"Now I know why there's great parity"

I don't usually allow my often pathetic performance on the basketball court to affect my opinion of the "real athletes" who play the game competitively.

But last Thursday - in my basketball class (yes, I know it sounds bad, but, really, I take legitimate classes as well) - was the exception. I had been wondering for weeks about the amazing parity in college basketball this season. Whole bunches of teams in the major conferences were lumped together, with no teams, it seemed, trying to stand above the rest.

I found my answer - kind of - in this basketball class. We were playing a 3-on-3 tournament. I liked my team. We had what you need for a successful three-person team: a point guard, a shooting guard/small forward and a big man. But, somehow, we lost two of four games to undermatched opponents. The reason? We simply didn't bring it. We didn't play at 100 percent. We didn't give it our all. We must have been tired from all those mind-taxing English classes.

Granted, this was a 3-on-3 gym class tournament. But I think it relates to major college basketball. Most teams, I've noticed, fail to maintain their intensity from night to night. These are, after all, college students. We can say all we want about them not going to class or being like me and only taking gym classes, but the fact is they live tiring lives, often traveling twice a week.

It's not easy for them to bring the same focus and effort to every game, especially when they're on the road and the home team is juiced up by the crowd. That's one of the main reasons, I believe, why there is so much parity in the college game this season - more than ever, it seems.

There are a few teams coasting through their leagues. Florida in the SEC, Wisconsin and Ohio State in the Big Ten, Memphis in Conference USA. But besides them, all the major teams are clumped together, which should make life even more difficult for the selection committee come Selection Sunday in less than three weeks.

Look at the Big Ten. After Wisconsin and Ohio State (both 12-1 in the conference), there are six teams that have records between 7-5 and 6-6. How ridiculous is that? And excluding Iowa, those teams have very similar overall records as well. Additionally, with the exception of Indiana's win over Wisconsin, none of these teams have a signature victory. They've all just beat each other at home. So it's nearly impossible to differentiate between these teams. If you played the "blind resume" game with these squads - as ESPN analysts often do - it'd be a guessing game as to who is who.

The Big Ten isn't the only conference. The ACC's almost as wild. There are four teams - North Carolina, Virginia, Boston College and Virginia Tech - within a game of the conference lead, which is currently shared by the Tar Heels and Cavaliers at 9-3. Then there are five teams with records spanning 7-6 to 5-8 who all harbor hopes of getting into the NCAA tournament. And, needless to say, anything can happen on any night, as witnessed by North Carolina State (4-8) thrashing Virginia Tech (8-4) by more than 20 points the other day. The league might be a bit down overall from years past, but it's as unpredictable as ever.

And the king of parity, of course, is the 16-team Big East. While Pittsburgh and Georgetown appear the only two teams left in the race for the title with two losses apiece, there are seven teams who have between four and six conference losses and are still in the hunt for a tournament bid, and that's not even including 18-9 Villanova, which sits on the bubble. The Big East tournament should be wackier than ever this season inside Madison Square Garden.

This parity has penetrated all of college basketball, from the huge conferences, to the mid-majors, where Gonzaga isn't even in first place in the West Coast Conference. Those in television must be sucking their thumbs, because no game is a sure win. Even Florida, which had won 17 straight games, fell last Saturday at unranked Vanderbilt. Gone are the days of one team dominating the pack. Gone is the talk of a Duke or Kentucky beating opponents by an average of 20-plus points.

Every team in every conference believes it has a chance on any given night, especially when it's at home. Likely because of the travel, teams are completely different away from home. Take Michigan and Purdue as examples. The Big Ten schools faced each other twice within a week. At Purdue the Boilermakers trounced the Wolverines 67-53. But at Michigan it was a completely different story, with the Wolverines rolling to a 71-55 lopsided victory.

At first I was bemused by this. Why, I asked Albion College players I know, is it so difficult for teams these days to win on the road. They cited, of course, the opposing fans creating a difficult atmosphere. But they failed to mention what I learned from my 3-on-3 tournament: Sometimes, you just don't have it.

Remember, these are 18- and 19-year-olds we’re talking about. They're not professionals. OK, except for the Kevin Durants and Greg Odens of the world. They're just kids, really. And it must be tough to take a 5-hour plane ride, try to study and then play a fired-up team in front of a raucous crowd.

Check that. It is tough. Minus the plane ride and the crowd, I experienced this a week ago in my own tiny, dismal basketball world.