Welcome to Bonesville, Swabbie! News, Analysis, Opinion & Booty for Internet Plunderers

Looking at the college basketball scene in the Carolinas while longing for a national playoff in college football ... some thoughts about the latter before examining the former:

The bowl system continues to fail its touted task of determining a true national champion in college football. When a 14-12 Texas Christian win at Southern Miss sends Nebraska into the Rose Bowl to play Miami for the national crown, something is wrong. That outcome raised Nebraska’s strength of schedule just enough to move them into second place in the BCS standings.

Colorado beat the Cornhuskers on the field by 26 points and the Buffaloes had wins over five Top 25 teams as opposed to two wins over nationally-ranked teams for Nebraska.

ESPN presented a 16-team playoff system on its Tuesday editions of SportsCenter and it was a great concept, especially compared to the archaic system we have at the present. It took conference champions from 10 leagues, including Conference USA and seeded them one through 16. There were six at-large teams, which could be determined using the BCS formula.

Using existing bowls, the playoffs progressed to a national championship game on Jan. 8. There would still be a degree of controversy with such a playoff but the question would be who would get the 16th spot, not the No. 2 spot in a one-game showdown as we have now.

The BCS system evolved after the two poll system was deemed inadequate. Now that glaring flaws have emerged in the BCS system, it’s time for the powers that be to go to a playoff system. What’s in place doesn’t guarantee participation to several leagues, including C-USA, and it has become an indefensible laughingstock. If those who run college football can’t see reason, a fan boycott of the current bowls might get the message across.

Over to basketball, which laughs all the way to the bank every year with the money generated by a legitimate playoff structure: Duke, the defending national champion, is unanimously No. 1 in the current polls and sits atop the State Line Hoops Rankings©. Let’s take a look at the Top 10 and the “Not So Sweet 17.”

State Line Hoops Rankings© — 12/13/01

THE TOP TEN

1. Duke ... Blue Devils junior guard Jason Williams erupted for a career high 35 points in a 104-83 win at Michigan on Saturday. Williams had seemingly been subpar by his exceptional standards in Duke’s previous seven games. Maybe it took some time for the Sports Illustrated cover jinx to wear off or maybe it took a little time to adjust to his move from the point to the wing, but Williams made it a long day for former Duke player and assistant coach Tommy Amaker, now the head coach for the Wolverines. Duke should get a test against Kentucky at the Meadowlands next Tuesday, Dec. 18.

2. Wake Forest ... The Deacons took a timeout for exams after vanquishing South Carolina State 115-75 last Friday night. Wake is ranked 19th by the Associated Press and No. 20 by ESPN/USA Today. The Deacons open ACC play Sunday night at 8 p.m. at home against Florida State, which flubbed a non-conference contest with Western Carolina and sustained a 79-69 loss at home. The Noles were outscored 26-9 by the Catamounts in the final 4:19. Since this column has football overtones, it’s appropriate to note that Wake linebacker R.D. Montgomery has joined the basketball team.

3. N.C. State ... The Wolfpack went onto the home floor of unbeaten and ninth-ranked Syracuse on Saturday night and left no doubt about who was the better team in that particular game. State blasted the Orangemen 82-68 to the dismay of most of the crowd of 20,150. Anthony Grundy led the win with 26 points while Pack freshman Josh Powell contributed 14 points and nine rebounds. One asterisk — Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim was undergoing treatment for an enlarged prostate and interim coach Bernie Fine looked questionable as his fill-in.

4. South Carolina ... New Gamecocks coach Dave Odom put a big feather in his cap with an 81-59 win at rival Clemson on Saturday night. South Carolina fans are notorious for their high expectations and lack of patience but Odom’s team did just what it needed to do in terms of regrouping after a tough 70-68 last second loss to No. 19 Georgetown three days beforehand. Aaron Lucas scored 20 points against the Tigers and Jamel Bradley added 18.

5. College of Charleston ... The Cougars hit a sour note with a 70-67 loss to Belmont Abbey.Their first loss of the season which dropped the record to 5-1. Jeff Bolton leads the team with a 20.2-point acoring average. Shannon Chambers averages 10.7 points and 7.0 rebounds.

6. UNC Wilmington ... The Seahawks took a tough 84-83 loss in overtime at Bowling Green on Monday. Keith McLeod hit a three-pointer with 4.3 seconds left as the Falcons improved to 7-1 with their sixth straight win. UNC-W slipped to 4-4 as a layup attempt by Tim Burnette rimmed out at the buzzer. Normally reliable Seahawks shooter Brett Blizzard missed one of two free throws with 13 seconds left that put UNC-W’s lead at 83-81. Blizzard scored a game-high 22 points and Burnette added 18 in a game that featured 23 lead changes and 16 ties.

7. Furman ... Since a season-opening 75-62 loss at Georgia, the Paladins have reeled off six straight wins going into a game at Wisconsin on Saturday night. Furman has an average margin of victory of 18.2 points. Karim Souchu leads the Paladins’ scoring with a 17.4 average. Anthony Thomas averages 15.3 points and Guilherme Da Luz averages 11.7. Paco Gonzalez is the team’s top rebounder with a 5.9 average.

8. Charlotte ... The 49ers have a great challenge on Saturday night as they face No. 5 Florida in Miami. Coach Bobby Lutz’s club is 4-0 when shooting 40 percent or better from the floor. Charlotte’s Cam Stephens is averaging 10.8 points and 10.0 rebounds over the last four games. 49ers guard Demon Brown had 12 assists in a loss to Valparaiso. Jobey Thomas is hitting 83 percent of his free throws for his career.

9. UNC-Greensboro ... The Spartans were the fall guys as Arkansas coach Nolan Richardson recorded his 500th career win with an 89-74 triumph over UNC-G on Monday night despite a 22 point effort by James Maye. The Spartans’ last lead was 14-12 on a three-pointer by Ronnie Taylor. The visitors were within 62-59 before Arkansas managed some breathing room. “I guess they thought we were going to come in and they were going to get up by 10 or 15 and we were going to quit,” said UNC-G’s Courtney Eldridge. “That’s not how we play basketball.”

10. Clemson ... Chris Hobbs had 14 points and six rebounds in that home loss to South Carolina. The Gamecocks managed a win at Littlejohn Coliseum for only the second time in their last 19 trips there. USC took control in the first half and led 51-30 at intermission. Elon visits the Tigers on Saturday.

THE NOT SO SWEET 17

11. The Citadel
12. Davidson
13. Appalachian State

14. East Carolina ... The Pirates finally heard from the NCAA on Wednesday on the status of sophomore Gabriel Mikulas but it wasn’t the news ECU needed to hear in terms of its stagnation since opening wins over Rutgers and Northwestern. ECU has lost six straight but hopes to snap the slump against South Carolina-Spartanburg in Greenville on Saturday. Mikulas, a 6-foot-8 power forward/post player, averaged a team-high 15.0 points last season but won’t be available until a Jan. 8 game at UAB because of an NCAA ruling on Mikulas’ participation in unsanctioned international games. “We’ve got to find some offense,” said ECU coach Bill Herrion after a 53-52 home loss to Old Dominion on Saturday night in which freshman Moussa Badiane tied a school record with eight blocked shots. Badiane sat out six games for playing in an unsanctioned league in France.

15. Gardner-Webb
16. North Carolina
17. Campbell
18. Wofford
19. Charleston Southern
20. Western Carolina
21. Elon
22. UNC-Asheville
23. High Point
24. North Carolina A&T
25. South Carolina State
26. Winthrop
27. Coastal Carolina