Snow may still cover the ground and temps are far from springlike, but with March on the immediate horizon, it's time for casuals to get educated ahead of the MADNESS! Getting you up to speed, our resident college basketball maniac, Brad Evans, scribbled 68 lines about the season thus far.
1. Current No. 1 seeds on the Bracket Big Board (in order): Arizona, Michigan, Duke, UConn
2. Current No. 2 seeds on the Bracket Big Board (in order): Iowa State, Illinois, Nebraska, Houston
3. Current No. 3 seeds on the Bracket Big Board (in order): Michigan State, Kansas, Purdue, Florida
4. Current No. 4 seeds on the Bracket Big Board (in order): Gonzaga, Texas Tech, Vanderbilt, Virginia
5. Current No. 5 vs. No. 12 seed matchups on the Bracket Big Board: North Carolina/Liberty, St. John's/Yale, Alabama/Belmont, Tennessee/Tulsa
6. Best overall team: Arizona.
7. Best offensive rating in college hoops per KenPom: Illinois (1.316 pts/poss)
8. Best defensive rating in college hoops per KenPom: Arizona (0.896 pts/poss)
9. Best tourney-bound rebounding team: Florida
10. Best three-point shooting tourney-bound team: Saint Louis (41.4%)
11. Best dime dropping tourney-bound team: Michigan State (67.7 assist%)
12. My current national title tickets: Michigan (+450), Florida (+1600), Illinois (+2000), Nebraska (+5000)
13. National Coach of the Year: Fred Hoiberg, Nebraska
14. National Player of the Year: Cam Boozer, Duke
15. Best mid-major outside of Gonzaga: Saint Louis
16. ACC regular season champ pick: Duke
17. Big 12 regular season champ pick: Houston
18. Big Ten regular season champ pick: Michigan
19. SEC regular season champ pick: Florida
20. Big East regular season champ pick: St. John's
21. Best overall conference: Big 12
22. ACC under-the-radar dangerous team: NC State
23. Big 10 under-the-radar dangerous team: Iowa
24. Big 12 under-the-radar dangerous team: Texas Tech
25. Big East under-the-radar dangerous team: Villanova
26. SEC under-the-radar dangerous team: Texas
27. Mid-major under-the-radar dangerous team: Hawaii
28. Best freshman (in order): Cam Boozer, Duke, AJ Dybantsa, BYU, Darryn Peterson, Kansas, Keaton Wagler, Illinois, Caleb Wilson, North Carolina, Kingston Flemings, Houston
29. With other deserving names just missing the list above, this is undoubtedly the greatest freshman class in the history of the college basketball game.
30. According to Front Office Sports, men's college basketball ratings are up 69% year over year. Very nice.
31. Biggest surprise: Nebraska
32. Biggest disappointment: Oregon
33. Current last four teams IN on the Bracket Big Board: Texas, Ohio State, San Diego State, Missouri
34. Current first four OUT on the Bracket Big Board: California, Virginia Tech, Santa Clara, New Mexico
35. Top-five overall teams the last 30 days according to BartTorvik (in order): Florida, Houston, Duke, Arizona, Illinois
36. Teams with most Quad 1 wins: Duke (10), Michigan (8), Arizona (7)
37. Teams with most Quad 1a wins: Illinois (5), Arizona (4), UConn (4), Duke (4), Kansas (4), Nebraska (4), Virginia (4), North Carolina (4)
38. Best championship percent chance (in order from BartTorvik): Michigan (15.4%), Arizona (11.3%), Houston (9.5%), Illinois (7.7%), Florida (6.9%)
39. Along with the schools listed above, other teams with at least a 20% chance of reaching the Final Four: Duke, UConn, Iowa State
40. True mid-majors outside of the Atlantic 10, WCC and Mountain West with the best chance to reach the Sweet Sixteen (per BartTorvik): Stephen F. Austin (2.6%), Tulsa (2.6%), Akron (2.4%), Utah Valley (2.1%), Yale (1.8%)
41. Best bid-stealing team: Whoever can take out Saint Louis in the A-10 tournament.
42. Best scorer in college basketball: Cam Boozer, Duke
43. Best rebounder in college basketball: Rueben Chinyelu, Florida
44. Best assist man in college basketball: Jeremy Fears, Michigan State
45. Best rim-protector in college basketball: Zvonimir Ivisic, Illinois
46. Best on-ball defender in college basketball: Maliq Brown, Duke
47. Best arc assassin in college basketball: Abdi Bashir Jr., Kansas State
48. Best projected No. 3-No. 4 seed: Florida
49. Best projected No. 5-No. 6 seed: Arkansas
50. Best projected No. 7-No.10 seed: Kentucky
51. Best projected No. 11 seed: Texas
52. Still undefeated Miami (OH) is a tremendous value to remain unblemished through the MAC regular reason at +410 (FanDuel).
53. Arizona falls from the ranks of the unbeaten at least twice before the Big 12 regular season wraps.
54. Current best bet to make the NCAA Tournament (FanDuel): Ohio State (+102)
55. Saint Louis to run the Atlantic 10 conference slate undefeated is a phenomenal ticket at +120 (FanDuel).
56. Houston is the wisest investment among regular season conference outright winners at +275 (BetMGM).
57. Current best Final Four bang-for-the-buck odds: Florida (+400, DraftKings)
58. There are roughly 10-11 teams with a realistic chance of making a run and winning the whole shebang in Indy.
59. My personal top-three venues to watch a college basketball game: Mackey, Madison Square Garden, Hinkle
60. Best free-throw merchant among likely tourney teams: Saint Mary's (82.1%)
61. Best turnover percentage offense among likely tourney teams: Houston (12.4%)
62. Best turnover percentage defense among likely tourney teams: Houston (22.6%)
63. Top teams with the most killshots (10+ point scoring runs) as tracked by Evan Miya (in order): Saint Louis (32), Gonzaga (32), Iowa State (30), Michigan (30), Houston (28), Arizona (28)
64. Fastest tourney-bound teams in the country per adjusted tempo: Georgia, Alabama, Michigan
65. Slowest tourney-bound teams in the country per adjusted tempo: Houston, Iowa, Villanova
66. Remember, who you played and who you beat are the strongest metrics when debated by the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee. It's often that simple.
67. NET ranking, like the old RPI, is considered a sorting tool. It's standalone weight isn't a be-all-end-all in the Selection Committee's process.
68. Popularity polls like the AP are facilitators for conversation and debate ONLY. They have no bearing on the Selection Committee's process. Keep in mind.