolina Tar Heels all tournament, and that hasn’t changed this week. According to SPORTSBETTING.COM, Tyler Hansbrough and crew have received a little over 50 percent of all the wagering volume on the ”who will win the championship” future odds option.

Not surprisingly, the other no.1 seed left standing, that being the Connecticut Huskies, are running second with the sports betting public, grabbing 30 percent of the wagering action.

It all tips-off on Saturday and in the first semifinal…

The final four teams in college basketball will collide this weekend.

The cliché ”time flies when you’re having fun” is an old and dusty one, but it really holds true when it comes to the 2009 March Madness bracket tournament.

It seems like it was only yesterday when it was just Selection Sunday and with a blink of an eye, the opening round, the Sweet 16 and the Elite Eight are all in the rearview mirror and now, the 2009 NCAA Final Four is here.

Last year, there weren’t really any surprises as each of top four seeds; the Memphis Tigers, the North Carolina Tar Heels, the Kansas Jayhawks and the UCLA Bruins all made the Final Four.

While there are two no.1 seeds this year with the North Carolina Tar Heels (again) and the Connecticut Huskies making it, the Michigan State Spartans and the Villanova Wildcats decided to crash the party as well, shocking some college hoops fans in the process.

Of the four, SPORTSBETTING.COM has UNC as the odds-on favorite to win the NCAA championship at -125 followed by the Connecticut Huskies at +250. Michigan State is listed at +500 and Villanova at +600.

Listed as a -7.5 point favorite, North Carolina will try to prevent the Villanova Wildcats from reliving its magical 1985 run (shocked Georgetown), while UConn, favored by 4.5-points, will…

Are you ready?

Michigan State, Connecticut, Villanova and North Carolina are all in the 2009 NCAA Final Four as the Big Dance begins Saturday at Detroit’s Ford Field. This sets up several compelling connections to tournament lore.

Let’s start with the Michigan State Spartans. The Spartans not only get to play 90 miles from its East Lansing campus but returns to the Final Four for the 30th anniversary of its 1979 NCAA title. The famous showdown between Indiana State’s Larry Bird and Michigan State’s Magic Johnson that season helped shaped college basketball.

Detroit is an extension of home. The comforts are a reward for the Big Ten regular season champions, who are 9-0 all-time as a no.2 seed, the same seed Michigan State earned for the 1979 title run. Using stifling defense and Goran Suton’s offense, the Spartans manhandled top overall seed Louisville last Sunday.

Michigan State coach Tom Izzo reached his fifth Final Four, all since 1999, joining the ranks of coaches such as Bob Knight, Lute Olson, Guy Lewis and Rick Pitino. MSU’s 2000 championship is the Big Ten’s most recent national title.

Two teams from the mighty Big East qualified, one shy of the record set by their conference in the 1985 Final Four, as the Connecticut Huskies and the Villanova Wildcats make up half of the Final Four.

No.3 seed Villanova feels a connection to the program’s…

Defense. That’s what’s been fueling Villanova to get this far.

The argument can be made that no team in the tournament has played defense the way the Villanova Wildcats have.

The Wildcats followed smothering defensive performances against UCLA and Duke by surviving a Big East battle with Pittsburgh in the regional final to get to the 2009 NCAA Final Four.

Despite not having any real size, the Wildcats have plenty of perimeter players who can get out, defend and convert almost every turnover into points. It wasn’t all defense, however, as the Wildcats scored at least 77 points in the four games.

Except for the opener of the 2009 March Madness bracket tournament, it has been a balanced attack despite struggles from three-point range.

Villanova head coach Jay Wright is the rookie among the Final Four coaches. His program has been very successful, reaching the round of 16 four of the last five years. He is a disciple of Rollie Massimino, the man who led the Wildcats to their stunning national championship in 1985. There is no doubt he will be the best-dressed of the four coaches.

Dante Cunningham was the Big East’s most improved player this season, one in…

UNC has simply been unbeatable.

Except for the first half of the LSU game in the second round, no team has really challenged North Carolina in the 2009 March Madness bracket tournament.

The Tar Heels even pulled away for a 14-point win over LSU in the second round of their road to the 2009 NCAA Final Four. The biggest worry, however, has been Ty Lawson’s toe injury, but after missing the opener against Radford, he has looked like the point guard who became the ACC (Atlantic Coast Conference) Player of the Year, leading UNC on the brink of winning the national championship.

The North Carolina Tar Heels almost matched their season average of 90 points per game in the tournament, but it was their defense that stood out, especially in the regional final as they held Oklahoma to 60 points, 19 below its average.

UNC head coach Roy Williams is making his third Final Four appearance, and second straight, with North Carolina, having won it all in 2005. He took Kansas to the Final Four four times from 1991-2003, and was an assistant to Dean Smith for several of his trips with North Carolina, including the 1982 national championship.

The Tar Heels will win the national title if they can continue to execute on both ends of the floor. UNC has won by an average margin of 22.5 points against Radford, LSU, Gonzaga and Oklahoma. But if UNC can’t execute the way they did in the first four rounds…

The Arizona Wildcats is the only double-digit seed to crack the round of 16.

You read it, the Arizona Wildcats is the only team seeded lower than tenth to still be playing in the 2009 March Madness bracket tournament while the top three seeds in all four regions moved on to the third round with two no.4s and one no.5 still alive.

East Regional (Pittsburgh, Duke, Villanova, Xavier) and South (North Carolina, Oklahoma, Syracuse, Gonzaga) both have their top four seeds still going, while the West has Connecticut, Missouri and no.5 Purdue, all alive in the bracket battles. The Midwest’s top three (Louisville, Michigan State, Kansas) will be joined by the 12th-seeded Arizona Wildcats.

From 2000 through last season, a total of only three regions have sent its top four teams on to the regional semifinals; the Midwest in 2001, the East Rutherford regional in 2004 and the West in 2007. The only top four seeds not to advance this year were Wake Forest, which lost to Cleveland State in the first round, and Washington, which lost to Purdue in the second round.

Memphis has the longest current streak of round of 16 appearances at four, (and that streak still stands despite losing to Missouri last Thursday) while North Carolina and Kansas have made three in a row.

Will all these top seeded teams still alive, what chance…

The Big East has always said that their conference is the best there is in college basketball.

After Selection Sunday, they may have a point. In case you didn’t know, the NCAA already sent invites for the big dance and the Big East has occupied three of the four top seeds available in the 2009 March Madness bracket tournament.

We have three teams from the Big East that earned no.1 seeds. The Louisville Cardinals is the no.1 seed in the Midwest division, the Connecticut Huskies is the no.1 seed in the West division and the Pittsburgh Panthers have the no.1 seed in the East division.

That means the Big East has ¾ odds of having one of their own get to the 2009 NCAA Final Four. Of course, we are still about to kick off the 64-team tournament and only time will tell how many Big East teams can get that far.

The North Carolina Tar Heels, who actually belong to the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is the only team that was able to stop the Big East from monopolizing the tournament after earning the no.1 seed in the South but you can’t deny the fact that the Big East has made a point that they are the best conference in college basketball.

Marquette joins the Connecticut Huskies in the West…

Selection Sunday is coming.

”The calm before the storm” is on as conference tournaments are now underway coming to the 2009 March Madness bracket tournament. It’s all about seedings to those teams hopeful to win the national title by season’s end with their seeds for March secured.

But in leagues such as the Atlantic Sun, Patriot and Sun Belt, it’s winner-take-all. There are no at-large bids, and the teams know that if they want to be in the March spotlight, they must win their league tournament first.

In the Big 12 Conference, the Kansas Jayhawks won the regular-season title by a game over Oklahoma, which lost twice while star big man Blake Griffin was sidelined by a concussion. One of those losses was at home to the Jayhawks. Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma are NCAA locks, while Texas, Texas A&M and Oklahoma State look good for bids.

For the Big East, the Louisville Cardinals won the regular-season title by a game over Connecticut and Pittsburgh. If the Cardinals can also win the league tournament, they’re a good bet for a No.1 seed.

Seven Big East teams; Louisville, second-seeded Pittsburgh, third-seeded Connecticut Huskies…