The NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament Selection Sunday is now just four days away. There are about 48 teams that have either already qualified or will be clear cut at large selections. Another seven small conferences will crown champions between now and Sunday. That leaves about 15 teams fighting for 10 remaining at large spots. Please visit my March Madness pages (menu option above) to see my latest "bubble" analysis and NCAA Tournament Trends featuring data through last season's games.

Boston College is no doubt going to NCAA Tournament, probably as a #4 or #5 seed. Al Skinner and Company have put together another excellent regular season. The question is: will they have the postseason success this year that has eluded them in four recent trips to the NCAA Tournament? BC has won 134 games since the start of the 2000-2001 season but that success has translated into only three NCAA tourney victories (all in the first round). The table below shows the teams with the most wins since 2000-01 among those in the six major conferences (ACC, Big East, Big XII, Big Ten, Pac Ten, SEC).

This year, the Eagles appear to be peaking at the right time. Since an 0-3 start to the ACC season, BC has won 11 or 13 and one of those losses was a two point heartbreaker against Duke. BC has been winning but they really haven't put it all together. They have rarely played badly. Three of their six losses were by two points and the Michigan State game was close until the last minute. At the same time, they haven't had many dominant performances against conference foes. Here's the good news and the bad news (or the bad news and the good news if you are a BC hater).

The Good News

1. Craig Smith and Jared Dudley -- Craig Smith could be on his way to becoming a First Team All American. The senior forward is averaging 17 points and 8.5 rebounds per game. He's also chipped in with 2.6 assists per game. Smith's passing has been exceptional in the second half of the season. Smith has 42 assists in his last 11 ACC games. Dudley's numbers are similar -- 16.3 points, 6.9 rebounds and 3.3 assists. He's third in the ACC in assist to turnover ratio. Dudley has thrived in big situations, including down the stretch against Clemson a few weeks ago.



2. Louis Hinnant -- The senior guard battled through a rough patch in the middle of the ACC season but is now playing excellent basketball. During a four game stretch in late Jan/early Feb, Hinnant turned the ball over 16 times (to go with only 15 assists). In the seven games since, Hinnant has 29 assists and only 9 turnovers (a 3.2 to 1 ratio). He leads the ACC in assist to turnover ratio (2.1). Hinnant is not known as a shooter, but he's made some very big shots late in the game in recent weeks. Overall, Hinnant is shooting 43.2% from three point range (47% in his last 10 games).



3. Sean Williams -- One of the main reasons why BC struggled in the early season (four losses in their first 15 games) was that their shot blocking Sophomore sensation was on suspension for the entire first third of the season. Although Williams has not quite lived up to expectations this season, he has slowly but surely improved and is making a big impact on the defensive side of the floor. Williams was Superman against NC State, blocking eight shots including a potential three pointer that could have won the game for the Wolfpack in overtime. He has made some huge defensive plays at the end of other conference games as well. Williams has 22 blocked shots in his last seven games. To get the Final Four, BC will need a dominant Sean Williams and Al Skinner will need to give him the necessary minutes.



4. Experience -- BC starts two seniors and two juniors that have pretty much started every game since they arrived on campus. These four players have played in four NCAA Tournament games. BC is one of the more experienced teams in the tournament and that can only help their chances.



5. Defense -- Boston College had big problems defending the three point line early in the ACC season. BC's first three conference foes in January each shot better than 50% from behind the three point line (BC lost two of those games). In fact, ACC opponents shot 40% or better from behind the arc in eight consecutive games beginning on January 8th (an average of 47%). In the seven ACC games since then, it has only happened once (an average of 34%).

The Bad News

1. Inconsistency -- Most of the BC roster has been terribly inconsistent, if not game to game then half to half. BC rarely starts well or finishes well. As great as Craig Smith and Jared Dudley have played, they have shown a tendency to disappear on the offensive end for long periods of time. Freshman Tyrese Rice has been a streaky, both in his shooting and in making turnovers. This of course is expected with a freshman. It is not expected, however, from a seasoned junior like Sean Marshall, the most inconsistent of the bunch. To cite an example, Marshall played brilliantly in a big win at NC State (22 points, 8 rebounds). But, he scored just eight total points in the next two games at home against the two bottom feeders of the ACC, Wake Forest and Virginia Tech. He even tossed up an airball on a free throw as BC was trying to ice the game against the Hokies.



2. Free Throws -- Free throws clearly cost BC wins at Maryland and Georgia Tech. Free throws nearly cost them several other ACC games. The numbers are quite horrendous. The Eagles have shot 60% or poorer from the line in half of their ACC games. Not only that, but BC seems to get worse in the final five minutes of close games. It seems to have gotten into their heads. Jared Dudley, for example, has had performances of 9/9, 10/10, and 11/12 from the line. He's also been 4/10 and 2/7 and 0/4. Craig Smith had a stretch where he made 38 of 44 in a five game period (86%). Since then he's only 35 for 65 (54%). It's hard to figure. Free throws, more than anything, will determine BC's postseason fate.



3. Battling the Press -- BC has had a very difficult time breaking the full court press this year. The last thing the Eagles need to is draw a quick team with a great full court press in the NCAA Tournament.

It is impossible to predict how BC will perform in the NCAA Tournament. They have the tools to get to the Final Four but they also have the deficiencies to be eliminated by a 13 seed in the first round. We'll certainly know a lot more about their chances after the pairings are announced on Sunday afternoon.

I'm having a hard time getting excited about the World Baseball Classic. Obviously, I hope the United States wins, but if they don't, I can't see myself being bothered by it for more than half a second. In fact, the WBC could create some interesting loyalty conflicts. What if Roger Clemens faces Big Papi with the championship game on the line? Am I really going to root for Clemens? I don't think so.

The WBC has also turned me off because of all of the "which country should so and so play for" nonsense. This isn't the Olympics. I don't care if Mike Piazza plays for Italy. I couldn't care less if A-Rod plays for the Dominican team or the USA, nor should anyone else. I guess when you are making $10 million per year and work eight months per year, you have time to worry about this stuff.

The Celtics are playing some decent basketball just in time to (a) miss the playoffs and (b) screw up their lottery position. The Celtics are having a tough time escaping NBA purgatory. That is, they are not good enough to go deep in the playoffs but not bad enough to have a legit shot at a franchise player in the draft (not that there are any franchise players in this year's draft). The Celtics are currently 3 1/2 games behind Milwaukee for the final playoff spot and they play the Bucks on Friday. With 21 games left that will be pretty close to a do or die game for the Celtics as far as the playoffs go. More importantly, the Celtics are 4 1/2 behind Philly and Washington for the 6 and 7 spots. If the C's could somehow figure out a way to finish 6th, they could actually be competitive in the first round. Right now, the 6th seed would play New Jersey. Playoffs or not, the Celtics are playing better basketball and I am more encouraged than I was earlier in the season. Here's why:

1. Paul Pierce -- Pierce seemed to be getting worse between the 01-02 season and the 03-04 season, but he played better last season and this year has probably been the best of his career. He is coming off the best month of his career. Pierce has set a team record by scoring 30 or more points in seven consecutive games. He's averaged more than 33 points per game since the beginning of February to raise his scoring average to 27.2. Pierce is only 28 years old which gives the Celtics some good options. They can either build around him or trade him in the offseason and get some pretty solid value in return.



2. Delonte West -- Delonte West's game has been steadily improving this season. His scoring average has improved in every month this season reaching 14.1 ppg in February. His assist to turnover ratio is better than 2.5 to 1. He's even chipped in with 4.3 rebounds per game. You can't argue with his shooting (50% from the field, 41% from the arc and 85% from the line).



3. Ryan Gomes -- The rookie from Providence has come out of nowhere to post big numbers of late. After playing sparingly through mid-February, Gomes has been given a chance and has responded by scoring in double figures in 10 of 11 games and getting eight or more rebounds in seven of those games. Gomes grabbed 17 rebounds in a win over Portland and has scored a total of 56 points in his last two games.

I still have very high hopes for second year players Al Jefferson, who has had his ups and downs, and Tony Allen, who has had a rough year on and off the court. Orien Greene and Gerald Green could also be outstanding players down the road. Kendrick Perkins has shown small flashes of brilliance.

I think I have figured out the formula. Every four years, the number of hours of Winter Olympics coverage that I watch drops by half. I figure that I watched about 64 hours of the 1984 Winter Games and I tuned in for about an hour this year. One day I Tivoed seven hours of coverage and planned to watch the interesting parts. It took me about 23 minutes and most of that was fast forwarding. The Winter Games have always had an aspect of ridiculousness. After all, ski jumping and the biathlon have been around for ages and it's not like figure skating is a real sport. The Winter Olympics really became irrelevant, however, when they added snowboarding as a medal event. The snowboard racing is bad enough, but snowboard halfpipe? Are you kidding me? This is like having skateboarding in the Summer Olympics. I think the gold medal lost its prestige the minute Carrot Top won one. My sisters and I used to go down hills pretty fast on those red plastic sleds. Maybe we should have won gold medals.

After winning his gold medal, Carrot Top said in an interview that snowboarders don't really train for their events and partying the night before the competition is par for the course. I'm sure that's comforting to all of the speed skaters who trained by waking up at 5am every morning for about a decade and never won a medal. It seems that we're about four years away from awarding Olympic medals for drunken ice fishing.

Bryant Gumbel stirred up some controversy when he stated, referring to the Winter Games, "try not to laugh when someone says these are the world's greatest athletes, despite a paucity of blacks that makes the Winter Games look like a GOP convention." The comments were made on Gumbel's HBO show Real Sports. I've never cared about Bryant Gumbel one way or another, but I've always thought of him as a professional so these comments are very surprising. Sure there is a paucity of blacks in the Winter Olympics. There is also a paucity of white kids from Georgia, Hawaiians and bartenders from Cancun. Bryant should try looking at a weather map once in a while. My guess as to why Gumbel made these silly comments is that he was looking for some "street cred." Gumbel has been shamefully and unfairly ridiculed in the past for being "too white." As for the GOP comments, if Gumbel throws the segment into a movie, he is guaranteed to be nominated for an Academy Award next year. If were to add some sympathy and admiration for suicide bombers, he might even win an Oscar.