..The Meek Will Inherit..

    The days of having the same 4 teams playing for the mens NCAA National Championship is nearly all dead and gone.  The evolution of athletes is absolutely astonishing, training techniques have never been so advanced, teams have a greater opportunity to be competitive through out the year and the money they make as a result is completely insane.
   
    When you look through the “AP Top 25” of men’s college basketball (NCAA BB) can you honestly say that you wouldn't be surprised with what you see? You can look at ESPN.com for Top 25
   
    Thanks to ESPN we all know the #1 ranked team in the nation is the Ohio State Buckeyes, but can you tell me who the number 4 ranked team in the nation is because I didn't know and I was shocked? It’s the 20-1 San Diego State Aztecs!!  Who also happen to be ranked 95th overall in Points Per Game (PPG), 125th in Rebounds (REB), 102nd in Assists Per Game (APG), but they are 14th overall in Field Goal Percentage (FG%).  The only team to beat the Aztecs this year is the #9 20-1 ranked BYU Cougars, who lost to the 13-6 UCLA Bruins, UCLA lost to Villanova who beat Syracuse when they were ranked #3 in the country but also lost to #8 UCONN and the Providence Friars before and after.  The Providence Friars now have beaten back to back ranked teams and are looking to make a run after losing six straight games. It is clear that team parity is at it’s best.
  
   Let’s now look the NCAA’s top 5 scorers.  If you want to compete in men’s college basketball you need a big man down low, however, all of the leading scorers are guards with the height of 6-5 and under. In fact you don’t get to a “real” scoring big man until you get to 6-10 Forward/Center JaJuan Johnson of Purdue who is 15th in scoring with 20.6 ppg.
    Yes, Duke, Texas, Kansas and Kentucky still exist in the tops ranks of college basketball but only once since 2001 has a #1 ranked team won the grand prize of being NCAA tournament champion (2001 Duke Blue Devils).

2001 Champion Duke Blue Devils

   Remember this saying as we arrive towards Tourney season “only the strong survive” but I want to add that the meek will inherit the college basketball Earth.

The DRAB 4’s

Robert Bauske