Center of college basketball...state of Tennessee??

Here we sit with only two weeks to go in the regular season of college basketball for the 2007-2008 season, and we need to take stock of some major shifts that have occurred this year.

With all due respect to UL, UK and IU fans who believe that the states of Kentucky and Indiana are the birthplace of college basketball; and to all of the Duke and UNC fans who know with their heart and soul that THEIR schools refined college basketball to be the center of it for the nation; and to all of the sports media wonks who believe that if basketball is not played on tobacco road, in the gyms of the mid-west, the streets of the northeast and the beach strips of the west coast, I have some shocking news.

The BEST basketball being played in the nation, is right there in Tennessee!! Yes, Tennessee.

Take a look at the most recent AP top-25 poll for factual evidence of that.

Not only are UT and Memphis University, (MU), sitting atop the poll still at the #1 & #2 spots, but coming in at #18 is Vanderbilt. The only other state that can say they have 3 schools in the top-25 is Indiana, with IU (#12), Purdue (#16), and Notre Dame (#17). But it is hard to make that case that the basketball is better there when the top two teams in the nation just flipped-flopped their positions without dropping after UT ended Memphis' bid to remain unbeaten in the regular season.

Sorry, Dookie Vitale and all of the Cameron crazies, but your blue devils are nothing more than devil cake dessert afterthoughts in the national rankings.

To the UNC fans: what can I say? With all of that sticky substance on your heels, no wonder your feet are dragging on the national college dribbling scene!

To UK and UL fans: Sorry, but the national attention just does not care about either one of you right now, no matter how many banners are in your rafters, or how much of a national presence your coach may have.

The question becomes, when did the state of TN eclipse all of these other bastions of basketball supremecy? How did it happen?

The truth is that all of these schools in TN have very steadily building their programs to this outcome. Both Memphis and Vandy have been known for years as "good" programs. But with little else in the way of revenue generating sports, and with both schools having to compete with pro sports in their home locations, the schools decided to throw all of their attention to building their men's basketball programs to compete on the national level for NCAA titles and top-25 rankings. Both after wallowing in some obscurity for a long period.

UT however is a newcomer on the stage. And you have to give the UT AD a ton of credit. After watching UF figure out ways to leverage their dominating national college football program, UT's AD decided to "keep up with the Jones", and put as much effort into the men's basketball program, as UT has done in both women's basketball and football.

And that brings up the next point, it is not ONLY men's basketball that the state of TN is dominating in. But also women's basketball as well. The UT women's program has been a powerhouse for years. But looking again at this week's AP standings and you again see TWO state of TN universities chiming in, in the top 25. UT Lady Vol's at the #3 spot and the Vandy women's team at #23. Yeah, yeah, I KNOW all of you Duke and UNC fans are going to start thumping about how both of your women's programs are also in the top-25 as well. UNC #2 and Duke #12. But I am talking about total programs for the state here, where the state of TN tops NC in that regard. And if you look a little closer you will also notice that in the "Others receiving votes", that Chattanooga's women's basketball team received 4 votes in the AP poll, and are close to breaking into that top-25. Which would again give the state 3 teams in both men's and women's programs spots in the AP top-25 polls.

The question becomes though, is this a trend? Can the state of TN continue to put teams into the top 25 year after year? That only time will tell. But one thing is for certain: at least for now, the state of TN is THE center of the NCAA college basketball universe.