thatsnotgross

Alright guys, here is the question that I would love to be debate about...

Is there more parity in college basketball more than ever? Compared from 3,5,7,10,15 years ago?

Yes, there are less mid majors in this years madness but if we're looking at the teams in the big dance and the NIT we will see that the parity is close.

Here are some of my opinions to why...

-If you look at the top 7-8 teams there is no clear cut favorite. Yes we all know about Florida but we also know that they can be shaky as well. This year's rankings has fluctuated a lot.

Looking at the 2 seeds.. (UCLA, Memphis, Georgetown, Wisconsin) all had a reasonable debate about getting a no.1 seed. Maybe not Memphis but at one point in time many of them were at least a top 5 team (not including Gtown). Even Pittsburgh were at one point a top 5 team.

-Gary Walters, the chairman committe gave a rather nice statistic about D1 basketball. Over 100 teams had more than 20 wins in the country which is the highest ever for d1 basketball. The old record was at 78. Pretty impressive. 20 wins is 20 wins.

Lets look at the 8/9 matchup for this year. Most of the no.1 seeds shouldn't be looking ahead of themselves. Ohio State looks like they easiest top half of any no.1 seed.

Midwest (Florida) 8/9 matchup... Arizona and Purdue. I don't think Purdue will give Florida a scare but Arizona could give Florida a nice fight.

West (Kansas) 8/9... Kentucky vs. Villanova. One of the most intriguing matchups in the first round. Any of these teams can definitely give Kansas a fit. Kansas could very well be the first no.1 to be elminated.

East (UNC) 8/9... Marquette vs. Michigan State. Another intriguing matchup. They are both evenly match up and can also give UNC a run for their money.

Now I'm not saying that these matchups can end up in losses but the 8/9 matchups are more pronounced in recent memories. Do I think UNC will lose? No, but we all need to remember that UNC is lead by freshmen and sophmores as well as Ohio State.

Lots of nice lower seeds matching up well with some upper seeds. Teams like Creighton, ODU, VCU, Winthrop, Gonzaga, GT and Davidson. How can you pick them all. Each of these teams are capable of winning the first game of the tournament.

The parity is looking very nice. Sorry Arkansas fans but that place should've been Drexel and I would've added Drexel into the mix. Sorry Stanford fans but I don't believe you guys deserve that spot because Syracuse should've taken it.

A handful of good teams that is not dancing. Syracuse, Drexel, Applachain State, and Air Force. You can even make a case for FSU, and I'm one of the posters that dont' believe FSU should be in but they did build up a nice resume.

We also forget about UPenn and their bracket buster ways. How about GW? Or Oral Roberts or even Holy Cross.

I like this years parity. Very interesting and I do believe that there will be many upsets in this years tournament. I'm a believer that a team full of freshmen cannot win it all, and yes i'm a Big East fan saying that (syracuse and Carmelo).

Thats why I like teams with a capable upperclassman to lead the way. Wisconsin, Florida, Georgetown comes to mind. I want to say Pittsburgh but they have stumble a bit.

Lets all hope for many bracket busters this year and last second shots that will take small schools another step in becoming a true Cinderella.

Have fun and good luck.