NCAA Powerhouse Teams This March

The annual NCAA College Basketball March Madness is here and a number of powerhouse teams will be coming in to fulfill what they believe to be their destiny this season.

The Duke Blue Devils (30-3) moved up two places from third after Connecticut and Villanova both lost in the Big East Tournament. The Blue Devils, who were ranked No. 1 for all but five weeks this year, earned 59 first-place votes and a total of 1,783 points from a national media panel.

The Connecticut Huskies (27-3), which was the only other team to earn a No. 1 ranking this year, fell to second after losing to Syracuse in the Big East quarterfinals. The Huskies still received 11 first-place votes and 1,709 total points.

The Villanova Wildcats (25-4) dropped from second to third after its Big East semifinal loss to Pittsburgh. The Wildcats garnered one No. 1 vote and 1,626 points.

The Memphis Tigers (30-3), which won the Conference USA regular-season and tournament crowns, moved up a spot to fourth. Each of the top four teams in the poll earned No. 1 seeds in the NCAA Tournament.

Gonzaga, which received one first-place vote, finished fifth, dropping one spot.

Ohio State was sixth, while Boston College and UCLA tied for seventh. Texas and North Carolina rounded out the top 10. The second 10 consisted of Florida, Kansas, Illinois, George Washington, Iowa, Pittsburgh, Washington, Tennessee, LSU and Nevada. Florida, Kansas and Iowa each moved up five spots after capturing their respective conference tournament titles this past weekend.

George Washington tumbled eight spots after losing its first game in the Atlantic-10 Tournament. Another surprise conference tournament winner, Syracuse, moved into the poll at No. 21 after being unranked the past six weeks.

The Orange, who had lost three straight entering the Big East Tournament, won four games in New York City behind the heroics of senior guard Gerry McNamara to capture their second straight conference tourney crown. West Virginia, Georgetown, Oklahoma and UAB completed this year's final poll.

Six Big East teams finished the season ranked, while the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 and SEC each had three teams in the final poll.

This year, it looks like the Big East Conference have the package to become the NCAA College Basketball Champions. The question still remains though if they can indeed become one. Log on to Bodog and see the odds on that.