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Watch Out Below It's not safe in the Top 10 of the college polls, these days. Last week was a train wreck for teams ranked in the Top 5. Nobody was safe....except Duke. The rest of the bunch all suffered defeat: Indiana, Michigan, Florida and Kansas (twice). The past five weeks, the #1 ranked team in the land has gone down to defeat. This week, the Blue Devils get to tempt fate when they see their arch-rivals, the UNC Tar Heels, come to town on Wednesday night. Of course, the way the Heels played at Miami over the weekend, I'm not sold that this game will be competitive, either. I mentioned on my SiriusXM show weeks ago that I wasn't sold that there was a #1 ranked team...my point was that we have about 12 teams that look to be #2 seeds. I feel stronger about that claim today than I did a few weeks ago. You could make a point that the best team in college hoops right now resides in Coral Gables, Florida. The "U" is still perfect in the ACC...and they became the first team in the history of the ACC to claim wins over Duke and UNC in the same year by more than 25 points. It is ironic that the Canes are a perfect 10-0 in conference play, but they have a loss this season to Florida Gulf Coast. That is college basketball in a nutshell. It's also the reason why March Madness will be absolutely captivating, next month. This is a wide-open deal. Last year, the Charlotte Bobcats sucked. They proved to be the worst team ever assembled in NBA history. After watching the club blow a 20-point second half lead to the anemic LA Lakers at home, I have but one thing to say. The Charlotte Bobcats continue to suck. Michael Jordan, along with his master plan, are in the process of defending their title as the worst team in the NBA. After a 7-5 start (how did that happen?), the club has tanked it. Now granted, they won't make history as the worst team ever, and maybe that's MJ's idea of progress....but they are a putrid bunch. Heading into this week's games, the team has lost 98 of their last 116 games. Think about that one.....98 of their last 116 games, the past two seasons. I read a quote from ancient Antawn Jamison this week, in which he claimed that word around the NBA is that when MJ shows up for practice he can still go 1-on-1 and guys couldn't stop him. I believe it.....have you seen the Bobcats defend? There's no doubt that a 50 year old guy can score on these bums. Bobcat coach Mike Dunlap this week claimed that his guys "can't afford to get excited for one game and not another. What we're trying to teach them is how to be a pro." Wow. Good luck with that one. The biggest headache for the Bobcats is that the NBA Draft coming up is loaded with marginal players....there are no dominant players in college hoops....so that first pick might not carry the weight this year, versus past seasons. But don't worry....MJ has a plan. When superstar skier Lindsey Vonn was injured on the slopes in Austria last week, she had the support of one her special admirers. This Valentine season, most guys are coming off the hip for flowers, chocolates, dinner, etc....but there aren't too many guys sending their private jet across the ocean to pick up their favorite snow bunny and bring her home. Thanks, Tiger. You're making us look bad. Speaking of golfers and looking bad.....I almost fell off my couch when I saw Phil Mickelson bust his ass on the rocks at Pebble Beach. Lefty hit one right into the Pacific on the picturesque 18th tee at Pebble Beach. When he decided to explore down the cliffs, the CBS cameras caught him looking for his ball. Unfortunately, Phil didn't help the stigma of golfers being great athletes when his Foot Joys slipped on the rocks and he landed hard. We've all done stupid stuff like this on the golf course...at least I think we have.....but I doubt it's been on Pebble Beach under the watchful eye of the entire nation. Lefty proceeded to drop and knocked another one into the Pacific.....but there was no way he was going to look for the second ball. This year, my favorite two replays include Clowney's hit against Michigan's Vincent Smith in the bowl game and Phil Mickelson landing on his ass at Pebble Beach. NSD normally stands for "National Signing Day"....but maybe we should redefine it is as "Nick Saban Day". Once again, Alabama had a monster day according to the recruiting geeks that rank such stuff. The Tide keeps getting richer....along with everybody else in the SEC. The only schools to capture Top 10 classes not from the SEC included Ohio State, Michigan and Notre Dame. We'll find out how good these classes are a couple of years down the road, but Saban had the best line of the "process":
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