Looking ahead.

Pat Forde of ESPN says, "I'm now starting to suspect that the (men's basketball) national champion almost has to come from the top five teams..."

His top five:
1. Duke
2. Villanova
3. Connecticut
4. Memphis
5. Ohio State

This OSU season reminds me a little bit of the 1999 Final Four team, since it kind of came out of nowhere. However, there's also a little bit of 2002 football season mixed in there as well.

Remember, that fall everyone was already looking ahead to the 2003 team that would return almost all of its starters. 2002 was supposed to be a solid building year (they were ranked in the mid-teens in most preseason polls) and then it turned out to not only far surpass the 2003 season, but any in the previous 30 years at OSU.

This year, everyone is talking about Greg Oden, and this team has come from basically nowhere to suddenly become a part of the national championship discussion.