Over the last couple of months, we’ve focused much of our NBA attention on the three blockbuster trades that went down within a couple weeks of each other. We spoke highly of the Lakers’ trade theft of Pau Gasol, and expressed some doubts about the moves for Jason Kidd and Shaquille O’Neal. Well, it turns out those concerns were justified. Pau’s Lakers? Moving on. J-Kidd and the Big Cactus? Gone fishin’.

Remember when there were whispers about the Mavericks breaking the Chicago Bulls’ record for most wins in a season last year? All was well in Dallas; they had the MVP, a rising star in Josh Howard and the bitter taste of defeat from their loss in the 2006 NBA Finals. But after falling to the upstart Golden State Warriors, the Mavs’ earth has seemingly rotated off their axis.

A more experienced team like the Mavs should not have been ousted in five games by the Hornets. As good as New Orleans has been all year, you would expect Dallas to show up in the postseason because of what happened last year. Didn’t happen. And that trade for Kidd turned out to be a nightmare, as the future Hall of Famer was abused by Chris Paul in five straight games. After such a great 2006 season, the Mavs’ entire franchise now appears to be snake bitten. Where do they go from here? They have a guy in Dirk Nowitzki who still refuses to show up in big games. And now they’re without their future point guard in Devin Harris, now playing for the Nets. Mark Cuban has done some great things over the years, but he screwed the pooch this time.

The Suns knew that something had to change. They had found out that defense wins championships after getting shellacked by the Spurs in two of the last three postseasons. But even with two giants inside, the Suns had no answer for the Spurs, who still managed to fly under the radar before the series started. All of the focus was on Shaq’s Suns, but how about those Spurs? We know how good they are, we just always seem to forget it. With two aging players in Steve Nash and Shaq, the Suns’ window of opportunity appears to be closing. Hell, it already has for their head coach.

So much for that. The Mavs and Suns made these blockbuster deals looking towards glory in April, May and June. But all of that now appears to be thrown out the window. But hey, at least Pau worked out.

An NCAA Tournament full of incredible performances by midmajors has now given way to four #1 seeds in the Final Four, something that’s never been accomplished in the NCAA Tournament. While some people complain about the “chalk” of this Final Four, we’re sure to close this thing out with three incredible matchups. Without further ado, a brief breakdown of the Final Four, which begins at 6:00 PM EST tomorrow.

UCLA vs. Memphis
Certainly the more intriguing game of the two, to me anyway. Both teams have been national championship contenders the last few years, but both have needed enormous contributions from true freshmen to get over the top this year. Lets start with UCLA, a team that’s been raped and pillaged by twice defending champ Florida in the last two tournaments. We know the contributers: Collison, Westbrook, Shipp, Mbah a Moute and to a much lesser extent, Mata(-Real). But without Kevin Love, this team is already out of the tournament. The Pac-10 Player of the Year has been even better than advertised. While CBS has stroked themselves to his outlet passes, Love deserves all the praise he’s received.

As for Memphis, they’ve been proving people wrong all season long. Hell, I had them losing to Pitt in the Sweet 16 and when they got into the Elite Eight, I thought they’d get spanked by Texas. Nope. You can have Beasley, Mayo, Love or any other freshman phenom. If I have the 1st overall pick, I’m taking Derrick Rose. I’ll admit to not having seen much of Rose throughout the Conference USA season but against Texas, I saw all I needed to see. Rose will be a Chris Paul/Deron Williams type of player in the NBA. No doubt about it. After dominating against guys like Drew Neitzel and D.J. Augustin, I see Rose getting the best of Darren Collison as well.

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I’m taking a different approach this year. In the past, I would rush through my bracket and have my national champion already decided by the night of Selection Sunday. I’ve taken a different approach this year, not officially completing my bracket until earlier today. While I feel like I’m taking the easy way out with three #1 seeds and a #2, the top-heaviness of this tournament is greater than in years past. So, without further ado…my picks.

Eastern Region: North Carolina. The Tar Heels will have the well deserved benefit of playing this entire region within a couple hours of their Chapel Hill campus. With two games in Raleign and two more in Charlotte, Roy Williams’ gang will be sure to have tons of support from the crowd. Talentwise, there’s nobody in Carolina’s half of the region that will give them a run for their money. But an Elite 8 matchup between the Louisville/Tennessee winner should be a good one.

In the bottom of this region, I expect it to go as planned. Saint Joseph’s is an intriguing upset over the Sooners but aside from that, I don’t expect Tennessee or Louisville to stumble before their meeting in Birmingham next weekend. The Cardinals are playing much better as of late, but I still don’t see enough quality wins from them outside of their home gym. We know the Vols can play away from Tennessee, so I think they’ll beat Louisville before falling to UNC in one of the best games of the tournament.

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According to the Jordan Brand, “There are no Cinderellas.” I ran across this commercial a bunch of times during Championship Week and I hope you enjoy it as much as I do every time it comes on. The Jordan commercials have been spectacular as of late. This spot is why I am so in love with not only Nike’s advertising, but Jordan’s as well. Enjoy!

With just a few days until Selection Sunday, we thought it was an appropriate time to unveil our latest contest, the 2008 Bracket Challenge. Our veteran readers may remember a similar contest we held last year. This one is fairly similar. The top five finishers in the challenge will win free shirts from our Sportable Shirts selection. If the size of our group grows, we may open up the contest to even more winners.

Once again, the pool will be run on Yahoo Fantasy Sports.

Group ID: 25361
Password: sportable

To make it interesting, the members of the Sportable staff will be in the group as well. Just so you know whose ass you’re beating, these are the names to look out for.

Ryan: Bruce Pearl’s Orange Blazer
Kevin: Kelvin Sampson’s Texting Buddy
Sonny: Sonny @ Sportable.com
Rich: George’s Tournament Masonry

The North Carolina Tar Heels did a lot of things right in their victory over Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium. For starters, they won at Duke for the third consecutive year and clinched the ACC regular season championship. They also paid tribute to their late Associated Students President. But most importantly, the Tar Heels all but clinched the top overall seed in this year’s NCAA Tournament.

What’s this mean for UNC? Well, assuming they don’t crash and burn in the 1st round of the ACC Tournament, we can expect them to be seeded first in the Eastern regional. If this happens, they’ll play their first two games in Raleigh before moving onto Charlotte for the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight matchups. Neither venue is more than a couple hours away from Chapel Hill , meaning the Heels will essentially play four home games before the Final Four in San Antonio. That helps. A lot.

To understand the true benefit of short travel during the NCAA Tournament, look no further than UCLA the last two seasons. Two years ago, the Bruins played in San Diego and San Jose on their way to the Final Four. Last year, they played in Sacramento and San Jose before reaching Atlanta. A few years before that, a T.J. Ford-led Texas team benefited from playing their Regional Final in the friendly confines of San Antonio.

With the Blue Devils likely headed for a #2 seed in the tournament, they may have to arrive in San Antonio via Detroit or Houston. What can we take from this game? In the end, probably not very much. A home loss in this rivalry isn’t enormously troubling, largely because both these teams are so well-coached and have dealt with hostile environments so often.