NCAA: UConn and UNC are the Clear Favorites

Back in December North Carolina was considered the best team in college basketball. One of the common topics on sports shows was: Can any team challenge the Tar Heels this year? The most common answer to that question was: The UConn Huskies might be able to challenge them.

Then the Tar Heels stumbled and so did the Huskies. Though the Huskies little stumble was just one game and the Tar Heels suffered two losses.

But now here we are closing in on March and once again the clear favorites to wind-up in the Championship Game are the UConn Huskies and the North Carolina Tar Heels. But make no mistake about it, UNC is not the clear team to beat anymore. The UConn Huskies are at least even with UNC and they may even be better.

Both teams proved how good they are by beating their rivals last night. UConn beat the Syracuse Orange by 14 and UNC beat Duke by 14 as well. Both teams just overwhelmed their opponents and proved they were a much better team.

Now, one thing does need to be mentioned here. This is no way should be taken to mean UConn unfairly won the game last night. They beat SU badly and were never in danger of losing after halftime. However, the 7′3″ junior center, Thabeet, is easily the dirtiest player in college basketball. The fact that he was able to throw three blatant elbows and connect with two of them and never get called for a foul is a travesty. And then he deliberately bounced the ball off the face of an SU player.

Jim Calhoun should be glad Thabeet isn’t getting a closer look for player of the year. Because he would be seen for what he is – a player who towers over everyone else so he can stand and block shots, and a player who is dirtier than any other player I’ve ever seen in 30 years of watching college basketball.