Bill Clinton's 1992 presidential campaign coined the phrase, "it's the economy, stupid!" I'll play off that and look at the Sweet 16 coaching matchups in this two-part column. While the world of professional sports is dominated by its best players, the college game typically finds that its schools (teams) are best-identified by its coaches. Accepting that premise, here's a look at the 16 head coaches who have led their... Read more

Bill Clinton's 1992 presidential campaign coined the phrase, "it's the economy, stupid!" I'll play off that and look at the Sweet 16 coaching matchups in this two-part column. While the world of professional sports is dominated by its best players, the college game typically finds that its schools (teams) are best-identified by its coaches. Accepting that premise, here's a look at the 16 head coaches who have led their... Read more

The NCAA selection committee announced its 65-team field late Sunday afternoon. The NIT followed (32 teams), then the CBI (in its third season) and CollegeInsider.com Tournament also filled out their brackets with 16 teams apiece. That means 129 of 347 Division I schools will be playing over the next three weeks (37.2 percent). Compare that to the 68 of 120 football schools which competed in last season's 34 bowl games... Read more

When the 2010 NCAA tournament field is announced on Sunday it will be missing some pretty familiar names. U Conn and North Carolina both played in last year's Final 4 (Tar Heels notched the school's fifth title) but the Huskies bowed out of at-large consideration with an embarrassing 73-51 loss to St John's on Tuesday and the Tar Heels' ACC tournament ended Thursday night with a 62-58 loss to Georgia Tech. Indiana, which... Read more

North Carolina began last season as the unanimous No. 1 in both preseason polls and the Tar Heels confirmed all the hype with one of the most dominating runs in NCAA tournament history. North Carolina won all six of its tournament games by double figures (average victory margin of 20.2 PPG), including beating Michigan State 89-72 in last year's national championship game at Ford Field in Detroit. However, the Tar Heels... Read more

Seven of 30 conference tourneys got underway Tuesday through Thursday (Atlantic Sun, Big South, Horizon League, MVC, Northeast Conference, OVC, and the Patriot League). The only league champ 'safe' for a tourney bid out of this group regardless of the tourney results is No. 12 Butler (26-4) from the Horizon. The Bulldogs were the lone school to go through its respective conference unbeaten (18-0) and the Bulldogs will... Read more

Rumor has it that Beatles were not too concerned when the 1910 Fruitgum Company released the song "One, Two Three Red Light" in the late 1960s (with good reason). However, as I sat down at my computer Monday night, that song came to mind. I guess because on Saturday both No. 1 Kansas and No. 2 Kentucky lost (first time nation's top-two teams had lost on the same day since January of 2006) and then No. 3 Purdue, playing... Read more

The first NCAA tournament was played in 1939 and featured just an eight-team field. Oregon beat Ohio State 46-33 in the title game played in Evanston, Illinois. The Ducks have not only never won a second title but they've also failed to even reach another Final 4. However, that's nothing compared to the drought the host school (Northwestern) for the initial event has suffered. The Wildcats have never made an appearance... Read more

Kansas held its No. 1 ranking this past Monday (Jayhawks were a solid preseason No. 1 and have owned the No. 1 spot in 11 of 14 regular season polls) and that night picked up a hard-earned 59-54 win at College Station over Texas A&M. It was the Aggies' first home loss of the season and moved Kansas to 11-0 in the Big 12. The Jayhawks are looking to nail down a sixth straight Big 12 regular season crown which would match... Read more

What's going on here? North Carolina beat Michigan St 89-72 in the national championship game last season for the school's fifth title, finishing with a 34-4 record. U Conn lost to Michigan St 82-73 in the national semifinals to finish the year at 31-5. Oklahoma lost 72-60 in the Elite 8 to North Carolina to end its season at 30-6 while Louisville also lost in the Elite 8, getting beat 64-52 by Michigan St to finish 31... Read more