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.

The 2008 NCAA Tournament has its first team. The Ivy League continued its tradition of awarding an automatic NCAA Tournament bid without a conference tournament. But this year, for the first time in 20 years, Pennsylvania or Princeton will not represent the conference. Instead, it’s the Cornell Big Red chewing gum with the chance to become a Cinderella.

Cornell beat Harvard last night to clinch the Ivy League crown with two games left to play. The Big Red are 11-0 in conference play this season and with traditional powers Princeton and Penn having down seasons, they were able to clinch the title before their road games against the two. It’s the first trip to March Madness in 20 years for the school and, with just one senior, it may not be their last.

The Ivy League is the only conference in Division 1 basketball that doesn’t have a postseason tournament, meaning Cornell can now rest up for the Big Dance, which tips off on March 20. Awaiting Cornell will likely be one of college basketball’s powerhouses. But don’t count out Cornell just yet. They’ve already visited both Syracuse and Duke this season, suffering only 16 and 14 point losses respectively.

In the last three seasons, Pennyslvania, the Ivy League champion, has received seedings anywhere from 13 to 15. Cornell is all but assured of receiving a similar position in the bracket, meaning they’ll have to bring their “A” game to have a chance. But given their transcripts, an “A” performance appears to be their norm. *

* Yes, that’s the single cheesiest line ever published on this website.

With conference play already winding down (less than three weeks ’till Selection Sunday!), a lively debate has begun about who is deserving of National Player of the Year. While perimeter players like Tennessee’s Chris Lofton and Davidson’s Stephen Curry (if you haven’t seen him play, do it) can make an argument, it’s essentially a two-man race: Kansas State’s freshman phenom and North Carolina’s Tyler Hansbrough.

Beasley follows in the footsteps of last year’s star freshmen, Kevin Durant and Greg Oden. There’s little doubt he’ll be going pro after this year, and there’s little doubt that he’ll be the first pick in June’s NBA Draft. Beasley and freshman teammate Bill Walker have quickly put Kansas State back on the national stage. Over the weekend, he set a Big 12 record with 44 points, upping his scoring average to 26 points to go with 12 rebounds a game. Both of those marks are higher than Durant’s averages last year.

Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to see Beasley on national television as much as we saw Durant, largely because Kansas State games don’t air very often. Last month’s upset over Kansas (a win Beasley guaranteed before the season) wasn’t televised nationally. For those who haven’t seen him play, tonight’s game at Texas will be broadcast on ESPN.

Beasley’s biggest competitor in the National Player of the Year debate is Hansbrough, the psychotic white boy from Chapel Hill. Hansbrough’s physical abilities can’t compare with Beasley’s, but his determination sure can. If it’s possible for the ACC’s leading scorer and rebounder to be “scrappy” and “feisty,” Hansbrough would fit that description.

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Note: We’d like to apologize for the technical difficulties we’ve been having this week. We’re attempting to sort things out and hopefully, we’ll be up and running consistently this weekend.

Usually, we’d expect a battle of this magnitude to take place in North Carolina between UNC and Duke. Not this time. Tomorrow’s matchup between Tennessee and Memphis, the 38th regular season meeting between a #1 and #2, is even more significant because of the long-standing rivalry these two teams have had.

“These 1-2 matchups are usually reserved for Tobacco Road or some place in Indiana or Ohio,” Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl said Thursday.

“And the fact that it’s in Tennessee is something that I think all high school basketball players and high school coaches and different folks that love basketball in the state of Tennessee are certainly proud of.”

So who do I like? At home, it’s difficult to pick against Memphis, who haven’t lost at FedEx Forum in their last 47 games, the longest home winning streak in Division I hoops. Also, who will step it up for Tennessee against Memphis’ beasts inside? Joey Dorsey is probably big enough to start for Philip Fulmer’s offensive line.

It’s Memphis’ size and athleticism against Tennessee’s outside shooters. It’s Bruce Pearl’s orange blazer against John Calipari’s ego. The winner of this game can likely pencil in a #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Tip-off is set for 6 p.m. on ESPN.

Over the last week, we’ve heard a lot of analysts talking about how much Kelvin Sampson’s latest cheating saga would distract his team. But now, after impressive statement wins over Michigan State and Purdue, it appears that’s not the case. This Indiana team is capable of playing through it. And not only playing, but playing really well. With a win over Purdue last night, Indiana now sits tied atop the Big Ten standings.

I’ll be honest. If the Hoosiers weren’t near the top of the Big Ten, I wouldn’t pay any attention to the conference. But this team, with its rich history and two elite prospects in Eric Gordon and DJ White, is fun to watch this season. Despite Kelvin Sampson’s never-ending phonecalls (and soon to be suspension?), Indiana has what it takes for a lengthy stay in this year’s NCAA Tournament.

After the game, reports surfaced that Sampson is expected to be suspended and then fired by Indiana. While it’s easy to understand why Indiana would be quick to oust Sampson, are we forgetting that they put up with Coach Bob Knight’s negative PR for nearly three decades? This program is storied, but don’t forget that it’s never been squeaky-clean.

So, despite having a team completely capable of a Final Four run (yeah, I said it), there will probably be a new coach in Bloomington sooner than later. In the dying seconds of the win over the Boilermakers, the Indiana student section began singing “Nah nah nah nah, hey! Hey! Hey! Goooodbye!” Not only was that son directed towards Purdue, but Sampson as well.