New Leader in the clubhouse

Is he in the clubhouse? I guess not... but let's go with it. Rory has caught and passed Stephen Gerztoff. Team Ro-Ro has been carried to the finish line by the stand-out play of George Mason and UCLA. While the CAA may get three bids this year, GMU has been tearing that conference up like the University of Richmond used to do. UCLA plays in the Pac 10, which may get two bids this year... ugh... and has been basically enjoying being slighty better than the little sisters of the poor.

College basketball is sometimes like poker in that you don't even have to be a good poker player to make money, you just have to be better than everybody else in the game. UCLA, with the exception of Arizona, is just better than the Pac 10. I don't think anybody is banking on them winning too many games in the NCAAs but the conference season is a lot longer than the tournament.

Steve and Rory share Pittsburgh and Illinois. Pitt despite winning 25 games last year is only one win away from tieing that mark. Illinois has faltered of late in the arduous big 10 and looks to be the anchor of both players slates. Stephen's combo of Arizona/Georgia is right there with Rory's selection of UCLA/Mason. With Arizona a little bit than UCLA and Mason a little better than Georgia.

Which means the pool may be decided by how well Stephen's Mizzou does against Ro-ro's Florida. Personally, I like Rory as Florida should have an easier conference tournament and a higher NCAA seed.

Meanwhile, Big Daddy has also emerged as a viable contender. He's is the third player to cross the magical 100 win mark and like Rory and Stephen is all profit from here on out. BD's first year in the pool has been significant. He has three teams than neither Rory or Stephen has so his focus will be on Memphis regrouping, Creighton getting hot, and North Carolina emerging as a high seed in a weaker ACC.

Behind Big Daddy is Georff Perry who is two wins short of 100. He shares no teams with Rory and two with Gerztoff, and only one with Big Daddy. Fairfield, Conneticutt, and Michigan State are all his own. Perhaps the best possible scenario for Perry would be for Conneticutt to catch Pitt in the Big East, Fairfield to keep winning (they could get to almost 30 this year), and for Michigan State to head to the N.I.T. and go deep.

Izzo is a master of tournament performance, though his team with a low seed in the NCAAs would have a battle every game. They likely would be the class of the second tier tournament. Wonder if he'd have too much pride to play in the N.I.T.

On the other side of things, Martin Tyson has his work to do just to reach 100. It's been some time since a player fell short of "profiting" from one year to the next. With two teams 10 wins shy, and one 6 wins shy it'll be an uphill climb.

The rest of us? We are a whole bunch of mediocre.