The Super Bowl is history — the last big football game of the 2009-10 season has been played.
Next up: the NCAA Division I Basketball Championships.
Several teams appear to have legitimate chances to win the men’s title. No team has emerged so far as a clearcut No. 1, as evidenced by the changes in the top spot in the weekly polls.
Three Big Ten teams, at least, should have good chances to make the Sweet Sixteen or better: Michigan State, Purdue and Wisconsin. Illinois and Ohio State could be included with some consistent play.
As of Sunday, Michigan State was in first with a 9-2 mark while Wisconsin, Ohio State and Illinois were tied for second at 8-3 and Purdue was next at 7-3.
Some big games are on the schedule this week starting tonight with Purdue at Michigan State and Illinois at Wisconsin.
The winner of the Illinois-Wisconsin game would share first with MSU if Purdue wins, and the Boilermakers would be half a game back along with Ohio State, which is at Indiana on Wednesday.
Purdue also plays Iowa on Saturday at home while Ohio State is at Illinois on Sunday and Wisconsin hosts IU on Saturday. Purdue and Ohio State meet on Feb. 17 at OSU.
One team that is not among the national leaders right now is North Carolina. Another is Arizona.
Arizona last week placed its men’s basketball team on two years of probation allegedly for actions taken by former coach Lute Olson during an offseason AAU tournament.
In women’s basketball, it’s Connecticut against the field. The Huskies won their 62nd game in a row Sunday, beating last year’s NCAA runnerup team Louisvillle 84-38.
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• Snowy forecast — Snow wreaked havoc with high school schedules last week and could be a problem again this week with girls sectionals scheduled to begin tonight.
The sectionals will be played eventually. Here’s how we see some of the tournaments:
Terre Haute South 4A — Mooresville is the pick but Plainfield or the North-South winner could challenge the Pioneers.
Sullivan 3A — The Golden Arrows took Owen Valley into overtime in the game that decided the Western Indiana Conference. We think Sullivan’s young team will prevail on its home court.
South Knox 2A — Linton should be the winner in this one.
Clay City A — This one is wide open. We like the North Central-CC winner — North Central.
Covington A — Turkey Run will hold off challenges from county rivals to win.
Loogootee A — Rivet is undefeated going into the tournament but probably will have to beat a very good Barr-Reeve team to win. We think the Patriots will do it.
In last week’s USA Today rankings, Ben Davis was still No. 2 and Floyd Central was 20th. Bloomington South was No. 9 in the boys poll and third in the Midwest while Indy North Central was eighth in the Midwest.
Of course, our pick for the Super Bowl — Colts — was wrong, but we had lots of company.
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• Tom-Cattin’ It — Chad Collins did not play in last week’s PGA Tour event but was 30th in the FedEx Cup totals last week with earnings of $210,956.
n We mentioned that former Marshall coach “Nellie” Bennett had spent some time in the hospital recently because of a stroke. Actually, he had a light heart attack and is recuperating at home.
• Phil Jackson became the winningest coach in the history of the Los Angeles Lakers last week with 534 wins, passing Pat Riley, and he also is the winningest coach of the Chicago Bulls with 545 wins and six titles.
• South Knox senior Adam Schenk has been one of the top junior golfers in Southern Indiana for two or three years. He will play college golf at Purdue.
• Shakamak’s boys clinched at least a share of the final Tri-River Conference title last week and the Lakers still are in contention for SWIAC honors.
White River Valley had a nice weekend, beating Eastern and Owen Valley.
Tom Reck may be contacted by telephone at (812) 232-3231, by email at tm_reck@yahoo.com or by mail at 4284 South 5th Street, Apt. 3, Terre Haute, IN 47802.
