What a crystallizing weekend of hoops. It’s pretty obvious that the five best teams in the nation are Illinois, UNC, Wake Forest, Kansas, and Oklahoma State in some order. I can’t believe someone from outside that group will get a #1 seed. Other random thoughts…

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Those of us who thought that the Pac 10 race was between Arizona and Washington need to recalibrate our predict-o-meters. Arizona State belongs in the discussion as well after going to the Bay Area and sweeping Stanford/Cal with ease on Thursday/Saturday. Ike Diogu is simply the best player in the nation. More on that tomorrow. Nobody likes an "I told you so," but I’ll say it in nine weeks when the Sun Devils are the Cinderella pick du jour to go to the Final Four.

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Thanks to Paul Marigney’s 30 points, Saint Mary’s upset Gonzaga on Saturday. The Gaels have won eight in a row, but against mainly weak competition and mostly at home. Saint Mary’s could be an at-large quality team, but because of a less than at-large quality schedule, they must get a home win against Air Force on Tuesday to give them any hope. On the Gonzaga side, Ronny Turiaf has dropped off the face of the earth with a total of 20 points on 7 of 30 shooting over the last three games. The ‘Zags give up too many points (#195 nationally in defensive efficiency) to win with one of their offensive weapons firing blanks.

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Dick Vitale and Brad Nessler expressed shock at the frenetic pace at which the Maryland/UNC contest was played on Saturday. But the stats page reveals all – Maryland and UNC were the top two teams nationally in the tempo category entering the weekend. The game finished with an astounding 92 possessions – only the Maryland/Mercer game on November 23rd was played at a faster pace this season.

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Last Thursday, Hartford lost to Boston University 78-22. It was the second lowest total posted by a D1 team in the shot clock era. Fortunately for you, basket-blogger Kyle Whelliston was on hand, and even has pictures (in color!) of the almost-history-making scoreboard. You’ll be comforted to know that Hartford came back with a season-high 80 points in a win against UMBC on Saturday.