BRAD’S SPORTS BLURB

With "Selection Sunday" just more than a month away, many college basketball fans may be wondering who's going to win it all this year (I'm even wondering that). The college basketball world has been so crazy this year and nobody has really set themselves apart as "the best team."

In the past four weeks alone, there have been three different teams ranked No. 1 in the country and every team in the NCAA has looked vulnerable at one point or another this season.

I think that this year's NCAA Tournament could be just like the 2006 tournament when there were several very good teams, but no one that truly stood out as being great. The 2006 tournament was the one in which the University of Florida won its first national championship, and it was the one where George Mason University made their miraculous run to the Final Four as an 11-seed.

Back in 2006, the University of Connecticut and Duke University were considered to be the best teams by many experts. However, Duke was bounced in the second round, while UConn lost in the Elite Eight. No team that made the Final Four in 2006 was ranked in the pre-season top 10 in November of 2005. In the final poll before the start of the NCAA tournament, the University of California-Los Angeles was ranked No. 8, Florida was No. 10, Louisiana State University was No. 18 and George Mason failed to receive a single vote.

I believe this year's NCAA Tournament could be just as crazy. I think Kansas University is probably the most well-rounded team in the NCAA and as of right now has to be my favorite to win it all. The Jayhawks have a dominant big man in Cole Aldrich, a Player of the Year candidate in Sherron Collins and plenty of other talented players such the Morris brothers (Marcus and Markieff) and freshman stand-out Xavier Henry.

A handful of other teams that I believe are serious national title contenders are the University of Kentucky, Syracuse University, Villanova University, West Virginia University and Purdue University. All of these teams (along with a few others) possess the athleticism and talent to make a run to the Final Four and could knock off the Jayhawks.

The next set of teams that could make some noise come tournament time as a lower seed and have a shot to be this year's George Mason are Butler University, Brigham Young University, Gonzaga University, Cornell University and even our very own University of Northern Iowa Panthers. These teams all have the talent and experience to make a run to the Sweet 16, Elite Eight or possibly even have an outside shot at the Final Four. The determining factor in these teams' success could be the draw they get for seeding and match-ups in the NCAA Tournament.

Although the NCAA doesn't appear to have one dominant team this year, it has a lot of very good teams and that could make this year's NCAA Tournament more entertaining than ever before.