Article By: Daniel Farish     Photo Credit: coloring-pictures.net

FULL DISCLOSURE: I began writing this Tuesday night while bowling league, before Indiana lost to Minnesota. Sometimes these things write themselves, as Vanetti says. No question.

Look up the word “parity” in Webster’s Dictionary and you’ll find this definition: “The 2012-2013 NCAA College Basketball season.” In a world where rankings mean everything to the loyal and rabid fanbases , the teams and their players seem to not care. There is a feeling of almost indifference in the air. “Oh, we’re #1? Ok. Cool.” And then said team promptly loses a game. Or two. OR THREE. Let’s break down the #1 teams that we have seen this year:

Preseason: Indiana (0-0)

Week 2: Indiana (1-0)

Week 3: Indiana (3-0)

Week 4: Indiana (6-0)

Week 5: Indiana (8-0)

Week 6: Indiana (9-0) Indiana won these 9 games by an average of 28.3 points, including a then impressive now not so impressive 24 point win over UNC (boy, are THEY bad). Everything we had seen to this point was expected. The Top 10 had a combined 3 losses, with #2 Duke beating #6 Louisville and #7 Ohio State, and #9 Kansas losing to #21 Michigan State. Someone then turned on the Ferris Wheel, and the season slowly spun into turmoil.

Week 7: Duke (9-0). Former #1 Indiana lost in an OT shocker to Butler. What was even more shocking? Pre-season POY Cody Zeller was not in the game on the final play, when baseball player turned walk-on basketball player Alex Barlow hit the GW floater with 2.4 seconds remaining. Tom Crean’s reasoning? “ We went small to defend the ball screens they were running. We didn’t want to get into a bad position.” I would think you would WANT the pre-season POY in the game at that point. Also, O/U on Brad Stevens final year at Butler? 2015 says this guy.

Week 8: Duke (11-0)

Week 9: Duke (12-0) Top 5 all stay the same, the waters haven’t completely been mucked up yet.

Week 10: Duke (14-0) It looks like Coach K and Co. are going to have a smooth roll through the ACC. North Carolina is embarrassingly bad, NC State looks decent but not quite on Duke’s level. And then. Uh-oh. Injuries don’t just happen to you, UL fans. Duke loses one of its leaders in senior PF Ryan Kelly. And he still isn’t back. What happened next was a Saturday afternoon road loss @ NC State which prompted a sickening court storming by a fanbase who should have more respect for their own program. Following that loss, the #1 spot was awarded, for the first time EVER to……

Week 11: Louisville (15-1) T-Shirts were made. There was fanfare, hoopla, I’m surprised there wasn’t a parade. Their first game as a #1 was a solid road win @ UConn. Following that was a marquee match against a No.6 Syracuse team who was missing one of their top performers. It was a home game. There was NO WAY a team would lose this game, right? Not only did they lose, they flat out forgot how to play basketball on the final 2 possessions. Louisville would go on to lose their next two games, including a head scratching 9 point road loss @ Villanova and another flat 2 point loss @ Georgetown.

Week 12: Duke (16-1) Indiana was primed to take over the #1 spot again, but they lost a confusing home game against unranked Wisconsin. Love those conference games. So Duke jumped the Hoosiers and returned to greatness as #1. The tides of the ACC were shifting though, and no one saw it coming. Duke traveled to Miami for a ho-hum Wednesday night game against a #25 Hurricanes team who was playing solid ball. A classic trap game. But the definition of “trap game” is not a 27 point beatdown. It is not losing so badly that you threaten to break the school record for biggest defeat EVER. But that’s what happened. Duke kept it within four (48-44) in the 2^nd half. It was the first half (42-19) that raised eyebrows across the nation. Miami had 3 players combine to shoot 26-39 for 65 points. So, who would make the jump to the not-so-coveted #1 spot?

Week 13: Michigan (19-1) Wolverine fans had visions of Fab 5 dancing through their heads. A high flying, high scoring, fast paced game had traveled south from Ann Arbor and swept the country. But it wasn’t meant to be, because the Crimson and Cream Nation wanted their #1 ranking back. Michigan traveled to historic Assembly Hall and lost 81-73. Kansas was comfortably sitting behind UM and ready to make their annual trip to the #1 spot. And then Kansas lost 3 games in a row to unranked teams. Kansas  channeled their inner Louisville: Lose to a good conference team at home (Oklahoma State) then go on the road and lose two in a row, a head scratcher at TCU (horrible team who held KU to 2 points in the first 12 minutes of the game) and Oklahoma, a decent conference foe that beat an un-motivated KU team.

Week 14: Indiana (20-2) Back at #1, but not for long. The Hoosiers allowed a wide-open buzzer beating tip-in to Illinois in Champaign and lost 74-72. With Florida, Duke and Michigan waiting, surely Indiana would drop, right?

Week 15: Indiana (21-3) Nope. Florida, who was playing the best basketball in the country, traveled to Arkansas and allowed themselves to get down 30, eventually losing by 11. Michigan lost back to back games, an OT thriller @ Wisconsin and a 17 point butt-whopping @ Michigan State. Duke? Well, they got revenge on NCST from earlier in the year, but only beat Boston College by 1. So, Indiana kept the spot.

Week 16: Indiana (23-3) Indiana kept their record clean for a week, chalking up wins against Nebraska and Purdue. But here comes Miami. And Gonzaga. Remember the darling of the NCAA tournament from the early 2000’s? Yeah, they’re #3. Don’t ask me who they’ve beaten. I don’t know either. They have played 2 premier games. They lost at home against Illinois and they lost on the road @ Butler. If they stay up there, I’m taking the #16 seed that draws them.

Week 17: Indiana (24-3) Damn near unanimous as the #1, minus the one idiot on the west coast who voted for Gonzaga. He must not have the internet. Or a TV. Or newspaper. Lives under a rock. But. Indiana lost two days ago to Tubby’s Loveable Lovers, the Minnesota Golden Gophers. Miami is poised to take the throne, right? If they were #2, they would. Miami popped in one of those “what the hell” games, FINALLY, as they lost @ Wake Forest by 15. Gonzaga has two games left this week. Thursday night @ BYU and Saturday evening hosting Portland (who lost to UK by 28 in December).

Week 18: Probably Gonzaga….gag me.

What does all this mean? Bet on the 16’s. Don’t trust the 2’s. Get ready for one of the most exciting NCAA Tournament ever. It will be the toughest multiple choice test, ever. There are no favorites. But don’t be surprised when a “dark horse” beats a college basketball blue-blood. It’s been the season of “why not us.” That will carry over to the tournament. So, with that being said, let’s go Highlanders! Of course, that’s the New Jersey Institute Of Technology who currently lead the Great West. They kept it within 10 of every Big East team they played (Seton Hall, St. John’s, Providence and Villanova) and only lost to the Friars by 1. This team has what it takes. I mean, if Florida Gulf Coast can beat Miami, why can’t N.J.I.T. shock the world?!