The Bilas Index, Vol. II: The top 68 teams in men's college basketball - ESPN

This has been a spectacular men's college basketball season. Generally, the players are better and more skilled than ever, and the schemes coaches are running are very creative and interesting. Overall, the game is in a good place. Could it be better? Absolutely, and we will get to some suggestions shortly. However, it is worth stating and celebrating that overall, things are good.

How good? The SEC is having a historically great season and stacks up as arguably the most powerful conference, top to bottom and relative to the field, that has ever been. That is not to say that Duke, Houston, Iowa State or some other team can't emerge as the best team and win the national championship, or that the Final Four and Elite Eight will be made up of only SEC teams. Nobody is saying that, and stating that the SEC is the best league (which it is) does not imply that every other league sucks. They do not.

We have seen spectacular performances and moments this season, both team and individual. Michigan State's Tom Izzo just passed former Indiana coach Bob Knight to become the Big Ten's all-time winningest coach. Izzo is a treasure of this game, as treasured a person as he is a winner and coach. Gonzaga leads the nation in assists at 20 per game and just set a record with 33 in a game. Zags point guard Ryan Nembhard is the nation's top dime-dropper, averaging 10 assists. Villanova's lefty big man Eric Dixon leads the nation in scoring, and Auburn's Johni Broome, Duke's Cooper Flagg and UAB's Yaxel Lendeborg each lead their respective teams in scoring, rebounding, assists and blocks. Broome and Flagg appear to be in a two-man race for national player of the year, and both play on title-contending teams. Rick Pitino has St. John's back