About Basketball's Year in Review

The best and worst of 2008

When the biggest game of the year is also one of the most entertaining, "Best Game" becomes a comically easy choice. The 2008 NCAA Final was one for the ages: Memphis builds up a big lead, the Tigers' poor free-throw shooting lets Kansas back in it, Mario Chalmers hits an epic three to tie the game... rock, chalk, Jayhawk.

Of all the accolades Bill Self will receive this year, he'll probably treasure this one the most. Honorable mention goes to John Calipari, whose Memphis Tigers won 38 games last season.

With apologies to the champion Jayhawks, Carolina ended the regular season ranked number one last year... were the top seed in the NCAA Tournament... dominated the competition in the first rounds of the NCAAs... and returned with a vengeance this year, winning their first 12 games of the 2008-09 season, all by double-digit margins. The only black mark on their resume is the Final Four loss to Kansas.

With all due respect to Tyler Hansbrough, Blake Griffin, Derrick Rose, Michael Beasley and countless others... Stephen Curry made Davidson a household name during the NCAA Tournament, came back to school, switched positions, and continues to put up video-game numbers. Curry gets extra credit for selflessness -- when Loyola of Maryland decided to double-team him for an entire game, Curry deferred to his teammates -- who were playing four-on-three -- and helped Davidson get a win without scoring a single point.

Being the leading scorer in North Carolina history is sort of like owning the New York Yankee record for home runs, or the Green Bay Packers' career rushing mark. Tyler Hansbrough passed Phil Ford on Carolina's all-time scoring list during the Heels' win over Evansville on December 18. There's a good chance Hansbrough will be in this spot again next year -- he's close to passing J.J. Redick as the leading scorer in ACC history.

Arizona's hall-of-fame coach Lute Olson was supposed to return to the sidelines after a year-long hiatus... but just as the season was set to begin, Olson -- suddenly and with very little explanation -- retired, leaving the Wildcats scrambling to find a coach. Days later came the official explanation -- complications from a stroke, suffered at some point during his sabbatical -- made it impossible for Olson to return to the sidelines.

Indiana started the 2007-08 season with a top-ten caliber team. The season ended with Sampson and all but two of the Hoosier players gone, a boat load of NCAA investigations, and allegations of rampant drug use on Sampson's watch. Other than that, Sampson was an excellent hire.

The Big 12 owns the national title and the ACC has the top team... but the Big East sent a record eight teams to the NCAA Tournament last season -- and with nine Big East teams in the top 25 of the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll as 2008 draws to a close, they're poised to break their own record in 2009.

In 2008, "Coach K" became the winningest active coach in Division I and won Olympic gold with the "Redeem Team" in Beijing... those achievements are impressive enough that we'll overlook the Dookie's early exit from the NCAA Tournament last March.