Eve of Madness: Contenders

Time to peer into the crystal ball I have perched up on the desk and figure out who are the presumptive contenders for this year's NCAA Championship. Sure there are a lot of teams out there that can play spoiler (which is why we love the tournament and change our names to hide from bookies) but only a handful of teams have what it take to be the CHAMP. I have my favorites and the dark horses in this week's installment of know yo teams.

The Favorites:

UConn:
Strengths: Deepest team in the tournament (They go 8 deep). Experience galore (hasn't Josh Boone been there for like 7 years). They have size that would make Ron Jeremy blush (able to dominate interior).

Weakness: Streaky on outside shooting. Gay and Anderson have off days. Losses have come when team's outside shooting fails coupled with forgetting inside game.

Villanova:
Strengths: Incredible outside shooting (This year's Illinois). Quickness coupled with good coaching allows team to dictate pace of the game.

Weakness: The Wildcats are the first top 10 team to run a 4 guard offense. Yes, they have four starting guards. Matched against a punishing front court could spell trouble (see UConn)

Duke:
Strengths: JJ Redick is the best college player today. Nobody shoots as well as he does from the outside and Redick finally has developed the ability to create his own shot. Sheldon Williams is a poor man's Ben Wallace (controls the paint and plays great defense)

Weakness: Williams isn't strong enough to hold off truly great post men. Duke has a very weak bench. Consequently, Redick has logged a lot of minutes, if Redick falters so will Duke's attempt at a championship.

Texas:
Strengths: Best big man in the NCAA in Aldridge (he will be the number one pick in the NBA draft). Alongside Aldridge there are three other Texan's that average double digits points. Texas is as physical as they come. Finally Wubya has declared Texas must win a championship in all sports since you can't mess with Texas.

Weakness: Texas has lost three times this season by more than 20 points including a 30 point slaughter against Duke. When this team doesn't show up, it really doesn't up. Wubya's approval rating is hovering around 39% which means his decree might be ignored.

Dark Horses: For these teams have what it takes but for various reasons (inconsistent, play in a weak conference, haven't done as well in the tournament in recent years) they have a lot more question marks and will require a much easier path:Memphis, Ohio State, Michigan State, Illinois, Georgetown, Gonzaga, Kansas, UNC and Tennessee.