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Is this the year of the underdog? It certainly seems that way so far. After some of the best upsets in the sports history (rivaling the recent college football season), it is hard to deny the little guy this season.

Before we get too comfortable with trying to find Cinderella's slipper this year, however, we may need to look at the top of the college basketball world. While there has been a rash of upsets this season, the elite teams that seem to always be at the top are still at the top and are favored to continue their dominance of the sport.

Memphis (ranked #1) is 19 and 0 with one 'real' game left to play (late February against Tennessee). In a true year of the 'dog, the Tigers would have to lose one of those gimme games before that time, but they won't. Kansas (ranked #2) is 20 and 0 and favored to win out, although they do have some rough games coming up and the experts predict they will not make it unscathed, they will be favored in every game they play until March. While UCLA and North Carolina have struggled to win big (and have lost a game or two), neither team is in any kind of trouble. North Carolina has Duke to contend with in the ACC for supremacy and UCLA has a host of teams in the PAC-10 this year, but expect both to come out of the conference race ready for the tournament.

Unlike football where 'every game counts' (meaning that only the wins count, until this year), in basketball it is the season, not the game that is important. Losing early to a big underdog will hurt you only if you are a bubble team. A true tournament team only plays for seeding, not entry. Any team that makes it into the tournament has the proverbial shot at winning (even though it is pretty assured that a high seed team will not win) and only those who miss out have to complain about the process.

In this, the year of the upset; the true upset would be if one of the elite teams did not cut down the nets with a championship. Cinderella is a great story, but it is after all just a story.

My final four: North Carolina, UCLA, Memphis and surprise Tennessee.

Learn more about this author, Verlin Martin.
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