Enjoy it while it lasts

For majority of undefeated teams, reality is about to set in

Sports Illustrated senior writer Grant Wahl answers your college basketball questions every Wednesday. Click here to send him a question.

We take tradition seriously here at the 'Bag, and if you're a loyal reader you'll remember that 1) I have an unhealthy fascination with undefeated college hoops teams, and 2) for the past three years, we've enriched your mid-December days by awarding the 'Bag's Golden Soufflés' -- our recap of the best and worst of those perfect squads.

Because so many schools skipped November's exempt tournaments, we have a 'Bag record 19 undefeated teams still standing. Will any of them be the first perfect college team since Indiana's 1976 national champs? (Of course not.) Will any follow in the steps of Indiana State (1979) and UNLV (1991) and take spotless records into the NCAA tournament? (Very, very unlikely.) For that matter, will half of these teams suffer an L in the next next week? (You betcha.) But it's fun to talk about, which is why we present to you ...

THE LEAST DESERVING UNDEFEATED TEAM IN THE COUNTRY In honor of the magazine story that brought us "Schools for the Dumb Rich" -- the institutions which have the highest tuitions but the lowest average test scores -- we once again expose the Hampden-Sydneys and Denisons of the college hoops world. This year's Golden Soufflés go to:

1. Pittsburgh (6-0) Best win so far: St. Francis (Pa.) Odds of going undefeated: 10,000-to-1 Put up or shut up time: Dec. 31 at Georgia How can even one AP pollster give his No. 1 vote to the Panthers, who have taken Big East cupcake scheduling to an all-time low? The competition improves a bit when Pitt hosts Ohio State on Wednesday, but heading into the game, Ben Howland's team has the lowest RPI of any undefeated team in the country. Shameful.

GO AHEAD AND RAISE AN EYEBROW FOR ... (most dubious teams first)

1. St. John's (5-0) Best win so far: Fairfield Odds of going undefeated: 10 million-to-1 Put up or shut up time: Saturday at Wake Forest Will the lamest Big East team please stand up? The Johnnies had a chance to schedule a major opponent last weekend in a doubleheader at MSG that featured Mississippi State vs. Xavier, and instead chose ... Hofstra? Ugh.

2. Clemson (5-0) Best win so far: Wofford Odds of going undefeated: 10 million-to-1 Put up or shut up time: Sunday vs. Cincinnati Coach-on-the-hot-seat Larry Shyatt needed some empty-calorie Ws, but this is ridiculous.

3. New Orleans (6-0) Best win so far: Tulane Odds of going undefeated: 10 million-to-1 Put up or shut up time: Saturday at Hawaii For the love of Ervin Johnson, the Privateers are perfect only on paper. And Carl English & Co. will take that away, too, on Saturday.

4. Butler (7-0) Best win so far: Ball State Odds of going undefeated: 500,000-to-1 Put up or shut up time: Dec. 29 at Rainbow Classic (potentially vs. Western Kentucky) Watered-down Rainbow Classic could send Bulldogs into 2003 unscathed.

5. Hampton (4-0) Best win so far: Richmond Odds of going undefeated: 10 million-to-1 Put up or shut up time: Dec. 30 at Ohio State That win over Richmond looks better after the Spiders' upset of Stanford on Tuesday. New coach Bobby Collins has made fans forget the departed Steve (Boise on My Mind) Merfeld, now at Evansville.

6. Missouri (6-0) Best win so far: Austin Peay Odds of going undefeated: 50,000-to-1 Put up or shut up time: Saturday vs. Illinois We'll know more after this weekend's Border War.

7. Kent State (5-0) Best win so far: at Rhode Island Odds of going undefeated: 500,000-to-1 Put up or shut up time: Saturday at St. Bonaventure Antonio Gates is one of my favorite players -- but the Road to Perfection becomes the Road to Perdition this weekend in upstate New York.

8. Georgetown (6-0) Best win so far: South Carolina Odds of going undefeated: 100,000-to-1 Put up or shut up time: Dec. 28 at Virginia John Thompson is irate that St. Leo and Hawaii-Hilo aren't on the docket this year.

9. Duke (6-0) Best win so far: Davidson Odds of going undefeated: 10,000-to-1 Put up or shut up time: Jan. 8 vs. Georgetown Yes, beating Davidson was bigger than beating Ohio State. (That's more a reflection on Davidson than the Buckeyes.) But we still think the young Devils have some growing pains ahead.

10. East Carolina (7-0) Best win so far: Mississippi Odds of going undefeated: 100,000-to-1 Put up or shut up time: Dec. 30 vs. Marquette You know what? I wouldn't be surprised if Bill Herrion's boys beat Marquette in the arena no C-USA team wants to visit.

11. UConn (6-0) Best win so far: at Vanderbilt Odds of going undefeated: 25,000-to-1 Put up or shut up time: Jan. 7 at Oklahoma More Big East nonsense. Gotta say I'm looking forward to the Oklahoma game, though.

12. Saint Joseph's (6-0) Best win so far: at Boston College Odds of going undefeated: 15,000-to-1 Put up or shut up time: Dec. 31 at Gonzaga Nice start by the Hawks after last year's disappointment. Lower odds are given because they face a less daunting conference slate than, say, Missouri.

13. Wake Forest (4-0) Best win so far: at Wisconsin Odds of going undefeated: 50,000-to-1 Put up or shut up time: Saturday vs. St. John's C'mon guys, play a few more games! Josh Howard is a vastly underrated player.

TEAMS THAT CAN BACK IT UP (most deserving teams first)

1. Indiana (8-0) Legit wins: Gonzaga, Virginia, Maryland, Purdue Odds of going undefeated: 9,000-to-1 Next big test: Saturday vs Kentucky How great would it be to see Mike Davis' Hoosiers challenge Bob Knight's mythical '76 Hoosiers for hoops greatness? Won't happen, but IU has the best resume of any perfect team this season.

2. Alabama (7-0) Legit wins: Oklahoma, Ohio State Odds of going undefeated: 10,000-to-1 Next big test: Jan. 4 vs. Xavier Coach Mark Gottfried learned the perils of cupcake scheduling a year ago -- now he'll never do it again.

3. Creighton (8-0) Legit wins: Notre Dame, BYU Odds of going undefeated: 12,000-to-1 Next big test: Dec. 31 at Xavier The 'Bag's favorite team of the year so far, the Bluejays shouldn't look past Saturday's date at Nebraska (which blew out Minnesota in Lincoln earlier this month). But we're a meritocracy here, and Creighton's neutral-court win over Notre Dame trumps Arizona's home-court win over Texas.

4. Arizona (5-0) Legit wins: Western Kentucky, Texas Odds of going undefeated: 3,000-to-1 Next big test: Saturday at LSU I still think the Wildcats are a clear No. 1 ahead of any team ranked No. 2-20. But it's going to be awfully tough to stay perfect through trips to Baton Rouge, Eugene and Lawrence without Luke Walton at 100 percent.

5. Illinois (7-0) Legit win: North Carolina Odds of going undefeated: 30,000-to-1 Next big test: Saturday vs. Missouri The Illini's dismantling of North Carolina made us wonder: Has Bill Self's team joined the elite a year ahead of schedule?

LeBron madness -- my take

Got two thoughtful questions this week protesting the hype of Akron, Ohio, high schooler LeBron James (from Alicia Groh of Minneapolis and Patrick Miller of Roan Mountain, Tenn.). And while we all agree this isn't a college hoops topic, I feel like I should respond considering I wrote the Sports Illustrated cover story on James that introduced him to the nation last February.

A lot of respected writers, including SI's veteran NBA scribes Jack McCallum (his take) and Phil Taylor (his take), have taken the media (including our own mag) to task over what they feel is excessive coverage that sets a bad precedent for the future. As much as I respect those guys, and as much as I believe that some media members have been guilty of hyperventilating over James (both positive and negative), I disagree with the argument that SI shouldn't have put James on its cover.

Look, I'm as anti-hysteria as McCallum and Taylor are. But what it comes down to is this: James is not simply "this year's phenom," as my pal Jack Mac contends. At minimum, he is the kind of high school player who comes along only once every five years, and he may even be rarer than that. At the ABCD camp before his junior year, James proved he was the top prep player in the nation, a possessor of unmatched court vision (at that level, at least), and he would have been an NBA lottery pick (possibly the No. 1 overall selection) after his junior year even if the media didn't exist. What's more, these judgments are coming from professional observers (myself included) who have seen James play many times -- not just one time, in one game, on national TV.

A general rule: Never listen to anyone who bases their opinion on one game, whether it's positive or negative.

I too will be troubled if the media starts covering the top high school player every year in the way we've covered LeBron. And I've been very careful (as opposed to, say, Dick Vitale) to measure the language I use in the articles I've written about him. But even from the most sober-minded perspective, James is a special, special player. Will he struggle at times in his transition to the NBA? Sure. Does he need to improve certain aspects of his game (particularly defense)? Of course. But if Jack Mac is going to predict that James' rookie stats won't exceed those of Amare Stoudemire, well, I'll bite on that one. A more appropriate wager would be to compare their stats (and their teams' won-loss records) from their fourth year in the league, but for expediency's sake, Jack, I'll say it now: As long as he's healthy, James's rookie numbers will be better than Stoudemire's.

Reader queries

Need some reader help on a couple of intriguing questions. The first comes from Al Wilkerson of Canton, Mich.:

"I am a former high school basketball coach, and we were talking at school the other day about the number of basketball players who have won a high school state championship, an NCAA Championship and an NBA championship. Here in Michigan, Magic Johnson and Glen Rice come to mind. Any others from around the country?"

The second comes from Wade Vandort of Bellevue, Wash.: "Is there any other player except Gary Payton who is his conference's (Pac-10) all-time leader in assists and steals and is also his NBA franchise's all-time leader in assists and steals?"

Can anyone provide any help on these questions? Send your answers HERE.

The elusive No. 43

In response to our search for the best college player (post-1985) who wore No. 43, Dennis Thomas of Louisville, Ky., writes that Pervis Ellison did indeed wear No. 43 while winning the national championship during his freshman year. We'll give the nod to Never Nervous over other reader suggestions, which included Corie Blount, A.J. Granger, Jake Voskuhl, Eric Leckner, Craig Kilborn, Baskerville Holmes and Lorenzo Charles.

And we'll never discuss player numbers in this column again. Ever. (Though I'm still glad we made the attempt.)

Errata

Apologies for omitting three head coaches during last week's discussion of Mike Krzyzewski's disciples in the business: SMU's Mike Dement, Fairfield's Tim O'Toole and Virginia Commonwealth's Jeff Capel. Here's the complete statistical breakdown:

	Season	Record	NCAA tourneys	Deepest run
Quin Snyder	4th	66-38 (.635)	3 (4-3 record)	Elite Eight
Mike Brey	8th	148-74 (.667)	4 (2-4 record)	Second Round
Tommy Amaker	6th	79-79 (.500)	1 (2-1 record)	Sweet 16
David Henderson	3rd	36-28 (.563)	0	N/A
Mike Dement	17th	235-219 (.518)	1 (0-1 record)	First Round
Tim O'Toole	4th	41-49 (.456)	0	N/A
Jeff Capel	1st	3-3 (.500)	0	N/A

WATN

Sorry guys. Been on the road for the last two weeks on mag duty, and haven't had a chance to track down Derrick Chievous or U.S. Reed yet. We'll get back on it after the holidays.

Separated at Birth

SEPARATED AT BIRTH? Stansbury Gill

Mississippi State's Rick Stansbury and singer Vince Gill.
--Tracie Martin, Lexington, Ky.

SEPARATED AT BIRTH? Marcus McNair

Western Kentucky's Chris Marcus and the NFL's Steve McNair.
--Dustin Lewis, Elizabethtown, Ky.

SEPARATED AT BIRTH? Darby Jernigan

Ohio State guards Brent Darby and Emonte Jernigan.
--Bill Tippie, Hilliard, Ohio

Have a great holiday!

Photographs by Brian Loden/AP Photo, John Bazemore/AP Photo, Elsa/Getty Images, Ronald Martinez/Getty Images, Nathan Martin/AP Photo, Chris Putman/Ap Photo

Sports Illustrated senior writer Grant Wahl answers your college basketball questions every Wednesday. Click here to send him a question.

 

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