by Justin Goodrum
Daily Lobo
With the NFL playoffs almost here and the college football bowl season starting to take shape, college hoops usually get left out in the cold. That doesn't mean it's too early to start picking contenders to make some noise come March.
With national champs, the North Carolina Tar Heels, losing the majority of their starters to the pros and dropping out of the top 25, there will be a new national champ.
The top teams in the polls like Duke, who survived a scare by Virginia Tech because of a miracle half-court shot, along with Texas, who almost got beat by West Virginia, leave me skeptical. With no teams willing to take the dominant role as the main college basketball powerhouse, the Villanova Wildcats seem to be the team that might shock some people and rise to the top of the college hoops world.
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The Lobos felt the wrath of Villanova in the beat-down the Wildcats gave the Lobos in the first round of the NCAA tournament. Small, with no seven-footers to speak of, the Wildcats have four players who score in double figures and rely on an entire team effort instead of just one or two superstars. Villanova survived its first test of the year by disposing of No. 5 Oklahoma on the shoulders of 32 points by Randy Foye. If senior forward Jason Fraser plays up to his full potential, the Wildcats might be the sleeper other teams are afraid to dance with during the tournament.
The one sleeper experts and fans can't ever pinpoint is Michigan State. For the exception of MSU's first game against Hawaii, the Spartans have looked impressive in every game, including their triple-overtime loss to Gonzaga. Six-foot-11-inch center Paul Davis has the body of a Shawn Bradley but the game of Emeka Okafor.
Don't forget about such tournament mainstays as Gonzaga and Arizona, who love to play spoiler.
Hopefully my picks will hold up come March, but by that time my bracket will already be in the trash.
