14 teams that can win the national title

Admit it. Just do yourself a favor and join me in saying you were guilty:

After last year's NCAA Tournament, following VCU's run from "They don't deserve dancing shoes" to the Final Four, after Butler bucked the odds, yet again, to reach the title game with one NBA player and a bunch of no-names who wouldn't start on most BCS teams, after watching game after game that went down to the wire in every round ...

You didn't think we could get a crazier men's basketball postseason. 

In November, that seemed to be the forecast for this season. With several underclassmen scared by the impending NBA lockout into returning to the blue bloods, it looked like the 2011-12 season would return to form — a handful of the traditional big boys would dominate throughout the year and enter postseason play as clear favorites to reach New Orleans.

Well, that's been anything but the case.

In fact, as I watched yet another team that I really like, the Marquette Golden Eagles, overcome a first half without half of their team to win at hostile West Virginia and its fans — who were ready to literally bludgeon Buzz Williams after he did a little jig to Country Roads — I thought to myself, Man, this is gonna be one brutal year for filling out brackets.

I'll be honest (don't lie, kids): I've only watched maybe a half of Murray State basketball and I haven't sat down and watched tape of any of these teams — if only I had time to watch basketball game tape! — but I believe at least these 14 teams have a chance to cut down the nets in 'Nawlins:

No. 1 Kentucky — They've got the most talent, the national player of the year, the best shot-blocker since Shaq...

No. 2 Syracuse — Depth, depth, depth. Chemistry. Cohesion. Defense. Toughness. Need more?

No. 3 Duke — This team is incredible in how many times it's come back to win games at the end. Closing out games? Kinda important in March.

No. 4 Kansas — No one in the country has a bigger heart than Thomas Robinson. He could pull a Kemba Walker and will this team to a championship.

No. 5 Michigan State — Tom Izzo is, hands down, the best tournament coach. And this year, he could be national coach of the year. The Spartans defense is suffocating. 

No. 6 North Carolina — Don't sleep on the preseason favorites. They still have the twin towers down low, the best assist guy in the business, and maybe the best scorer in the country. Enough?

No. 7 Marquette — This group comes at you. Their pressing style puts all kinds of pressure on opponents, and they have a handful of guys who can get to the basket. 

No. 8 Missouri — What wins in March? Great. Guard. Play. Missouri has phenomenal guard play.

No. 9 Murray State — Question the Racers if you like, but any team that goes through a season with one loss — and demolishes a good St. Mary's team — has to be considered (especially considering Butler's success recently).

No. 10 Baylor — The Bears have been shaky lately, but with Perry Jones and the twin Quincys (Acy and Miller), they have as tough of a trio to handle as anyone outside of Chapel Hill or Lexington.

No. 11 Ohio State — Whoa ... how the previously top-ranked Buckeyes have fallen. But are you telling me a team with Jared Sullinger, William Buford and Aaron Craft doesn't have a shot?

No. 12 Georgetown — I never would have thought this in November, but this Hoyas team has gelled into one of the nation's best defensive, balanced squads. Not pretty but effective. 

No. 13 Florida — The Gators were a shot here or a defensive stop there from reaching the Final Four last year. They lost close to no one. They have an experienced backcourt. They have a two-time winning national championship coach. Rule them out? No thanks. 

Unranked Vanderbilt — No unranked team is more dangerous than the 'Dores, who took Kentucky down to the wire not once, but twice. Watch out for them in a couple weeks. 

*Wild card: Wichita State — I haven't watched the Shockers, but the way they're tearing apart the Valley, they might just 'Shock' some people come Dancing time. 

Wow. Let the madness commence. 

Why Pat Knight's rant lost me early

Pat Knight might be right. Heck, he's most likely right. He sure as hell knows his Lamar team better than I do.

Yes, it's true ... I haven't caught a Cardinals game this year. Been busy living.

But I did take the time to watch Knight's now somewhat-viral (not Mike Gundy viral, mind you) 8-minute, 47-second rant against Lamar's seniors after losing a game Thursday night. How Knight managed to rage on for that time period, to me, is more impressive than what he said.

Because he lost me in the first 2 minutes. Here's why:

In the first 45 seconds, Knight mentioned it was an attitude problem, but then went into a full minute of discussing his players' shooting performances. He picked up the box score: "Miles 2-for-11. Lamb 3-for-9. James 6-for-22 and two of those were gimmes at the end ... Davis 3-for-8. Harper 0-for-8..."

What?

Now any smart basketball mind knows that regardless of a team's attitude or mindset on the court, there are days when shots rain through the basket and there are days when shots simply refuse to be sucked down that circular rim.

Knight talked about his team getting open shots. That's good! That's all any coach can ask for! If your team is executing its offense well enough to generate open shots and, as Knight said, take 20 more field goals than your opponent, that's a really good thing.

Sometimes the shots just don't fall!

I continued to listen to the rest of the rant, the juicier stuff that Knight would never get away with saying at a big university, about how his players would end up homeless if dumped into the real world, about how they had drug problems. And I'm not saying it isn't true. I don't know Lamar basketball. I'm sure nobody in the world knows Lamar basketball better than Pat Knight right now.

But when I think back to the rant, I immediately settle on those first 2 minutes, which came after Knight said he wasn't going to talk X's and O's.

Criticize your players for lack of hustle, coach. Pin them to their lockers for poor defense or missed box outs. But don't go all Gundy on them because they missed shots. That's just a part of basketball.

Even at Lamar University.

It's good to be back — no, really

I would NEVER make it on TV.

Almost exactly a year ago, I stopped doing something I had done, somewhat consistently, for four and a half years.

I cut sports blogging from my life.

Why? Well, for one, I was busy — it's amazing how much time and energy a full-time job consumes. But, also, my posts felt uncreative, even unoriginal, and I didn't feel like I was writing anything that millions — OK ... hundreds — of others weren't typing at the same damn moment.

So I gave it up. Just like Brett Favre. Tired of all the hits, bruises and interceptions (read: stolen posts) from a long career in the sports blogosphere (seriously: what's the average shelf life of a sports blog? Nine months? Makes an NFL career seem long). 

But just like, ahem, No. 4, I couldn't stay away for long. 

The final straw in my decision to re-enter this crazy, teeming world full of horrible, ignorant couch potatoes came Tuesday night as I was lying in bed with a 101.7-degree fever, consuming liquids at the rate Kobayashi swallows hot dogs. 

I was watching the final 7 minutes of the Kentucky-Mississippi State game, and as fun as it was to watch the Wildcats' squad of future draft picks turn a seven-point deficit into a lead without breaking a sweat, it was equally frustrating watching Renardo Sidney, um, play basketball.

I couldn't find a picture of him not trying. Amazing feat.

I cannot stand watching Sidney.

The kid's story of indolence and insubordination has been well-documented, so look it up if you don't know it. I'll just say that against Kentucky, all 81 inches and 250 pounds of Sidney refused to take a step toward offensive rebounds opportunities, made no attempt to move his feet on defense, and when called for an obvious foul, threw his hands up in the air as if he'd been blamed for America's deficit.

Of course, there was no mention of this storyline on ESPN, because Kentucky had made another great comeback for a road win. But to me, Sidney's inability to play with heart, to give his all, and to not complain was the most compelling — and disturbing — part of those 20 minutes of television.

These little observations are what I'll write about here. 

I'll also write about my favorite teams, because I'll be honest — with that full-time job, an exercise regimen needed to train for my 100K hike in April (see last year's video), and a dormant dating life — equal to that of Tinker in Friday Night Lights (it's my favorite show, so I will occasionally make references here) — I'd like to activate, I don't have time to follow everything that's going on in the world of sports. But I do watch every Michigan basketball game. And I do read up on the Tigers every day. Because I care. Because when they do well, I'm happier. That's the fan side of me.

The objective fan side of me.

As a sports writer since my junior year of high school, I've always been able to bridge that gap between objectivity and fandom. That's what influenced the name for this blog. While I love what the Wolverines have done this season under John Beilein, I'm first in line to question Beilein's seemingly strict stance on players with two fouls sitting for the remainder of the first half. 

That almost cost Michigan the game Tuesday, which ended up another overtime victory over Big Dance-less Northwestern. 

I will call out my teams. Objectivity first. Fandom second. That's how it'll happen in this space.

So, yes, I am back. But a new me. 

The posts will be shorter. I won't try to write columns pretending I'm Thomas Boswell anymore. I won't attempt to pop culture you to death like Bill Simmons, because I don't know 90 percent of the references he makes! 

But I will, and this is a promise, bring you unique perspectives on all kinds of sports stories from big to small, from DC to Michigan, some that I witnessed and many that I watched.

Now jump back on the bandwagon (or not)!