Almost a year ago we decided to try to quantify the stature of college football programs so that we could rank them against one another. (Click here for the 2010 Rankings.) Then our football guru, Anthony Stalter, wrote a little bit about each program and the direction that it’s headed.

Here’s how the total points are determined — 20 points for a national championship, 10 for a BCS title game loss, seven for a BCS bowl win, five for a BCS bowl loss, five for a BCS conference championship, three for a mid-major conference championship, two for a BCS conference runner-up and one for a major bowl appearance (i.e. a bowl that has a recent payout of more than $2 million, so for 2011 that would be Capital One, Outback, Chick-fil-A, Cotton, Gator, Insight, Holiday, Champs Sports and Alamo.) You’ll see the total points in parenthesis after the team’s name.

We put some thought into the point values for each accomplishment, paying special attention to how the point values are relative to one another. For example, we figured that one national championship would equate to four BCS conference championships, or three BCS bowl wins. We only looked at the last five years, as college football has increasingly become a fluid and fickle sport, and that’s about how far back a recruit will go when deciding amongst a list of schools.

Lastly, since a program is so dependent on the guy in charge, we added or subtracted points if the program saw an upgrade or downgrade at the head coach position in the last five years. A max of 10 points would be granted (or docked) based on the level of upgrade or downgrade. Again, we tried to quantify the hire relative to the program’s other accomplishments. For example, hiring Nick Saban is probably worth two BCS bowl appearances, or 10 points. (Sure, he might lead Alabama to more, but he also might bolt for another job in a year or two.)

So, without further ado, here are the rankings. Every year we’ll go through and update the numbers based on what the program did that year (while throwing out the oldest year of data), so don’t fret if your team isn’t quite where you want them right now. Everyone has a chance to move up.

1. Ohio State (58)

Previous Rank: #2 (+1)
Some college football fans will take issue with the Buckeyes being No. 1 because of their “soft schedule.” But this is a team that has dominated its conference five of the past six years and has finished no worse than second in each of the past six seasons. They’ve also appeared in two title games (though they lost both) and nine straight BCS bowl games, winning the Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl in the past two years. They’ve got an interesting season coming up though. Five of their players including quarterback Terrelle Pryor, running back Dan Herron and receiver DeVier Posey will miss the first five games next year after being suspended. Can the Buckeyes stay unscathed until those players return?

2. Florida (51)

Previous Rank: #1 (-1)
If it weren’t for Urban Meyer leaving the program (and their lousy 2010 season), the Gators would probably still be ranked No. 1. They have three conference championships and two national championships in two years, but the lose of Meyer hurts big-time in these rankings. But don’t fret Florida fans, if Will Muschamp gets the program back on the right track then the Gators won’t be at No. 2 for long.

3. Oklahoma (47)

Previous Rank: #7 (+4)
The Sooners shot up our rankings quickly, moving from seventh to third in just one season. Of course, finally being able to win a BCS game under Bob Stoops certainly helped. Even if the victory came against overmatched UConn in the Fiesta Bowl, the BCS bowl win coupled with down years by Texas, Alabama and USC catapulted Oklahoma into the top 3. (They also now have four Big 12 championships in the last five years.) Whether or not OU remains ranked this high might be dependent on whether or not Texas rebounds after suffering its first losing season under Mack Brown. If the Longhorns stay down, there’s no reason to think the Sooners won’t rule the roost for a while, especially with Nebraska heading to the Big Ten.

4. Alabama (43)

Previous Rank: #4 (unchanged)
After winning the national championship in 2010, we thought Nick Saban’s team would steadily climb in these rankings every year. But ‘Bama took a step back this season record-wise, falling to 10-3 and settling for an appearance in the Capital One Bowl. The low point came in the final regular season game of the year when the Tide lost to Auburn 28-27 at home despite jumping out to a 24-0 lead in the first half. Still, Saban won’t have his team “down” (we use quotation marks around the word “down” seeing as how ‘Bama still had a winning year) for long and we suspect them to push Ohio State, Florida and Oklahoma in the short term.

T-5. LSU (35)

Previous Rank: #6 (+1)
It’s been three years now since Les Miles took his team to a BCS bowl game. The Tigers won the 2008 national championship but since then, their offense has sputtered since JaMarcus Russell left the program to become the biggest bust since Ryan Leaf graced the NFL with his presence. Maybe their 41-point outburst in the Cotton Bowl against Texas A&M is a sign that LSU finally has found some offense but if not, they’re ceiling will probably remain right where it is.

T-5. Oregon (35)

Previous Rank: #13 (+8)
The Ducks jumped eight spots from last year thanks to yet another amazing coaching job by Chip Kelly. While their loss to Auburn in the title game stung, the pure fact that they appeared in the national championship was enough to catapult them into the top 5 (coupled with a Pac-10 title as well). Last year, we gave the Ducks two points for hiring Kelly but we bumped that up to seven this year because obviously the man can coach. Thanks to Kelly’s high-powered offense, it looks like many more Pac-10 titles are in Oregon’s future (and maybe that elusive national championship).

7. Virginia Tech (34)

Previous Rank: #9 (+2)
The Hokies got back on track this year by scooping up their fourth conference championship in the past six years. They also made their fourth BCS bowl appearance in the last six years, but were routed by Stanford in the Orange Bowl. Frank Beamer’s team should continue to compete for ACC titles, but the Hokies still seem like a long shot to make a national title appearance.

8. Auburn (28)

Previous Rank: unranked
Auburn didn’t even have a spot in these rankings last year before Cam Newton came around and set the college football world ablaze with his Heisman Trophy-winning talent. An undefeated season, a SEC championship and a win over Oregon in the national title game later and now the Tigers have a seat in our top 10. But will they stay here? Newton is jetting off to the NFL, as is defensive tackle Nick Fairley. The Tigers could crash and burn next season playing in a tough conference.

9. USC (26)

Previous Rank: #5 (-4)
We wrote last year that USC could fall in these rankings after Pete Carroll decided to leave the program, but little did we know the NCAA would hand the Trojans a two-year bowl ban for violating rules. Now USC can’t compete in a BCS bowl for the next two years, which certainly hurts the Trojans in these rankings. So did their 8-5 season last year, which included embarrassing losses to Washington, Oregon State and – gasp! – Notre Dame. Seeing as how they can’t compete in a bowl again next year, this won’t be the last time the Trojans drop in our rankings.

10. Texas (24)

Previous Rank: #3 (-7)
Can you say crash and burn? A year after making a national title appearance, the Longhorns suffered their first losing season under head coach Mack Brown. They went 5-7 overall, 2-6 in the Big 12 and shockingly finished last in the conference. It was the first time a Brown-led Longhorn team failed to qualify for a bowl and after losing Will Muschamp to the Gators in the offseason, there’s no doubt change is coming. Chances are UT will recover, but how high will they climb the Big 12 standings in one year?

11. Boise State (23)

Previous Rank: #8 (-3)
2010 didn’t go as planned for the Broncos. Things started off well enough, as Boise won its first 10 games, which included a 33-30 upset over No. 10 Virginia Tech in the opening week. But Nevada shocked the Broncos in the second to last week of the regular season and their slim national championship hopes went out the window. They settled for the Las Vegas Bowl, where they beat Utah 26-3. The Broncos will get their chance at redemption when they join the MWC next season, even though their biggest opponent, TCU, will be heading for the Big East in two years.

T-12. West Virginia (18)

Previous Rank: #9 (-3)
The Mountaineers took a step back in our rankings after struggling in a bad Big East. They still had a winning season but they watched UConn win the conference and settled for the Champs Sports Bowl, where they were thumped by NC State. Losing the explosive Noel Devine to the NFL won’t help their offense in 2011.

T-12. TCU (18)

Previous Rank: #20 (+8)
TCU makes a huge leap in the rankings after qualifying for their second consecutive BCS bowl and beating Wisconsin in Pasadena. The win over the Badgers was huge for Gary Patterson’s squad, which mowed through its soft schedule last year only to be embarrassed by a better Boise State team in the 2010 Fiesta Bowl. The Frogs proved this time around that they weren’t going to settle for just a conference championship. The next two years will tell a lot about Patterson’s team. Boise State joins the MWC next year and then in 2012, it’s off to the Big East for TCU. It’s time to find out how good this program can really be.

14. Nebraska (15)

Previous Rank: #16 (+2)
The Cornhuskers moved up in our rankings after finishing as the Big 12’s runner up, but there’s no doubt 2010 didn’t go the way the Nebraska faithful thought it would. They lost at home to a bad Texas team in mid October and then an injury to quarterback Taylor Martinez cost them a win against Texas A&M in November. They fought hard in the Big 12 Championship Game before losing to Oklahoma, but then didn’t bother to show up for the Holiday Bowl against Washington. But let’s not overlook how this team beat No. 14 Oklahoma State and No. 6 Missouri in back-to-back games in October and still finished a very respectable 10-4. They’ll have their work cut out for them next year in the Big Ten, but the Huskers are built for the conference and not having to face explosive offenses like Oklahoma State and Oklahoma should help their cause.

T-15. Georgia Tech (14)

Previous Rank: #13 (-2)
Georgia Tech only moved back two spots but if the Jackets have another year like they just did, then they’ll be moving back further next season. A year after making a BCS appearance, the Jackets played .500 ball in the regular season and then were held to only a touchdown by Air Force in the Independence Bowl. Losing Josh Nesbitt to injury certainly hurt Paul Johnson’s triple-option attack. But the Jackets had already lost three games prior to Nesbitt’s injury, which included an embarrassing 28-25 defeat to Kansas in mid September. Hopefully Johnson can resurrect things in 2011.

T-15. Penn State (14)

Previous Rank: #11 (-4)
Considering they replaced all three starting linebackers and their quarterback from a year ago, it’s not hard to see why Penn State took a step back in our rankings this year. But they held their own, especially considering they had to play Alabama, Iowa, Ohio State and Michigan State this season. Their loss at home to Illinois was unexpected but again, this was a young team that still found a way to win seven games with four ranked opponents on their schedule. They probably won’t win a Big Ten title next year, but the Lions will be competitive. They usually are under Joe Pa.

T-15. Wisconsin (14)

Previous Rank: unranked
Wisconsin cracks our rankings after putting together a great season, which included back-to-back wins over Ohio State and Iowa in October. If it weren’t for that Oct. 2 loss to Michigan State, the Badgers would have been in the national title discussion. The loss to TCU in the Rose Bowl hurt, but Wisconsin made a statement to the rest of the Big Ten that it isn’t going anywhere. It’s going to be fun to watch the Badgers compete against Ohio State and Nebraska next season.

T-18. Iowa (12)

Previous Rank: #17 (-1)
Iowa only drops one spot in our rankings but the Hawkeyes had one disastrous season. The loss to Arizona in the third week of the season hurt, as did the three-straight losses to Northwestern, Ohio State and 3-9 Minnesota. Then star receiver Derrell Johnson-Koulianos gets charged with operating a drug house (charges were later dropped) and starting running back Adam Robinson is suspended for violating team rules. Beating Missouri in the Insight Bowl was the one saving grace of the season, but that’s a far cry from topping Georgia Tech in the Orange Bowl one year earlier.

T-18. Arkansas (12)

Previous Rank: unranked
If they can successfully replace NFL prospect Ryan Mallett, we get the feeling that Arkansas will be a part of these rankings for years to come. The Razorbacks overcame losses to Alabama and Auburn earlier in the season to win six games down the stretch, including back-to-back victories over Mississippi State and LSU in November. A win over Ohio State in the Sugar Bowl was not to be, but clearly Bobby Petrino has this program heading in the right direction.

20. Michigan (11)

Previous Rank: unranked
Rich Rodriguez may have produced his first winning season in Ann Arbor, but embarrassing losses to Michigan State, Wisconsin, Ohio State and then Mississippi State in the Gator Bowl was all UM could bare. In three years, Rich Rod’s collective record against Ohio State and Michigan State was 0-6. That’s something new head coach Brady Hoke better change if he’s going to last long as Rich Rod’s replacement. He certainly has his work cut out for him, especially considering he needs to build a defense after the previous staff pretty much ignored that side of the ball for three seasons.

Fell out of the Top 20: Georgia, Cincinnati, Florida State, Notre Dame

By the end of the day today, we could have a whole new look at the national title picture. Then again, you could say that any week in college football.

This time, however, there’s actually a chance that things could get jumbled up. The top team in the country, Alabama, is facing by far its stiffest test of the season as it travels to Fayetteville to take on Ryan Mallett and Arkansas. No. 3 Boise State will play in its second — and probably last — “showcase” game of the year when it plays host to Oregon State.

We know that if Boise State loses, a lot of the debate about who deserves what will go away, at least until we have to sort through a handful of one-loss teams at the end of the season (but we’ll save that for later). If the Tide lose and the Broncos win, is Boise all of the sudden in the driver’s seat for a spot in the title game? Probably not, actually.

It’s a big slate today, so find a spot on the couch by the mid-afternoon games and settle in for some good football.

I was 3-2 last week, as Arizona came through (for itself, not for me) against Iowa, and Notre Dame succumbed to one of the more staggering coaching calls we’ve seen in a while. Staggering in a good way, that is. Let’s see if I can’t improve upon that mark.

No. 1 Alabama at No. 10 Arkansas, 3:30 p.m.: The top-ranked Crimson Tide have been dominant early on in the season, including in a win against a ranked Penn State team. But one thing the Nittany Lions, Duke and San Jose State didn’t do is test an inexperienced secondary. Penn State didn’t because it was starting a true freshman his first time away from home, and the others didn’t because they’re San Jose State and Duke. Mallett will test that secondary, however, and he’ll do it often. But what will win this game today for Alabama is not its defense, which has been so powerful under Nick Saban, but its offense. Arkansas won’t be able to stop the Tide on the ground, and Greg McElroy will look less like a game manager and more like a Mallett. Pick: Alabama 31-27.

No. 16 Stanford at Notre Dame, 3:30 p.m.: It’s been nothing but heartbreak for Notre Dame the past two weekends. First, Dayne Crist goes down for nearly all of the first half before rallying the Irish against Michigan, only to see Denard Robinson lead one final drive for a Wolverine win. Then Mark Dantonio makes the call of his career, with a fake field goal in overtime to push the Irish to 1-2. Stanford likely won’t need dramatics in this one. The Cardinal haven’t exactly played the toughest schedule to date, but they’re the best defensive team, and most balanced offensive team the Irish have seen yet. One good thing for Brian Kelly and Irish fans to hold onto: Lou Holtz was the last Notre Dame coach to start his first season 1-3. Granted, that came with losses to two top 10 teams, but I’m just trying to help out. Pick: Stanford 38-35.

No. 12 South Carolina at No. 17 Auburn, 7:45 p.m.: I probably shouldn’t admit this on the Internet, because the last thing I want is for “man crush” to be in one of the first Google results my name would bring up, but two of my man crushes are playing in this one, which is going to make it kind of hard to decide on a winner. South Carolina freshman Marcus Lattimore is showing why he was so highly touted coming out of high school, and Auburn quarterback Cam Newton is showing glimpses of why people are so excited about his future. The key in this one is that Auburn is coming off a tough overtime win against Clemson, and now has to turn around and try and tackle Lattimore for 60 minutes, which isn’t an easy task the week after a spa treatment. Pick: South Carolina 21-17.

No. 24 Oregon State at No. 3 Boise State, 8 p.m.: One would think that Boise State’s task of blowing out everyone it plays all season long would take its toll. It hasn’t in the past, however, and with this being perhaps the best Broncos team we’ve ever seen, I don’t expect that to start now. That’s not to say Oregon State doesn’t have a chance to end the title talk, though. The Beavers have been completely written off in this game, which is always an easier place to be. With the Rodgers brothers in the lineup, the Beavers should never be completely written off. That being said, I’m writing them off tonight. Pick: Boise State 33-20.

No. 22 West Virginia at No. 15 LSU, 9 p.m.: When Boise State starts to pull away, go ahead and switch over to this one. There’s nothing quite like a night game in Baton Rouge, and I’d expect it to be rocking tonight. The Tigers may not be the most impressive offensive team in the country, and may not have the most reliable coach in the land, but they might have the best player, Patrick Peterson. West Virginia can neutralize him by kicking away in special teams, or relying on its run game, but in order to do that second thing, it will have to get ahead early on. That’s a tough thing to do, and maintain, in that environment. Pick: LSU 24-20.

Temple and UConn played during the day today, but the game definitely continued some dark days for the state of Big East football.

The Owls, who a little more than a week ago could be seen trading costly gaffes and fumbles with MAC foe Central Michigan, defeated UConn 30-16. It’s another huge blow for the Big East, which has already had sub-standard results this season.

UConn was thought by some national media types to be the favorite in the Big East, but after this loss and the Week 1 drubbing at the hands of Denard Robinson and Michigan, the Huskies definitely don’t look like a team that should finish on top of any BCS conference. Cincinnati, the defending Big East champion, has looked about as pathetic — minus the loss to a MAC team, that is — losing to Fresno State and NC State. With Oklahoma coming up next week, the Bearcats, who were unbeaten in the regular season a year ago, are staring 1-3 straight in the face.

West Virginia appears to be the most competent team in the conference, but even the Mountaineers needed overtime to beat Marshall. They do have a chance to earn the conference some respect, however, next week at LSU. With Les Miles coaching, who knows what could happen there, but if I had to put money on it now, I’d go with the Tigers.

With the emergence of non-automatic qualifying conferences, namely the Mountain West, you’d think the Big East would need to start proving itself to keep its spot among the six power conferences. Sadly, money probably won’t allow them to fall out of that, or let the MWC move up, even though it’s looking more and more superior to the Big LEast with each passing week.

What are you most looking forward to Saturday?

Seeing just what kind of crowd Butler is able to draw and whether or not it helps Bulldogs beat Michigan State. Final Four crowds are notoriously corporate and laid back, so if the Butler faithful (and the newly converted) can create some real home court atmosphere, it will make things tough for Michigan State. I’ll also be watching how the Bulldogs handle playing in a dome; they’re used to playing in smaller gyms and fieldhouses in the Horizon League.

At the end of the day, whose performance will we be talking about?

There are a long list of possibilities, but Nolan Smith is playing excellent basketball of late. He’s the only Duke guard that will be able to get into the lane and create his own shot, and his floater will be very useful against West Virginia’s zone. And for all of the talk of Jon Scheyer’s “clutch-ness,” Smith isn’t afraid to take the big shot either.

Butler-Michigan State: Who wins and why?

Despite the Spartans’ experience, I think the Bulldogs win a tight one. They’ve already beat two teams (Syracuse, K-State) that are better than Michigan State, so they appear to be the better team. The question is — can they put all the distractions and the sheer magnitude of the game behind them and just play ball? I think they can.

Duke-West Virginia: Who wins and why?

I have a feeling this game will be nip-and-tuck the entire way with the Blue Devils pulling away at the end with a big three and excellent free throw shooting. Even though it was a 2-3, Baylor’s zone will get Duke ready to face the Mountaineers’ 1-3-1. I don’t expect West Virginia to continue to shoot the three like they did against Kentucky — Duke is excellent at guarding the arc.

Be sure to check back around tip-off — I’ll be tweeting during both games.

With Kansas, Kentucky and Syracuse out of the picture, some are grumbling about the lack of big-name teams at the Final Four. By the time the final buzzer sounds on Monday night, it’s entirely possible that those same detractors will call the games “boring” or “ugly.”

Here’s why:

1. Pace
There are 347 teams in the D1 ranks and of the four teams set to play Saturday, Michigan State (#215) plays at the fastest pace. The other three teams — Duke (#232), Butler (#285) and West Virginia (#306) — are all in the bottom third in the number of possessions used per game. All four teams are in the top 50 in offensive efficiency (points per possession), so there should be some scoring, but don’t expect any high-octane, up-and-down affairs.

2. Defense
Duke (#3 in defensive efficiency), Butler (#6) and West Virginia (#10) are elite defensive teams, and Michigan State (#33) isn’t bad, either. All four teams hold their opponents to less than 41.5% from the field and 33.1% from long range. Duke and Butler play great positional defense and always seem to have a help defender in the right spot. Michigan State and West Virginia use superior athleticism to smother opponents. The Mountaineers will even utilize a tough-to-attack 1-3-1 zone.

These teams are evenly matched and low-pace, low-scoring affairs lend themselves to close games. This should result in exciting basketball, but we’re not going to see anything like 2009, when all four teams were in the top 130 in overall pace.

Photo from fOTOGLIF

Andy Glockner, SI.com: Tom Izzo is the best college basketball coach in America. Relax, North Carolina and Duke fans. No one’s slighting your leading men or their career accomplishments. We’re talking about right now, this very moment, two days after Izzo pulled off the near-impossible and made Michigan State’s three-year turn-of-last-decade run now look more like the rule rather than the exception. Think last season’s dramatic push to the national title game in Detroit with a youthful roster was stirring? This year’s Spartans have overcome a leadership void, player-coach discontent and a back-stiffening gym-floor sleepover in addition to the late rash of injuries. Their quartet of NCAA tournament wins are highlighted by a crucial lane violation, a buzzer-beating three and the country’s largest temporary (and most loquacious) point guard dropping a delicious dime that helped beat Tennessee. And let’s be honest: On the list of legendary college basketball settings, how long after Westwood, Lawrence, Chapel Hill and Durham would it take to finally get to East Lansing? Izzo doesn’t get enough credit for the level of talent he brings in, considering he’s selling kids on winters in central Michigan. Meanwhile, Roy Williams’ office phone has a golden arches insignia on it.

Matt Norlander, The Dagger: [Butler] is allergic to losing. It’s H-A-R-D to go 32-4 in D-I. I hope you can understand just how hard, even when playing in a conference like the Horizon, which isn’t such a shabby cast of characters. Yet Butler has done it and managed to keep a winning streak going that’s now stretched to 24 games. Say what you will about streaks and strategies and the like, but the point is this team has developed a sick habit of finding how to win and doing it their way. That’s the important thing to realize. Butler isn’t winning games by being a chameleon. No, it’s keeping opponents below 60 points (that’s happened seven games in a row and 13 of the last 14) and using man-to-man defense that would make any old-school coach blush. Speaking of that defense, while we can talk about Matt Howard, Gordon Hayward and Shelvin Mack — the three primary offensive options for Butler — it was Shawn Vanzant and Ronald Nored who, in my mind, stole the show in Salt Lake City. Both guards got in the grills of, arguably, the best backcourt in the country. Denis Clemente and Jacob Pullen combined for two points in the first half of the regional final. That anemic performance was unseen from K-State this season.

Andy Staples, SI.com: That day, senior Brian Zoubek replaced sophomore Miles Plumlee in the starting lineup at center. The 7-foot-1 Zoubek, long considered a solid rotation guy but not necessarily a key cog, scored 16 points and grabbed 17 rebounds (eight on offense) in 22 minutes and led the Blue Devils to a 21-point win. The moment was critical for Zoubek, who had the ability but lacked confidence, and for Duke, which had the ingredients to build a championship but had yet to hit upon the proper recipe. Finally, master chef Krzyzewski had discovered the correct mix. Lead with a heavy helping of Zoubek and power forward Lance Thomas, then inject the athletic Plumlee brothers, Miles and freshman Mason, when the other team’s big men have grown weary of wrestling with Zoubek and Thomas. Early in the NCAA tournament, Krzyzewski conceded that Duke’s quartet of bigs — not big three scorers Jon Scheyer, Kyle Singler and Nolan Smith — were the difference between a team capable of making the Final Four and one that wouldn’t last past the second weekend. Duke’s past few teams have had plenty of scorers, but they lacked the willingness or the ability to pound opponents in the paint.

Mike DeCourcy, The Sporting News: With the exceptions of the game that won them the 2010 Big East championship, and the one that got them to their first Final Four in two generations—and, if things go just right, the two that will lead to their first-ever NCAA title—the most memorable basketball game involving these West Virginia Mountaineers was one almost nobody got to see. It was two summers ago, pitting members of coach Bob Huggins’ first full recruiting class at WVU against the veteran players who’d been brought to Morgantown by previous coach John Beilein. And the word “against” probably is an understatement. “We hated them,” said forward Wellington Smith, one of the Beilein holdovers. Through Huggins’ first season at West Virginia, Smith and his teammates heard repeatedly from Huggins about how he was going to get “my guys” into the program and fix everything that seemed wrong. It might not surprise you to know Huggins is not above playing mind games to motivate his players. “He always says things to get under our skin, make us work harder,” Smith said.

Photo from fOTOGLIF

Rick Reilly, ESPN.com: There’s no point in going over all the reasons Huggins is bad for basketball. That’s just kicking a man when he’s up. And boy, is Huggs up. Eighteen years after his last Final Four, eight years after his heart attack in the Pittsburgh airport, six years after his DUI, five years after choosing to “resign” over “be fired” at Cincinnati (where he had four years of 0.0 graduation rate), three years after pulling a one-and-done at Kansas State and leaving them with a crazy-eyed, death-staring Huggins wannabe named Frank Martin, the world is cuddling The Huggy Bear again. “The first time I heard he was coming,” remembers West Virginia’s best player, Da’Sean Butler, “I was like, ‘I’m getting ready to go to Michigan.’ But I’m glad I didn’t leave. It’s been great. I’d be doing all kind of nothing right now.”

John Feinstein, Washington Post: There may not be such a thing as a perfect Final Four, but the one that will begin on Saturday in Indianapolis comes pretty close. It has a Cinderella practically playing on its home court. It has a team that hasn’t been to the Final Four in 51 years but is going back after a prodigal son came home. It has a team whose coach always seems to find a way this time of year, playing in its sixth Final Four in 12 seasons. And it has a villain, the team people love to hate, whether because it wins so often or because people have to have someone to root against once their team has gone home.

Bob Kravitz, Indianapolis Star: History and common sense tell you a school with an enrollment of 4,200 students, a mid-major affiliation and, most important, mid-major revenues, shouldn’t be able to stare down the likes of No. 1 seed Syracuse and No. 2 seed Kansas State. The coaches and players, though, weren’t satisfied with being this cute little underdog story who upsets one or two teams and reaches the Sweet Sixteen every few years… How many times have they been told this year they were too small and too, ahem, un-athletic (which, let’s be honest, is code for “too white”)? Here’s what we saw all tournament, and especially Saturday against massive Kansas State: Butler outrebounded the Wildcats by 12. Twelve… The “Hoosiers” comparisons began again after the game, when players and Stevens were asked how often they’d seen the movie. (There are some parallels: Two small schools. Two teams who built up to the moment; recall how good Milan was the year before the Milan Miracle. The shocking resemblance between Gordon Hayward and Jimmy Chitwood. Fine. I mean, it’s unavoidable, right?)

Michael Rosenberg, Detroit Free Press: Unless Durrell Summers or Kalin Lucas pulls a surprise and leaves for the NBA, MSU should be the preseason No. 1 team in the country next fall. The Spartans will lose Raymar Morgan but bring back everybody else in the rotation and a highly regarded freshman class. What does that have to do with this year’s Final Four? Maybe nothing. But sometimes a surprise national champion is simply a team that peaks before we expect it. In 1991, Duke was a surprise national champion … but the Blue Devils dominated college basketball the next year and won a second title. In 1992, Michigan was a surprise national runner-up … but the next year, the Wolverines earned a No. 1 seed and made the title game again. In 1997, Arizona was a surprise national champion … but the Wildcats were probably the best team in the country the next year, before losing in the Elite Eight. In 2006, Florida was a surprise national champion … but the next year, the Gators were the best team in the country and won another title.

Thomas George, FanHouse: [Coach K's] trio of seniors — forward Lance Thomas, center Brian Zoubek and guard Jon Scheyer (left to right, photo right) — took the old-school route to Final Four glory. There was nothing microwave about their journey. They went 22-11 as freshmen, 28-6 as sophomores and 30-7 last year. Yet, no Final Fours. They were labeled underachievers. They lacked Duke blue and royal blood. A sham. A bunch of louses. But this trio never stopped fighting, believing, working. Old-school values, sure, but the difference when you’re “not that good.” The Duke assistant coaches will tell you that Scheyer, Thomas and Zoubek did not spend a second griping and moping and doing the things that kill a team, that kill a program. That this trio is the team’s rock. And they have been that for each other. When it was over, after they had popped Baylor 78-71 in front of a Baylor-friendly crowd of 47,492, Zoubek said the seniors just looked at each other. No words needed.

Photo from fOTOGLIF