Field of 68 Bracket

*This is what the bracket should look like.

Midwest (Indianapolis, IN)
1 Louisville
16 Albany
8 North Carolina State
9 Illinois
5 Oklahoma State
12 Saint Mary's/Boise State
4 Saint Louis
13 Pacific
6 Arizona
11 Wichita State
3 New Mexico
14 Valparaiso
7 Pittsburgh
10 Mississippi
2 Ohio State
15 Northwestern State

West (Los Angeles, CA)
1 Gonzaga
16 James Madison/Liberty
8 Missouri
9 San Diego State
5 Syracuse
12 Davidson
4 Michigan
13 Akron
6 Oregon
11 Minnesota
3 Kansas State
14 New Mexico State
7 VCU
10 Villanova
2 Miami
15 Southern

East (Washington, DC)
1 Indiana
16 Western Kentucky
8 Colorado State
9 Iowa State
5 UCLA
12 Virginia/La Salle
4 Marquette
13 Iona
6 Notre Dame
11 Temple
3 Florida
14 Harvard
7 Creighton
10 Colorado
2 Duke
15 Florida Gulf Coast

South (Arlington, TX)
1 Kansas
16 LIU Brooklyn/North Carolina A&T
8 Butler
9 Cincinnati
5 UNLV
12 Belmont
4 Wisconsin
13 Bucknell
6 North Carolina
11 Oklahoma
3 Michigan State
14 South Dakota State
7 Memphis
10 California
2 Georgetown
15 Montana

RBP 2012-13 Preseason Rankings

1) Louisville: The best defensive team in the country is also one of the most talented, but I'm not sure the Cards can shoot from outside.

2) Indiana: The Hoosiers are more skilled and have better shooters than Louisville but are not as athletic or as tenacious on the defensive end.

3) Syracuse: I'm predicting a breakout season for junior forward CJ Fair.

4) Kentucky: The inexperienced Cats may take their lumps early, but Coach Cal will have this team ready to make a third straight trip to the Final Four by March.

5) Ohio State: If the supporting cast, especially on the frontline, steps up, the Buckeyes have a chance to win a national championship.

6) Kansas: The gap between the Jayhawks and the rest of the Big 12 seems like it has never been larger.

7) Michigan: Trey Burke is college basketball's version of Chris Paul.

8) North Carolina State: If Lorenzo Brown and Rodney Purvis can share the ball without incident, the Wolf Pack could have a special season.

9) Florida: The Gators will score points in bunches, but the national title contenders are ranked 1-8 on this list.

10) San Diego State: You would be hard-pressed to find a better perimeter trio than Xavier Thames, Chase Tapley, and Jamaal Franklin.

11) Duke: If the Blue Devils hope to make a deep run in March, freshman Rasheed Sulaimon will have to step into the role of go-to scorer vacated by Austin Rivers.

12) Michigan State: I have questions about Keith Appling as a floor general, but I resolved to stop doubting Tom Izzo's Spartans.

13) Notre Dame: Jerian Grant and Jack Cooley give the Irish an extremely productive inside-outside combo.

14) North Carolina: Lots of talent on Roy Williams' roster but not a lot by way of killer instinct.

15) Cincinnati: Mick Cronin's Bearcats have taken the title of the nation's grimiest team from the Pitt Panthers.

16) Wisconsin: As long as Bo Ryan is grinding meat in Madison, the Badgers will have a spot in RBP's  Preseason Top 25.

17) Memphis: After losing the hugely underrated Will Barton, the pressure is on junior point guard Joe
Jackson to fulfill his considerable potential.

18) Creighton: Doug McDermott and Gregory Echenique give the Bluejays a frontline that can play with teams from the Power Six conferences.

19) Missouri: Top ten-type talent in Columbia, but Frank Haith has his work cut out for him in terms of getting a bunch of new faces to play together.

20) Arizona: Sean Miller has done an excellent job of recruiting talent to Tucson, but I'm worried chemistry issues will plague this program for a second straight season.

21) UNLV: Dave Rice's squad is the second of three Mountain West teams on this list, as the MWC will once again outclass the Pac-12 as the premiere conference on the west coast.

22) Florida State: The Noles return one of the nation's best backcourts in Ian Miller and Michael Snaer.

23) Lehigh: After shocking Duke in the NCAA Tournament, the Mountain Hawks return their top four scorers and will "upset" Baylor on November 9 in Waco.

24) UCLA: This program is a mess, and the Bruins' ranking assumes Shabazz Muhammad will be cleared to play.

25) New Mexico: Lots of questions on the interior for the Lobos, but juniors Kendall Williams and Tony Snell provide plenty of perimeter firepower.

Big East Honors & Awards

All Big-East

Darius Johnson-Odom, Marquette
#1 Senior Guard 6-2 215
18.3ppg 3.5rpg 2.7apg

Jason Clark, Georgetown
#21 Senior Guard 6-2 180
14.0ppg 4.1rpg 1.6spg

Kris Joseph, Syracuse
#32 Senior Forward 6-7 215
13.4ppg 4.7rpg 1.4spg

Jae Crowder, Marquette
#32 Senior Forward 6-6 235
18.3ppg 8.4rpg 2.5spg

Kevin Jones, West Virginia
#5 Senior Forward 6-8 260
19.9ppg 10.9rpg .509FG%

Connecticut's Jeremy Lamb, for all his talent and potential, misses the cut after the Huskies (and Lamb, at times) turned in an uninspired 2011-12 campaign.

Player of the Year: Jae Crowder, Marquette
Crowder was a poor man's Larry Johnson for Buzz Williams' Golden Eagles, regularly overwhelming the opposition with his physicality on both ends of the floor.

Top Defender: Gorgui Dieng, Louisville
Dieng, who anchored the nation's most efficient defense while averaging 3.2 blocks per contest (good for 8th best in the country), edges out Seton Hall's Fuquan Edwin, who averaged 3.0 swipes per contest (second in the NCAAs).

Best Freshman: Moe Harkless, St. John's
Harkless, a versatile wing who plays like a less perimeter-oriented Joe Johnson, did it all for the Red Storm, averaging 15.3 points and 8.6 rebounds per game.

Coach of the Year: John Thompson III, Georgetown
While Notre Dame's Mike Brey and Louisville's Rick Pitino are both deserving, JT3 led a team projected to finish tenth in the Big East preseason poll to a 3 seed in the NCAA Tourney.

Notes: Louisville at Kentucky

1. What I'm getting ready to write is being written by pretty much everyone covering college basketball in the aftermath of the Cards-Cats contest. Michael Kidd-Gilchrist is playing like a first team All-American. Anthony Davis has received more hype (which he's actually lived up to in large part), but Kidd-Gilchrist deserves the same amount of attention for the way he is playing. I'm not sure what's been more impressive about MKG's play - the effort he brings every single game on every single possession or the fact that he scores as much as he does without dominating the ball.

2. MKG's 24 and 19 was spectacular, and his play of late has been just about flawless. Still, I think Anthony Davis is the most important Wildcat. After foul trouble sidelined him for much of the first half, Davis finished with 18 points, 10 rebounds, and 6 blocks. Put simply, Davis is a singular talent. There are no substitutes for his shot-blocking and ability to play above the rim.

3. Kentucky got the better of the Cards on Saturday and is the better team. But Louisville fans need not fret. Rick Pitino's squad held one of the four best teams in the country to 29.8% shooting from the field on its home court. If the Cards can develop any semblance of effectiveness in their halfcourt offense to go along with one of the nation's premiere defenses, they are going to be very difficult to beat.

4. Louisville's level of talent has been much-maligned in recent weeks as a result of the Cardinals' undefeated start and the inevitable comparisons to the heavyweights of the 2011-12 campaign - Syracuse, Kentucky, North Carolina, and Ohio State. While the Cards' talent level pales in comparison to the talent possessed by the top 4 teams in the country, I like their roster compared to just about everyone else, save perhaps Connecticut. Peyton Siva is a steady hand at point guard, and Kyle Kuric is a well-rounded player who can knock down the three and finish on the break. That much we knew coming into the season. Additionally, Chase Behanan, despite a number of bone-headed mistakes against the Cats, has lived up to his billing as one of the Big East's top freshmen. The surprises have come in the form of the emergence of sophomores Gorgui Dieng, one of the nation's most improved players and best shot blockers, and Russ Smith, quickly becoming a source of instant offense off the bench and a player who can create his own shot. The Cards also have a number of injured players who are working themselves back into the rotation or should be returning in the near future.

5. Terrence Jones is costing himself a lot of money with his play thus far this season. He was a likely lottery pick had he left after his freshman season, but he's not playing like a first round pick right now. He collected 11 rebounds and 3 steals, so it's not as if he was a non-factor on Saturday. That being said, 2 points in 30 minutes is just not enough production from a preseason first-team All-American - even one nursing an injured finger. Needless to say this is not the type of season Jones hoped for when he decided to return to Lexington.