Welcome to The Holy Land of Hoops

All votes are in, all precincts have reported. I've seen enough.

It's time to look at one more map of this country, but the most colorful, competitive and uplifting one. The 2020-21 edition of the United States of College Basketball is back. Each state (with the exception of Alaska, which does not have a Division I program) is represented by logo with the best projected team in each state. There were some extremely close races this year -- and then there were the blowouts.

College basketball's season starts Wednesday. This is the final look, one last canvass across the country before the games get going and results can overtake estimations, predictions and far-flung forecasts.

On November 24, 2020 Matt Norlander wrote:
California

Top team in state: UCLA Bruins

The rest:
2. Stanford
3. San Diego State
4. USC
5. Saint Mary's
6. San Francisco
7. Pepperdine
8. UC Irvine
9. California
10. UC Santa Barbara

The overconfidence that Mick Cronin feared could be his team’s undoing should no longer be an issue. Nationally ranked and picked to win the Pac-12 Conference, UCLA looked average at best in its season opener.

The No. 22 Bruins were missing two of their top players because of injuries and suffered from several other no-shows while getting flattened in a 73-58 loss to San Diego State on Wednesday night at Viejas Arena.