New Website Feature:
I now have a comments section at the end of every entry. If you see that I made a mistake (which is pretty much a daily thing) or you don't agree with something that I said then this is your chance to let me (and all my other readers) know about it.

Lets get right to the Top 5 of the Sierack-Attack Power Index:
5. Michigan St.: (22-13) This team is loaded and is coming back from an elite eight run of a year ago. Chris Hill is the smartest player in the land with something like a 3.9 GPA, and he can shoot too. Shannon Brown from Proviso East is the best recruit in a Big 10 filled with top recruits. Tom Izzo is the best coach in the country not named Krsyshkhkafdkski

4. Duke: (26-7) Speaking of Coach Krsyeffadlfjvjkla;ski, the Dukies are back in a big way this year (did they ever really leave?) The depth on this squad is amazing. The best shooter in the country J.J. Redick and senior Chris Duhon lead the backcourt. Luol Deng is the top rated freshmen in the country. Loaded.

3. Missouri: (22-11) Despite his horrible hair Quin Snyder has continued the solid tradition of Tigers basketball. This years team could be his best (however, two years ago they were also preseason number 3 in the Sierack-Attack Power Index and failed to meet expectations). Now that Ricky Clemons is gone, the team will face less distractions (Steve Alford should take note of that). Rickey Paulding and Arthur Johnson lead this team. Transfer Jason Conley led the nation in scoring while at VMI. Freshmen Linas Kleiza is a giant Euro who will eat Nick Smith alive when they face December 23rd.

2. Kansas: (30-8) On illiniboard.com he is commonly referred to as Bail $elf. I think that is a little over the top. He did what most people would do in his situation, but that is old news now. What is new news is that Kansas will compete for the national title (while I guess that is not really new news). Wayne Simian, Aaron Miles, Keith Langford.. What a lineup.

1. UConn: (23-10) Was there ever any doubt about this? Emeka Okafor is dominating. Amazingly, Ben Gordon still does not get the respect that he deserves. Illinois' loss is UConn's gain as they land Charlie Villenueva. UConn is far and away the best team going into the season. However, as we all know, rarely does the top preseason team go on to win the national championship.

Before I go today I would like to issue an interactive challenge to my loyal (3 or 4) readers. Now that the Sierack-Attack Power Index (the SAPI) is complete I realized that I made a major error and forgot to include one team that certainly belongs in the Top 25. Your task is to figure out what that team is and write it in the comments section. I want to try out the comments section and this will be a good opportunity to. Your prize for getting it right will be your very own personalized shoutout appearing in an upcoming post in the March Madness Report. Good luck!  ¶ 9:23 PM

  Midnight Madness Report Part II:
Lets get to the actual basketball related news involving MM. I'll start with the freshmen because that is the main attraction of going to MM, the chance to see new players suiting up with the team for the first time. All three freshmen looked very strong out there. Brian Randle, from Peoria, was the star of the night. He won the dunk contest with a between the legs dunk, and was the recipient of an alley oop during the scrimmage that brought the house down. Randle could be starting by the time Big 10 season rolls around. Richard McBride is a shooter who will see a lot of time off the bench when Dee and Deron need rest. He will play the Sean Harrington role for the Illini this season. Finally, we have Warren Carter a 6-9 forward from Texas. At first I thought this guy couldn't hang, he needs to gain about 20 pounds. But he more then held his own during the scrimmage. Look for Powell and Ingram to be the reserve power forwards at the start of the season but by Big 10 season Carter will take Ingram's spot in the rotation (and maybe even Powell's, so Powell can play the small forward a position that he is much more suited for) All of the returning players looked good. Luther showed no ill effects from his groin injury. Spears is gonna collect some easy buckets this year (before he gets tired after 5 minutes of game time). After watching this scrimmage I thought that Illinois certainly looked like it belonged in the elite group of 20 or so schools with a legitimate chance to win the national title.

By far the highlight of the night was Nick Smith being introduced as "The Chainsaw" Nick Smith. Lets hope that nickname sticks.

More Sierack-Attack Power Index:
10. Wisconsin: (24-8) Bo Ryan is a coach on the rise (and he looks like a Badger too). The Badgers return everyone except Kurt Penney from there underrated sweet 16 team of a year ago. The loss of Penney, the undisputed team leader and current timberwolf, will hurt but they still have senior leadership in guard Freddie Owens. The top newcomer among big men in the Big 10 is 7 foot center Brian Butch, the first McDonald's All-American to ever attend Wisconsin.

9. Notre Dame: (24-10) Chris Thomas decided to pull his name from the NBA draft making the Irish instant final four contenders. Remember how they lit up Illinois in the tournament last year? Colin Falls, from Loyola Academy, will replace departed senior Matt Carroll in the role of white guy 3 point shooter.

8. Gonzaga: (24-9) This is the best team that Gonzaga has ever assembled, and that includes the team that last year lost to Arizona in thrilling double overtime fashion. Ronny Turiaf is one of the most athletically gifted, and underrated, players in America. Look for him Gonzaga's first impact NBA player since John Stockton. Guard Blake Stepp provides senior leadership at the PG position.

7. Kentucky (32-4) Don't forget that before Marquette beat them in the tournament last year, the Wildcats had an amazing 26 game winning streak that included a perfect record in the SEC. That won't happen again this year, with the loss of Keith Bogans. However, the Wildcats will once again be the favorites in the SEC.

6. Arizona (28-4) I am tired of writing so let me assure you from the bottom of my heart that they will be good  ¶ 8:19 PM

  The scene from Midnight Madness:
First off before I give you my thoughts about the team I must start off with a rant against the athletic department. Midnight Madness was handled very poorly. I showed up at 10:30 (the scheduled start time) and I was told that I wouldn't be admitted. Huff Hall had reached capacity, and people were just standing outside. Someone told the crowd, "go home, there is no chance of you being let in". Here we are all excited about a new coach, and a new year, and the die hard fans are being told "go home". It was, as they say in the business, a PR disaster. Being the ingenious guys that we are we were able to sneak in through the Huff Hall basement (all of us except Katy, she got caught and kicked out). Once inside the Huff we preceded to sit there for an hour straight, with only a stupid repeating highlight video to entertain us. In short, Midnight Madness at the U of I is horrible. At 11:30 the players were introduced, then they just stood there for 10 minutes until 12. It was all in all very unorganized. At midnight there was a dunk contest, which Freshmen Brian Randle won, a 3 point contest (Lutha won that) and then a 15 minute male scrimmage followed by a female scrimmage. Weber said nothing the entire time, which was the most disappointing thing about the night. He had to let his presence be felt right away (as is Wayne McClain got a bigger cheer from the crowd then he did). In short, although I have never been to Maryland, Kansas, or Duke I can only assume that they're midnight madness is WAY better then our cookie cutter version. Here then I present an abbreviated list of ways to improve MM:

1. Hold it at Assembly Hall
2. Don't let people in until 11:30 if there is gonna be no action for an hour OR have comedy or variety skits involving players and coaches before midnight as Roy Williams did at Kansas and now does at North Carolina (his bit is "Late Night with Roy Williams")
3. Coach Weber... say something!
4. Don't play the women's scrimmage after the men's scrimmage. More then half of the crowd (including myself) left after the men's scrimmage. Although I don't really care about the women's team, I still felt kinda bad for them.
5. Get a more exciting announcer, the crowd only got pumped up when JHo took the mic during the dunk contest

Well all of this bitching has made me tired and I didn't even get into actual evaluation of the team. I'll save that for the thrilling Midnight Madness Part 2 report, which will be tomorrow.

Now its time for 5 more from the Sierack-Attack Power Index:
15. St. Joe's: (23-7) Jameer Nelson returns for his twelfth season in the A-10. Ok, it just seems like he's been around forever. He is the best senior in the country (since I am not on scholarship).

14. Oklahoma: (22-7) My favorite college player from last year Hollis Price is gone. But there big men are back.

13. Stanford: (24-9) The best Illinois high school athlete when I was a senior? That would be Matt Lottich who played baseball, basketball, and football at New Trier. Lottich is now a senior on a talented Cardinal team. Josh Childress is a beast in the post.

12. Syracuse: (30-5) After an amazing freshmen year in which he led his team to a national championship Carmello decided to transfer to the University of Denver Nuggets. However, freakishly athletic Hakim Warrick returns, as does freakishly unathletic Gerry McNamara.

11. Texas: (26-7) Another team that suffered a huge loss to the NBA. All everything point guard TJ Ford is gone. Just like Oklahoma, Texas returns a bunch of their low post guys including, Brian Boddicker and James Thomas.

That's all for today. Tomorrow will be more midnight madness and the first half of the top 10  ¶ 8:36 PM