Sports Talk

- After doing a little "number crunching" and such I am ready to release my first Fantabulous Five of Men's College Basketball. I've watched enough games, read enough articles, crunched enough numbers, and used enough common sense to pick the best five teams in the country. And so without further ado.

1) University of Illinois Fighting Illini (21-0)- While being undefeated with 21 wins Illinois managed to beat top teams that included: Gonzaga, Wake Forest, Cincinnati, Iowa and Wisconsin. Of coursed mix in with those top teams were some cupcakes, but going undefeated this far into the season nowadays is unheard of. Sure Stanford and St. Josephs did such until late in the season last year, neither of those team had the team chemistry the Illini are playing with. While Luther Head is currently the MVP of the team and Big Ten, on any night Deron Williams, Dee Brown or Roger Powell can be the best player. When one of the stars has a rough game the supporting crew steps up and thats while there have been some close games as of late, the Illini have beat every opponent and look good doing it.

2) University of North Carolina Tarheels (17-2)- The Tarheels have looked on fire as of late minus a little hiccup against the very good Wake Forest. UNC started the season with a bad loss to Santa Clara and with pundits will say they were without their best player, thats part of the game and it was still a 10 point loss that the Tarheels shouldn't have incurred with the talent they have. While the did lose to ranked Wake Forest, UNC beat quality opponents in Kentucky, Maryland, and "not looking so good right now" Georgia Tech. They have a fast paced high scoring offense that is hard to stop having surpassed 100 pts six times this season, but things don't get easier as they do play in the ACC, which is the best conference in America.

3) Kansas University Jayhawks (16-1)- Every team plays a bad game and its obvious that for the Jayhawks that game was against a hot shooting Villanova Wildcats (who entered the rankings this week). For the two weeks leading up to the Villanova game the Jayhawks were "squeaking" out victories against not so great teams, but a win is a win. They beat Georgia Tech, won at Rupp Arena (a tough feat for any team) and manhandled Texas over the weekend. Things seems to be clicking for Kansas now and while a loss is never good, the Jayhawks responded to the Villanova loss and are on top of their game. Tough matchups await in the Big 12.

4) Duke University Blue Devils (16-1)- The Blue Devils have played one of the easiest schedules to date of Top 25 teams having only beat a ranked opponent in Michigan State. Everyone is praising Coach K as a great coach (which he is and has been for years) in particular this year though look at the roster and he is playing 5 McDonalds All Americans. Of course they have to play as a team which is where Coach K comes into the equation but the talent is obviously there but losing at home to Maryland is a tough one to swallow and a their schedule is insanely end heavy with huge matchups still to come in the final weeks of the season.

5) Boston College Eagles (18-0)- Like the Blue Devils the Eagles really haven't had too many top opponents minus a victory at Connecticut and a win against the now ever fading Mountaineers. I'm not going to deny them what they deserve though because just as with Illinois too many things can go wrong and a loss occur. Its happened to every team except the Eagles and the Fighting Illini. The talent is there and some great Big East matchups still loom so we will see the true toughness and ability of this team now, more then we did in its first 18 games.

Look for an updated Fantabulous Five every Monday until Selection Sunday.

- Its finally Superbowl week and Ive had enough of all the Superbowl Hype. No the Patriots are not a dynasty. Not yet atleast. But do they really have to win the Superbowl this year for us to really appreciate what they have done the past 4 years. Sure 3 Superbowls out of 4 in this day in age...hell any day in age is quite the accomplishment. I hate the Patriots and I forward you to someone I possibly hate just as much, Skip Bayless, as he describes basically exactly how I feel about the whole Dynasty talk and Brady-Montana talk.

I know this gets just as old as the dynasty talk, but the Patriots are the epitome of TEAM. Say what you want about the players but this team has NO SUPERSTAR. Brady is quality and a great quarterback but thats mainly because of the guys around him. And none of those guys around him are great. Collectively they are the best in the leauge but individually their #1 reciever is behind quite a few #2 recievers and wouldn't be a reciever you pick if you got just 1 WR to start a team around. The defense has been the tops of the league this entire span but their isnt just one guy. Hell they have the top defense in the league and its makeshift. Its been makeshift for longer then this season but its gotten so much more attention when WR Troy Brown being playing defensive back.

The Patriots are doing as well as they have been because as a collection there is nothing better out there. Coaches included. And that is why the most interesting part of this dynasty talk is that no matter win or loss this Sunday, the dynasty ends Sunday. Charlie Wiess is headed to Notre Dame to try his luck there and Romeo Crennel is headed to Cleveland to revive the Browns. As coordinators they are the best in the league. As head coaches...well we'll have to wait and see. And as for as Belichick. Well he failed miserably as coach of the Browns without his right hand men. So the story really starts Sunday, not ends.

As far as who wins on Sunday. The Patriots. Why would I pick any different. I just told you they were the best collection or team that the NFL has seen in over a decade (but even the Cowboys had SUPERSTARS...Aikman, Smith, Irvin, Lett). Is it going to be classic? I doubt it. High scoring? I hope so but these are some of the top defenses in the league. Commercial as hell? You better believe it, it is the Superbowl. Dynasty? I don't get payed so I'll leave that to the "talking heads" to decide. Remarkable? Without a doubt. Go ahead and chalk up Brady and Vinaterri for Canton and maybe just maybe they can do a bust of the whole team and put the 2001 - 2005 Patriots in the Hall of Fame.