In case you missed it, earlier this week, we unveiled our initial power rankings for the ACC’s Atlantic Division (see link).  College FootBlog continues our breakdown, this time with the teams from the Coastal Division.  From all indications, the Coastal Division is much deeper than their friends from the Atlantic.  Let’s take a look at what we should expect this fall.

Va Tech's Ryan Williams finshed fifth in the country in rushing yards per game last season (google images)

1.  Virginia Tech:  Although the Hokies lost a lost a lot on defense from last season’s squad, they were able to retain defensive coordinator Bud Foster despite him being on several programs’ wish list during the off-season.  Even with the youth and inexperience, it would not be wise to count the Va Tech defense out as long as Foster is running the show.  Offensively, the Hokies may have a running back tandem that can rival any other tandem in the country, including Alabama.  We already know what to expect from Sophomore Ryan Williams, who rushed for over 1,600 yards last season, but the Hokies also return Darren Evans, who missed last season with an ACL tear. 

2.  Miami:  After a 9-4 season in ’09, the Hurricanes are looking for an ACC Championship this season.  Randy Shannon’s team benefited greatly from a coaching overhaul last spring, and the results spoke for themselves last fall, especially on offense.  Jacory Harris returns at quarterback and will try to pick up where he left off last season, when he completed nearly 60% of his passes for over 3,300 yards.  Linebacker Sean Spence leads the ‘Canes defense, which was young but talented last season and still ranked 29th nationally in total defense.  The November 20th match up at home against Va Tech will have major implications on who represents the Coastal Division in the ACC Championship Game.

3.  North Carolina:  Butch Davis has done wonders in Chapel Hill, especially on defense.  The Tar Heels ranked sixth overall in total defense last season.  Linebacker Quan Sturdivant is a legitimate potential first round draft pick in next spring’s NFL Draft.  As great as the UNC defense was last year, the offense was anemic.  The ‘Heels ranked a dismal 108th in total offense last year, and that must change if they want to challenge Miami and Va Tech for the Coastal Division crown.  That means quarterback TJ Yates must improve on his 14 TD/15 Int’s from a season ago.

GT coach Paul Johnson will rely heavily on QB Josh Nesbitt to keep the 'Jackets rushing offense among the nation's best (google images)

4.  Georgia Tech:  We will see how much the loss of running back work horse Jonathan Dwyer will affect the offense, but quarterback Josh Nesbitt returns for his third season as the engineer of Paul Johnson’s tricky, triple option offense.  Running back Anthony Allen appears to be up the challenge of filling Dwyer’s role, but defensively, the Jackets must replace first round draft pick DE Derrick Morgan and long-time starter at safety, Morgan Burnett, which could be a daunting task.

5.  Virginia:  First year head coach Mike London has his work cut out for him, but Cavaliers fans are hoping he can bring the same results that he has produced throughout his career, specifically when he was their defensive coordinator from ’06-’07.  In that short amount of time, London’s defenses were among the nation’s finest, and handed the Miami Hurricanes their worst ever loss at the Orange Bowl when they shut them out 48-0.  With his ties to the Hampton Roads area and his tenacity as a coach, Virginia should be better, but it will likely take a couple of years before we see the Cavs making serious waves in the ACC.

6:  Duke:  The Blue Devils round out our power rankings for the Coastal Division.  After a couple of season’s head coach David Cutliffe has made strides and last season coached them to a 5-7 record, which is quite an accomplishment, considering that is the best record in Durham since 1994.  The departure of quarterback Thaddeus Lewis will hurt Duke quite a bit, and there appears to be no one who can fill that void.  Look for Cutliffe to be under .500, but he will likely be rewarded with another head coaching opportunity after this season.

Next week, College FootBlog will take a look at the Big Ten in another two-part breakdown.  Let us know your thoughts on our ACC breakdown and our power rankings that will be published in the next couple of weeks.

By Jay Ingles

As we approach the national semifinal games, let’s take a look at what you should watch for in Indianapolis:

1. Michigan State guard Korie Lucious. Lucious has gone from role player to X-factor in the absence of Spartan star Kalin Lucas. Lucious averaged just five points a game in the regular season but has scored better than ten a game since Lucas’ injury against Maryland. He even nailed a game-winning three as time expired against the Terrapins, showing a willingness to take the big shot and an ability to perform in the clutch. Lucious logged an impressive 37 minutes per game in Michigan State’s last two games.

2. Butler’s home-court advantage. The Bulldogs have a comfortable five-mile bus ride from their campus to Lucas Oil Stadium, which may give their game a decidedly home-court feel. This could have an impact on the performance of Butler’s younger stars, namely sophomores Gordon Hayward and Shelvin Mack. Nothing like the hometown fans cheering you on, especially when you’re a school the size of Butler.

3. West Virginia’s athleticism. The Mountaineers are big, they’re long, they’re mean. They’re just the team to give Duke, a team that lacks athleticism, serious problems. The Mountaineers’ zone defense can be very effective when they can use their length to cut off passing lanes. Duke crashes the offensive boards hard, but West Virginia may crash them even harder. If Bob Huggins’ team can use its athleticism to its advantage, they may very well win a national title.

4. Duke’s big three. Duke goes as Kyle Singler, Jon Scheyer, and Nolan Smith go. If you can’t shut down at least one of these guys, you’re not going to beat them. It’s as simple as that. They all play nearly the entire game and combine to take the vast majority of the Blue Devils’ field goal attempts. Singler and Scheyer may get more hype, but Smith can be downright scary (see his 29 points against Baylor). If these three have their way, Duke is going to have its way.

5. The unexpected. Nothing is certain in this NCAA Tournament, and there is a believable scenario under which each of these four teams could win the title. Thanks to the unlikely runs of Michigan State and Butler, there will be a five-seed playing in the national championship for the first time since 2002. We all have an idea who we think will win, but, let’s be honest, nobody really knows.

Brad Stevens, an Indy native, and his Butler squad will have hometown support in this year's Final Four.

By: Brian Mosgaller

So, the eve of the Final Four is finally upon us. And beyond the standard hyperbole of, ‘This is the best tournament ever!’ recited perfunctorily by the experts, the week’s media coverage has gravitated heavily – and understandably – toward the Butler Bulldogs. It makes sense; it is inarguably a special story. However, some of the pro-Butler, overly schmoozy portrayals of the team’s run may have turned some off. Which is why, I think it’s necessary to revisit the reasons why this underdog for the ages deserves your support…

1.) Butler is the flag-bearer for all mid-majors seeking real respect

Now, don’t get me wrong, George Mason was a fantastic story. Jim Larranaga was a lovable front man, and the Patriots knocked off tournament mainstays Michigan State, North Carolina and Connecticut to earn their way to the national semifinals. Unfortunately, it was a lighting-in-a-bottle moment. George Mason is a solid program, in a solid, mid-major league, that caught fire and a number of breaks on their way to the most magical run in tournament history.

Butler is different. The program has reached the tournament nine times in the past 14 years, with an infamous 25-5 snub in 2002. It is a program that has given us a memorable, Darnell Archey-led run to the Sweet Sixteen in 2003, and another second-weekend run behind A.J. Graves in 2007. They have won seven Horizon League titles since 2001. Butler is a damn good basketball school.

Which is what makes this special. They aren’t a blind squirrel finding a nut. Rather, they are a quality mid-major that has built to this point and finally gotten to the promised land. It was commonly assumed that Gonzaga – the former posterchild for mid-major success – would be the first non-BCS university to crash the party. Instead, it’s Butler. But either way, their trip validates the long-term success of a handful of mid-majors that have been able to sustain success.

2.) The hometown factor

Although the Michigan State in Detroit theme from last year’s Dance was neat, MSU is 90 miles away from Detroit. Butler is mere miles from Indy. They are the first school to legitimately have a hometown Final Four game since UCLA in 1972 – and I’m willing to wager the Bruins didn’t need the hometown boost. With Butler, though, the fans will be a very influential factor. Which leads me to…

3.) Hoosiers

Is there any place more deserving and fitting of this run than Butler and the state of Indiana? Butler, a small-school from basketball-crazy Indianapolis, knocks off more heralded foes en route to an unlikely destination in a prestigious championship event. Seriously? You can’t write this stuff. Someone check the roster, Jimmy Chitwood must be the leading scorer.

There isn’t a state in the union more frequently or passionately associated with the sport of basketball than Indiana. And Indiana is also a blue-collar Midwest state with a bit of an inferiority complex to it (see: ESPN’s Reggie Miller v. Knicks documentary). Now, we have the team that actually plays in the building that saw Milan High miraculously triumph over Muncie High (the basis of the famous movie, which also happened to be filmed at Hinkle Fieldhouse, Butler’s home arena), reaching the Final Four in its home city. It is nothing short of a fairytale.

4.) Team identity

Making the powerful story all the more fitting, is that Butler didn’t stray from the state’s basketball genetics in order to reach this peak. Two-thirds of the current roster hails from the Hoosier State, including first- and third-leading scorers, Gordon Hayward and Matt Howard, respectively. Head coach Brad Stevens grew up in an Indianapolis suburb and his team reflects the state’s basketball M.O.

The Bulldogs aren’t tall – Howard holds down the fort in the post at a relatively diminutive 6-8 – but they are efficient with the ball, shoot it well and play hard-nosed defense. As a team, the Horizon League champs shot a healthy 45 percent on the year, with four of the squad’s five starters gunning at clips in excess of 46 percent. They managed a respectable 1.7 turnover margin, and finished ninth in the country in defense, allowing just 59.6 points per game. In other words, not only does Butler represent Indiana this weekend, but they’ve reflected the state’s basketball values all decade.

5.) Who else are you going to root for?

Honestly, come on. Outside of Durham, the state of West Virginia and the state to the north of this year’s finals, there is no acceptable reason not to pull for Butler. Yeah, West Virginia is in its first Final Four since the late-1950s. But they also play in the Big East and have an enrollment more than five times that of Butler. And yes, Michigan State coping with and surviving the loss of its leader, Kalin Lucas, is pretty special. But the Spartans and Tom Izzo have been there six out of the last 12 years – not quite as special anymore, huh? And Duke, well, let’s just say, I don’t think I could come up with three reasons to root for the Blue Devils.

No, instead, indulge yourself and root for the hometown underdog. Let the story suck you in. And as soon as you feel like a chump for doing so, simply revisit this list.

I think it’s safe to say that March Madness 2010 has changed the way that fans will evaluate their brackets moving forward. Teams like St. Mary’s and Northern Iowa came from no where to shock the world and a few number one ranked teams in the process.

What doesn’t come as a surprise are the four teams that reached the Final Four. No, I did not select these four teams to be here come April, but I wasn’t surprised to see that it was these teams left. Below is a breakdown of each team; how they got here and what it’ll take to win it all.

Duke Blue Devils

How they got here:

Duke is Duke. Coach K is Coach K. Year after year, the Blue Devils are favorites to make it this far, but this year they actually succeeded. Duke’s big three has put the team on their backs and haven’t looked back. Reaching the Final Four on an eight game win streak, this team is no stranger to the Final Four making it for the 11th time under Coach K. Jon Scheyer, Kyle Singler and Nolan Smith are all averaging over 17 points and Brian Zoubek has an impressive 7.6 rebounds per game. Duke beat impressive California, Purdue and Baylor squads on their road to Indy.

Why they’ll win it:

Determination. This team is driven. Other than being Las Vegas’ betting favorite, this team can play. Zoubek and Scheyer are Seniors; Singular and Smith both know that this is their chance to win it all. Squaring up against West Virginia in their Final Four match-up, the Blue Devils outscore the Mountaineers by five ppg and hold opponents to two less points. Aside from the numbers, they have Coach K drawing up their plays. His legendary experience will be enough to fire up his team and get them ready to play the biggest games of their lives.

West Virginia Mountaineers

How they got here:

While Cornell was making Kentucky’s job easier on the upper half of their tier, West Virginia was busy taking down such powers as Missouri, Washington and Kentucky. Kentucky itself was a huge victory for Bob Huggins, who is now 8-1 versus John Calipari all time, but Washington was overlooked being an 11 seed reaching the Sweet Sixteen. Da’Sean Butler has been averaging 17.3 ppg this tournament and this includes his nine points in his 28 minutes played against Morgan State in the opening round. Oh, I guess winning their last 10 including a Big East Championship puts them on a roll too.

Why they’ll win it:

Even though they were a number two seed in their region, no one thought they had a chance. This is especially true because Kentucky was most of America’s favorite to win it all. Winning 73-66, West Virginia led the entire game against what was thought to be the nation’s best team. Their experience also may have something to do with it because in their victory over Kentucky four Mountaineers were in double-digits. Their 43.5% shooting from beyond the arc will be a key to beating Duke who mixes between a zone and tough man.

Michigan State Spartans

How they got here:

After the fall of Kalin Lucas, no one expected this squad to make it past Northern Iowa let alone Tennessee. However, Korie Lucious has stepped in to fill Lucas’ roll and he has done so accordingly. Raymar Morgan has emerged as this teams on-court captain. Even though their game with Tennessee came down to an iffy call in the final two seconds, Michigan State’s coach Tom Izzo is no stranger to the Final Four with six life-time trips putting him 5th all time. Also, this is the teams second trip in the last two years. I’d say this team is hot.

Why they’ll win it:

If it was up to me, I’d say Michigan State is least likely to win it all because of the downing of Kalin Lucas. Then again, millions have been saying this for the past two games. Butler better prepare for the high-flying, shoot-anywhere-on-the-court antics of Lucious because he will kill you with the three ball if you let him. Plus, if Kansas was selected most to win it all in most all brackets filled, that should say something about the team from the region that emerged instead. Don’t count out the Spartans come April 5th at 9:21 p.m.

Butler Bulldogs

How they got here:

I wrote an article about this team almost a month ago saying that they are the country’s hottest team heading down the stretch. Winning their last 18 games of the season and the Horizon League easily, Butler has been putting their game where everyone else’s mouth is. Now winners of their last 25, Butler doesn’t plan on stopping because they are viewed as college basketball’s Boise State. Only difference, they actually get a shot at the National Championship come Sunday.

Why they’ll win it:

Like I recently said, they are winners in their last 25 games and that counts as something. A young team with experience, Butler has blown everyone out on their road to Indianapolis including a seven-point victory over Kansas State to reach the Final Four. Butler has the lowest points-against-average this season with an impressive 59.4 ppg. Also, Butler has the nation’s least amount of losses title with four. This team knows how to win big games and with four members of their team averaging over double-digits, there is no ‘I’ in Butler (or Bulldogs for that matter).

Now that you have seen the reasons that these are the four teams left, are you still happy with your bracket down the stretch?

By Jay Ingles

In a NCAA Tournament that seemed to have a few clear favorites to win the national championship, it turns out that it wasn’t so predictable after all.

Arguably the three best teams – Kansas, Syracuse, and Kentucky – are done. Kentucky at least managed to make its regional final game, while Syracuse didn’t get past the Sweet Sixteen and Kansas couldn’t even make it out of the second round.

The No. 2 seeds couldn’t hold down the fort either. Villanova was upset in the second round, Ohio State lost in the Sweet Sixteen, and Kansas State fell a game short of the final four.

So with the dust settled, we are left with a one, a two, and two five-seeds to decide this year’s national champion.

The lone one-seed is the Duke Blue Devils, who have rolled nearly uncontested to Indianapolis with an average margin of victory of 16 points in its four tournament wins.  Mike Kryzewski’s squad is making its first Final Four appearance since 2004, and is looking for its first National Championship since 2001.

West Virginia was the only two-seed to advance to the Final Four. The Mountaineers experience proved too much for the east region No. 1 seed Kentucky – a team who relied heavily on its freshmen – in the regional final. West Virginia had not made a Final Four since 1959, when they lost in the national championship.

Butler has had tournament success recently, but this year’s team has achieved the first Final Four appearance in school history. The Bulldogs have an effective blend of youth and experience that has propelled them over 1-seed Syracuse and 2-seed Kansas State. It will be interesting to see how Butler performs against perennial tourney standout Michigan State in a game that guarantees a five-seed playing for the national title.

Which brings us to the Spartans. Tom Izzo’s bunch was the national runner-up last year, but his team was not given much of a chance at a repeat performance entering this year’s tournament. But Izzo again proved why he is one of the game’s elite coaches, leading Michigan State, without star point guard Kalin Lucas, back to the Final Four.

If we have learned anything from the tournament thus far, it is to expect the unexpected. This weekend should provide an exciting conclusion to this college basketball season.

March Madness is upon us. Well, already upon us and in more than just full swing. We’ve seen the number one OVERALL seed, Kansas, taken out by a team from the Missouri Valley Conference, Northern Iowa. Need I run that by again? NORTHERN IOWA defeated KANSAS, the number one team IN THE COUNTRY. So, BRACKET BUSTER ALERT! To those who do the tournament challenge and fill out brackets year after year and suffer through agony and pain, I’m sorry for I do feel your pain. My bracket had Kansas winning it all against Kentucky. But that just won’t happen now will it? A team consisted of two possible All Americans, Sherron Collins and Cole Aldrich, lost to a team with not one player who can even be a thought in those who consider the All American team. Then again, it is a form of madness for a reason.

Not only was Kansas a bracket buster, but in comes Ohio, a team who wasn’t even the number one seed in their respective conference and only got into the tournament because they won the MAC conference tournament. They played a highly touted Georgetown team with former number one overall recruit Greg Munroe, a 6′ 10″ PF who dominated the paint, scoring and rebound wise. Who cares about top recruits? Apparently, Ohio does not. What Ohio had was a lot of determination and heart and as a result, Ohio beats Georgetown in the first round, 97-83. It wasn’t even a close game! BRACKET BUSTER! According to CBSSports.com, 98.5 % of their users predicted that Georgetown would win. 1.5% of CBSSports.com users apparently knew what was really going to happen. Thankfully, I was part of the 98.5%. Beautiful.Yet again, it is a form of madness for a reason.

And the misery just doesn’t like one or two teams. Oh no it doesn’t. In my case, seems as though misery came in with about ten teams. Villanova, Pittsburgh, Vanderbilt, and Marquette are just a four of the ten teams not present in the real day tournament but seem to be playing in my bracket. And I will mention again, BRACKET BUSTER! Villanova and Marquette hurt most since they were going to make it to the elite eight. Other teams like Notre Dame and Temple I should have seen happening. The one that hurt most was Kansas, as stated earlier. They were to be my champions. Oh delightful.

And now the tournament is clearing up. 16 teams are now separating themselves from the pack. We’ve got the ‘who are they?’ in Cornell, Northern Iowa, and St. Mary’s. We’ve got the favorites in Duke, Kentucky, and Syracuse. All of these teams are looking towards the title of ‘Best Men’s College Basketball Team’ to bring home to their respective schools. Each team has been practicing day in and day out for a shot at the title, beating conference foes and non-conference powerhouses. They’ve been looking over tapes of each game and figuring out what could they strategically do in order to beat them. It is quite the journey and quite the stressful path.

Then again, there is a reason why this tournament is so enticing and mind blowing. There is a reason why Cinderella stories are used on a frequent metaphorical basis. Its the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, or as most of us sports fans refer it to, March Madness.