In his College Basketball Opus, the seminal work of this hoops season, The Bilastrator gave you his top eight national title favorites: Duke, Michigan State, Kentucky, Louisville, Kansas, Arizona, Florida and Syracuse. After watching and processing over a month of college basketball games, one thing is clear: There is not a truly great or dominant team this season.
At least, it should be noted, not yet.
There is not automatically a "great" team or teams every season. There is a champion crowned every year, but that doesn't make a team historically great. "Great" is a term that is overused in sports, and when I say great, I mean the dictionary definition of the word. Great means to be "remarkable or truly outstanding in magnitude, degree or extent; superior in quality or character; to be of outstanding significance or importance; to be eminent, distinguished."
Because there are no dominant teams like there were in 2007-08 or 2008-09, it would not be at all shocking to see a team like Colorado, Iowa State or Oregon get hot and reach the Final Four in Dallas. It could be that kind of season, and those seasons can be all kinds of fun.
That said, while there is no great team yet, there are still prohibitive favorites to win it all. Here are the eight teams that The Bilastrator believes are the best so far, and the best-suited to reach Dallas and cut the nets down.
The Wildcats are the most complete team The Bilastrator has seen, and have the size, athleticism, depth, lineup versatility, guard play, and mental and physical toughness to win the whole thing. And, this team can and will get better and better.
Where Arizona sets itself apart is on the glass