Originally Posted by
Oriole Way
Trust me, I don't have blue colored glasses. I am harsher on the team and Coach K than a vast majority of this board when I feel they deserve criticism.
The main reason your argument isn't sound is that last season's national champion lost a game against NC State, which was worse than this St. John's team. The fact that this Duke team is so similar to last season's Duke team is what allows me to accurately dispute the original poster's assertion that "title contenders simply don't lose to the likes to St. John's."
Pittsburgh is playing great basketball, but they are going to lose a few games, probably in a short span, because they play in the Big East. They are also overachieving relative to their talent. They are to be commended, but they are not immune to a slump. It will happen, and likely soon. I wouldn't be surprised if they lost back-to-back games against West Virginia and Villanova, and they would still have tough games against Louisville, West Virginia again, and Villanova again. And just because they haven't lost to any mediocre teams yet doesn't mean that they won't, or that they aren't susceptible to it.
UConn is radically dependent on one player, Kemba Walker. He could very well be the best player in the country, but when he doesn't play well, they will lose more often than not. They have a ton more question marks than Duke does, and I don't really consider them a title contender. Even more so with Texas, especially since Rick Barnes is one of the worst tournament and in-game coaches in the country of all the big time programs.
I really think Ohio State, Kansas, and Duke have by far the best chance of winning it all, and have the most talent. Pittsburgh may be a step behind in terms of being a title contender given their play up until this point, but I'm not sold on them yet, especially in a tournament setting where they won't be able to capitalize on their home court advantage (same could be said for Duke, but Duke is more talented).