"Momentum means nothing come March"

When filling out my NCAA tournament brackets, I used to always be temped to pick teams that were on a hot streak - teams that supposedly owned that all-important "M" word (momentum) heading into the Big Dance.

That's why I stupidly chose Syracuse to advance to the Sweet 16 a year ago after the Orangemen won four games in four days to take the Big East Tournament. Then I watched on the first night of the Big Dance as the Orange completely ran out of gas against Texas A&M and lost. Gerry McNamara, who had been unstoppable during the Big East tourney, stunk up the joint against the Aggies and wasn't even in the game at crunch time.

After that game, I finally learned my bracketology lesson for the year: Momentum means nothing going into the NCAA tournament. This is different from momentum gained during the tournament. That's a good thing. That's what propelled Florida to the national title a year ago. They got hot in the Big Dance and, frankly, became invincible. But any winning streaks taken into the tournament can be thrown out the window.

The only streak that matters come Thursday is who can pile up six straight wins.

Positive momentum?
No coach will ever admit it (at least publicly), but if a team is assured of a high seed in the tournament, an early loss in its conference tournament can't be the worse thing. It gives the team an extra few days to rest and prepare. And if the coach thinks his players were maybe becoming overconfident or too relaxed on the court, it is a perfect opportunity for him to teach them a lesson about taking every game seriously - exactly what is needed during the three-week Big Dance.

This year's Maryland team is the perfect example. The Terrapins cruised into the ACC tournament having won eight consecutive games, including two over Duke and one over North Carolina, a No. 1 seed in the Big Dance. But Maryland lost in the first round of the conference tournament to Miami, a team that's not attending any postseason tournament. I know Gary Williams relished the opportunity to work with his players Friday, Saturday and Sunday while Roy Williams was coaching North Carolina to the ACC title.

And I can guarantee the Terrapins will be prepared for their first-round matchup this week with Davidson. There will be no looking ahead. They will be rested and ready to go - something that could not be said if they had gone on to play in the ACC title game. Sure, they might have gotten a No. 3 seed instead of a No. 4 (which I thought was extremely generous), but when it comes down to it, the seeding doesn't matter. Every team still has to play the games.

A team on the other end of the spectrum is Texas, which nearly delayed the selection committee’s unveiling of the brackets by playing overtime with Kansas in the Big 12 Tournament Sunday afternoon. The game ended around 5:40 p.m. EST, 20 minutes before the selection show. The Longhorns lost the game, but still got a No. 4 seed and a lot of respect from national pundits, who believe Texas has what it takes to possibly upset North Carolina in the Sweet 16.

But Texas must win two games in three days before it can think about the Tar Heels.
Luckily for the Longhorns, they play on Friday evening instead of, say, noon on Thursday. But, still, they'll only have had four days to practice and prepare for New Mexico State. As great as Kevin Durant is, Texas fans have to be just a little concerned about their team. Texas played three games in three days - including a draining comeback against Baylor and the OT loss to Kansas - and it isn't a team with a lot of depth. This was obvious on Sunday when point guard D.J. Augustin was out of the game. No player could run the offense like he did. His presence on the bench allowed Kansas to recover from a 22-point deficit.

Does this mean Texas will lose to New Mexico State? No, probably not. But the Longhorns' weekend will not be as easy as many experts predict.

As exciting as Texas' Big 12 tournament run was, maybe it would have been better off allowing Baylor to hold onto its huge lead in the quarterfinals Friday night. That would have done two things. First, it would have given the thin Texas lineup a full week to rest and get ready for the Big Dance. Second, it would have put the Longhorns below the radar. After this past weekend, everyone knows what the Longhorns can do as a team. They were a Kansas 3-pointer at the end of regulation away from winning the tournament. But if they had been beaten by lowly Baylor, maybe people would have had questions about this team. Or, maybe, people simply wouldn't have talked about it as the tournament neared.

Last year, no one was chatting up Florida as a potential Final Four candidate until the Elite Eight. The Gators used a lack-of-respect approach perfectly to cruise to the national title. They weren't quite the Cinderella George Mason was, but they certainly weren't as popular of a pick as Connecticut or Duke to make the Final Four.

This year, however, the target is on Florida's back. And they were one of four high-profile teams - along with Kansas, Ohio State and North Carolina - who won a conference tournament on Sunday. While it would take an historical event - the first 16-over-1 upset - for one of these teams to lose its first-round matchup, it will be interesting to see how this "momentum" serves them (and others, such as Texas) as March Madness roars forward.