Hansbrough vs. Beasley; Enough with catchy CBB slogans

By Ty Hildenbrandt

Phonetically speaking, this year's National Player of the Year battle between Kansas State's "B-Easy" and North Carolina's "Psycho T" has all the makings of the next Nas vs. Jay-Z feud. I'm just sayin'...

Are Michael Beasley and Tyler Hansbrough the Nas and Jay-Z of the college hoops world? AP; Peyton Williams/Icon SMI

Indeed, it's shaping up to be a two-horse race between Michael Beasley and Tyler Hansbrough, and the infamous question is again rearing its ugly head: How does one delineate between the best player and the most valuable player? Good question, but the answer to both is Beasley, who's elevated his team to national relevance and entrenched the Wildcats on the dangerous list of Teams That Could Destroy Your Bracket. Factor in his numbers --more than 26 points and 12 rebounds per game -- and you've got your winner, though Hansbrough's had a fine statistical season and came through in the absence of Ty Lawson. Hansbrough should be commended on his work, but Beasley needs to be the landslide victor.

I am still floored that both Beasley and Kevin Durant actually played on the same rec team growing up in Maryland. How is this possible? When I played, we were lucky if we had a guy who could touch the rim -- imagine taking your team of pimply-faced teenagers to play against a squad with two future lottery picks? Wouldn't your only chance of winning hinge on a convoluted, Tonya Harding-style plot?

TENNESSEE IS, LIKE, SO HOT RIGHT NOW

So ... to update you on the latest happenings in the Tennessee State Basketball Championships: Previously unbeaten Memphis lost its first game of the season (and its No. 1 ranking) to Tennessee, which had a cup of coffee as the top-ranked team before stumbling to another in-state opponent, Vanderbilt. Now, all three teams seem destined for next week's top 10 and I'm trying to figure out how Tennessee became the nexus of the college basketball universe.

It wasn't long ago Memphis was struggling in the post-Penny Hardaway era, Tennessee was reeling from a 17-loss season under Buzz Peterson and Vandy's formula for success was Billy McCaffrey's long-range jumper. All of a sudden, Memphis is back, Tennessee's got its guy in Bruce Pearl and Vandy's court is as disorienting as a house of mirrors. It makes us wonder if Tennessee has become the most underrated state in the Union. Think about it: budding NCAA hoops programs, big-time SEC football, a stable NFL franchise, sans Pacman Jones, animated Volunteers announcer Bert Bertelkamp, great food, good music, bizarre stories in The Tennessean, southern belles, and warm hospitality. (We'll leave the Grizzlies out of this.) What's not to love?

By my calculations, the only real concern about living there is the tornado risk, but that can be mitigated with a little Jack Daniel's. Problem solved.