TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

BY THE NUMBERS 6 14.0 29.9 38 39 94.8

ADVERTISEMENT

The Tampa Tribune

The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 3, 2009

PROJECTED REGIONAL SEEDS
Staff writer Joey Johnston takes an early look at the landscape for this season's NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament:

EAST (Boston)

1. Georgetown (10-1)

2. Duke (11-1)

3. Texas (10-2)

4. Butler (11-1)

SOUTH (Memphis, Tenn.)

1. Pittsburgh (13-0)

2. Notre Dame (10-2)

3. Clemson (13-0)

4. Michigan State (10-2)

MIDWEST (Indianapolis)

1. North Carolina (13-0)

2. Connecticut (11-1)

3. Ohio State (10-1)

4. UCLA (10-2)

WEST (Glendale, Ariz.)

1. Oklahoma (12-1)

2. Syracuse (13-1)

3. Purdue (11-3)

4. Wake Forest (12-0)

THEY SAID IT

"When a team beats you by 22 on the boards, you have no chance of winning."

- Minnesota coach Tubby Smith, whose Golden Gophers (12-1) were defeated by Michigan State 70-58. The Spartans won the rebounding battle 49-27.

"The one question I have for my alma mater is they need somebody to be a star. I look at their team as having a bunch of great role guys."

- Former Duke guard Jason Williams, now an ESPN analyst, on the Blue Devils

"We've played Davidson's Stephen Curry and some of the other guards, but I'd say he's the best guard I've seen for us in terms of with the ball in his hands. To me, he's just absolutely tremendous. He gets everybody involved in the game. He's the straw that stirs the drink."

- Winthrop coach Randy Peale, after facing Florida guard Nick Calathes on Sunday at the Orange Bowl Classic
"I really thought it was us. I really thought we laid down. We didn't compete at all. That's not to take away from Stanford, but that's not the team we have."

- Texas Tech coach Pat Knight, after his Red Raiders lost at Stanford 111-66

"We were the No. 3 team in the country, and now we're not even going to be ranked. We're letting our fans down, and we're letting our coaches down."

- Louisville's Edgar Sosa, after a 66-65 home loss against UNLV that dropped the Cardinals to 8-3

WHO'S HOT?

Can top-ranked North Carolina (13-0) become the first unbeaten national champion since the 1975-76 Indiana Hoosiers? So far, so good.

WHO'S NOT?

Gonzaga (8-4) has only its second three-game losing streak in the last eight years after falling at Utah 66-65.

Number of unbeaten teams remaining in Division I, including three from the ACC (North Carolina, Clemson, Wake Forest), Illinois State, Pittsburgh and Stanford (which faced Arizona State in its Pac-10 opener late Friday).

Rebounding average of Oklahoma forward Blake Griffin, who leads the nation and has a trio of 21-rebound games.

Scoring average of Davidson guard Stephen Curry, who leads the nation and already has three 40-point games (44 vs. Oklahoma, 44 vs. N.C. State and 41 vs.

UT-Chattanooga).

Points scored by West Virginia senior Alex Ruoff (of Spring Hill) in an 89-54 win against Radford on Dec. 23. Ruoff followed with 17 points four days later as the Mountaineers dropped previously unbeaten Ohio State.

Consecutive regular-season victories against nonconference opponents for North Carolina, which opens ACC play Sunday against Boston College.

Scoring average of North Carolina, which ranks second to VMI (97.1 points per game).

PROJECTED REGIONAL SEEDS

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT