With March Madness and the NCAA Tournament just around the corner, don't count on it being a Final Four that the "experts" predict.  There have been more upsets than I can count on both hands in the past couple of years – also more Final Four brackets that I have messed up also – to be able to smoothly predict who will be crowned as the best in college hoops for '08. 

Leading the pack in the power rankings heading into the tourney are the North Carolina Tar Heels (who also won the whole thing back in 2005), the Memphis Tigers, the UCLA Bruins and the Tennessee Volunteers.  Memphis has only lost one game this entire season, but I think it would be doing North Carolina a huge disservice to rank anyone ahead of them since Carolina's schedule is considerably tougher as they play Duke more than once.  That fact alone should elevate the 'Heels to a higher ranking. Factor in Junior forward Tyler Hansbrough who is averaging 23 points and 10 boards per game (leads the Atlantic Coast Conference) and lighting quick guard Wayne Ellington, and the Heels have a case for earning the number one nod.

When asked about the Heels' current number one rating going into the madness coach Roy Williams said, "I like it better later in the year," Williams said of the top ranking, "because it shows you have accomplished something."

But upsets are much too common in the tourney to count your chicks before they hatch, remember Xavier from the Atlantic 10 Conference and Bucknell from the Patriot League?  Xavier will be heading into the tournament eighth place in the nation, on top in the Atlantic 10 with a (13-1 conference, 25-4 overall).  Bucknell on the other hand has virtually fallen off the face of the Earth and from any tournament hopes slumping this year to a 6-8 conference record and 11-18 overall. 

My guess is look for Xavier to mess up some of those brackets this year, but don't count out newcomer Davidson.  Davidson (23-6) entered the rankings on a 19-game winning streak and having gone 20-0 in the Southern Conference. The Wildcats' losses included ones to North Carolina, Duke and UCLA, none worse than 12 points and all competitive games.  "People are aware of the challenging early schedule but we also have a sense that we dropped off the face of the Earth and people did not pay too much heed to us as they did in November and December," Davidson coach Bob McKillop said. "But 20-0 in a conference schedule is an extraordinary accomplishment that gets people's attention."

It is also important not to count out teams like Memphis, UCLA, Stanford, Kansas, Duke, Tennessee and Texas who show great promise in the tourney.  UCLA has super-freshman forward Kevin Love who averages a double-double per game, and D.J. Augustin is a super-point guard for Texas that averages nearly 20 points per contest.  Tennessee has depth in the backcourt with guards Chris Lofton and Jajuan Smith both averaging double-figures in scoring.  Memphis – who has been jockeying for the number one spot – have a strong team and the promise of freshman Derrick Rose (14.2 pts per game) and junior Chris Douglas-Roberts (17.6 pts per game)  almost ensure that the Tigers will have a strong tournament bid, as well as one next year (assuming Rose and Douglas-Roberts forgo the NBA Draft.) 

Despite what team ends up hoisting the title, we should be in for a very exciting and "edge of your seat" March Madness.  Just be sure that you have several back-up brackets for those upsets we are bound to witness. 

Sources:
1.) USAtoday.com
2.) Sports.espn.go.com



Dan Olson writes for KSTW-TV in Seattle. All opinions expressed in this column are his.