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This year's Magic Eight

Posted: Wednesday January 08, 2003 2:23 PM

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

The 'Bag generally isn't a fan of guarantees. They never did much for Patrick Ewing, after all, and you can set yourself up for a steaming meal of corvus brachyrhynchos. Yet we've had a 100-percent success rate over the last three years with the 'Bag's Magic Eight^TM, the January octet from which we GUARANTEE the national champion will emerge (see: Michigan State '00, Duke '01 and Maryland '02). The lack of dominant teams makes this year's picks perhaps the hardest yet, but here goes (in alphabetical order):

ARIZONA: The best team in the country, no matter what the polls say. Beating Texas and Oregon (at Mac Court) without Luke Walton shows how talented the Wildcats are, and the roster has a wealth of NCAA tournament experience.

CREIGHTON: The 'Jays are no joke. In fact, with a senior-laden, tourney-tested lineup, they have every chance to break the 23-year drought of mid-majors in the Final Four. And once you get to the Final Four, well, anything can happen.

DUKE: Still undefeated, the Blue Devils are only now starting to figure out their roles. If the freshmen don't freak out in March -- and it says here Coach K and Chris Duhon won't let them -- then Title No. 4 could be headed to K-ville.

FLORIDA: The Gators made a huge statement with Tuesday's win at Mississippi State. If Christian Drejer can fit in once he returns from injury, and Brett Nelson regains some consistency, Billy Donovan's team will be scary.

INDIANA: I won't let a couple losses dampen my enthusiasm for what Mike Davis has wrought in Bloomington: a team of winners who never take a game off.

KANSAS: The Jayhawks have it rolling now, and a big reason is the resurgence of sophomore point guard Aaron Miles. Sorry, Seth Davis: Roy Williams could still win his ring even without the injured Wayne Simien (though the Warden's presence surely would help matters).

MISSISSIPPI STATE: Tuesday's loss to Florida notwithstanding, I'm awfully impressed with the inside-outside combo of Mario Austin, Derrick Zimmerman and Tim Bowers. And, yes, this repudiates my early-season claim that anyone voting the Bulldogs No. 1 was smoking crack.

PITTSBURGH: Just because the Panthers have a lame schedule doesn't mean I think they're a bad team, OK? Last year's Sweet 16 run will be immensely beneficial for Ben Howland's squad.

Keep in mind, by the way, that I'm saying six top-10 teams will not win the national title: Alabama (bad tourney mojo), Connecticut (point-guard deficiencies), Notre Dame (underutilizing the post), Texas (not enough to complement T.J. Ford), Oklahoma (more post problems) and Illinois (give 'em another year).

Take it to the bank.

LeBron James goes to Hollywood

"With LeBron staying at St. Vincent-St. Mary another year, the buzz around him should rise to an unprecedented level for a high school athlete."
—Sports Illustrated, Feb. 18, 2002

At the risk of quoting my own story, I dust off the SI archives to show you one thing: We saw LeBron Mania coming a year ago. We just didn't know exactly what it would entail. Last week I found out, spending four days with James' team as the traveling circus arrived in Los Angeles for a nationally televised game against Santa Ana's Mater Dei High.

Look for my story in this week's SI (with special reporting by George Dohrmann), but here are a few additional impressions:

Team LeBron isn't granting one-on-one interviews these days -- not even to Good Morning America, Time magazine or David Letterman -- and that's not necessarily a bad thing. "We want to create as normal an environment as we can for LeBron," says family friend Chris Dennis, who helps deal with all the requests (and is one LeBron associate who doesn't just have dollar signs in his eyes). "Some of the stuff can wait." In an environment where nobody is saying no right now, whether it's shoe companies or tournament organizers or media conglomerates, it's nice to see someone on James' end trying to dial down the insanity (no matter how difficult that might make it for guys like me). And yet ...

The shoe companies are still running amok. Seated at opposite ends of the court on Saturday were Team Nike (Phil Knight, George Raveling et al.) and Team Adidas (Sonny Vaccaro, Chris Rivers et al.), which are both pulling out all the stops to land LeBron. At the invitation-only "Adidas Superstars Lounge" hotel party thrown for James and NYC whiz kid Sebastian Telfair after the game, there were two jaw-dropping young women for every guy, an impressive feat considering none of the three teams in attendance was from the L.A. area. In other words, someone working for Adidas is rounding up high-school-aged eye candy to improve its chances in a business deal. Think about that for a moment.

Cut through the hype and the posing, and James appears to be a good kid who's well-liked by his teammates. Exhibit A: The sight of LeBron and pals joyously celebrating in the lobby of the Sheraton Gateway hotel last Friday night after their beloved Ohio State football team beat Miami in the national title game.

As I watched LeBron's personal security guard fend off a horde of autograph seekers the next night at Pauley Pavilion, I couldn't help but think of scenes from a year ago in Akron: LeBron silently praying before eating an unbothered meal with me and three of his pals at Applebee's; LeBron proudly showing off his poster-covered bedroom walls and his favorite DVD (Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the 'Hood); and LeBron teaching me some of the local lingo (though I still can't for the life of me figure out what the word shystie means). Let's hope some of the "kid" in James stays that way.

LeBron has already played twice on national television in his senior year of high school, and his schedule includes games in Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Chapel Hill, N.C., and Trenton, N.J. By contrast, during Michael Jordan's senior year at Laney High in Wilmington, N.C., he never had his games broadcast on local radio, much less on TV, and his team was forbidden to travel to any tournaments outside of New Hanover County.

Two-thirds of Pauley Pavilion, including Nike's Knight, departed before the start of Saturday's nightcap featuring Telfair's Lincoln High of Brooklyn. Bad move. Telfair went off, dropping one no-look pass after another and hitting so many circus shots that those who remained were on their feet. He finished with 30 points in a blowout of Vallejo (Calif.) High -- led by Duke-bound DeMarcus Nelson.

Check some of your preconceptions about LeBron and his posse at the door: One of his best friends, teammate Brandon Weems, is a National Honor Society member with a 3.7 GPA. And, yes, James (whose GPA has fluctuated between 2.8 and 3.2) takes homework with him on the road.

Three-level champs

Got tons of responses to the question from reader Al Wilkerson of Canton, Mich., who wanted to know which players have won a high school state championship, an NCAA championship and an NBA championship. Well, Al, Doug Ross of Cincinnati submits the following (including a fourth category, Olympic gold medals):

THREE TIMES A CHAMP
Player High School College NBA Bonus: Olympics

Jerry Lucas Middletown (Ohio) High '58 Ohio State '60 Knicks '73 Rome '60

Lucius Allen Kansas City (Kan.) Wyandotte '65 UCLA '67, '68 Bucks '71

Quinn Buckner Thornridge High (Phoenix, Ill.) '71, '72 Indiana '76 Celtics '84 Montreal '76

Rick Robey New Orleans Brother Martin '74 Kentucky '78 Celtics '81

Magic Johnson Lansing (Mich.) Everett '77 Michigan State '79 Lakers '80, '82, '85, '87, '88 Barcelona '92

Milt Wagner Camden (N.J.) High '79 Louisville '86 Lakers '88

Rodney McCray Mt. Vernon (N.Y.) High '78, '79 Louisville '80 Bulls '93

Billy Thompson Camden (N.J.) High '82 Louisville '86 Lakers '87, '88

Glen Rice Flint (Mich.) Northwestern '83, '84 Michigan '89 Lakers '00

Question time

On to the 'Bag, which is awfully thin this week due to the holiday layoff. Let's get some decent questions coming this week, folks!

Which college was the first to paint the outline of its home state on its court? I don't know, but my memory says North Carolina. What would Wyoming and Colorado do if they wanted their respective state outlines on their floors? And could fans even see Rhode Island's? As for Michigan or Hawaii, wouldn't you have these odd shapes sticking out away from the jump circle?
—T.J. Hemlinger, Muncie, Ind.

T.J., this question is just loopy enough for me to answer it. I have no idea if UNC was the first school to paint the outline of its home state on its basketball floor, but I do know that at one point in the last few years Hawaii did have the entire archipelago stretched across midcourt. As far as blocky-looking states that have their outline on the court, I know Kansas has one. Are there any others? Could we get any readers to help us put together a current list of schools which have their state outlined at midcourt?

And while we're at it, I'll take nominations for worst-looking court designs in college hoops history. Mine: the psychedelic Colorado court from the early 1990s that had more colored paint than plain-brown hardwood. Looked like an even sillier version of the Philadelphia 76ers' home court.

Your doctor says that you must avoid excessive stress and pressure. You have two job offers on the table: replacing Kentucky's Tubby Smith or replacing English national soccer coach Sven Goran Erickson. Which job do you take?
—Justin, Seattle

You take the England job. Far less effort, far more $$$$. Plus, you can still get Caffrey's Irish Ale over there to help deal with the stress.

I just wanted to thank you for giving East Carolina basketball its props. I am president of the organization that keeps college coaches from wanting to play in Minges Coliseum. Please check out our Web site (mingesmaniacs.org); I think you'll be impressed. We are better organized than the Cameron Crazies.
—Jonathan Medford, Greenville, N.C.

Nice work, guys. And now that you're 300 strong, you can be sure nobody in C-USA will look forward to playing there. (Just ask Marquette's Tom Crean.) I hope you decide to name your version of K-ville "Herrionopolis," which sounds like a cool Greek vacation island.

If any other college fan group can claim a better Web site than the Maniacs', send it to me here.

Station break: Three random things

There is, in fact, life after Caffrey's Irish Ale, the favorite beer of the 'Bag -- which has been removed from American shelves by the evil Coors Brewing Co. It's called Tetley's English Ale. It even comes with a kooky floating widget.

Had a nice conversation with 'Bag fan Jay Bilas down in LeBronLand last week. And, no, Jay's head did not explode.

Pix from the 'Bag and 'Bag Lady:

In theaters: Talk to Her. The best yet from Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar, which is saying something when you've also done Tie Me Up, Tie Me Down, Live Flesh and Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown. Bonus: Male lead Darío Grandinetti bears an eerie resemblance to SI columnist Steve Rushin.

On CD: Audioslave (Audioslave). Chris Cornell miraculously returns from the scrap heap and transports us back to 1994!