So, this is what “settle it on the field” looks like.

Over at Double-A Zone, the NCAA’s official blog, Josh has a post up about a mock selection of the March Madness field for this season.

1:35 p.m. Introductions are currently being made. There are about 20 sportswriters from across the country presently in the Palmer Pierce room at NCAA headquarters in Indianapolis. Two journalists are paired together to represent one member of the Men’s Basketball Committee.

Take a peek.  It’s a long read.

Yes, I know it’s a mock draft.  But it’s an exercise sponsored by the NCAA in order to give journalists a feel for what the actual committee goes through in the selection process.  And anyway you look at it, this is what you’re going to have when there’s a subjective element employed to select the participants in a postseason tourney, whether it’s comprised of sixty four or just four schools.

Something special?

I posted previously that RB Carlton Thomas seemed like a kid that Bobo wanted because he filled a niche.

Maybe I had the right idea, but the wrong coach.

What is so special about Frostproof’s Carlton Thomas, the Georgia-bound running back.

Bulldogs Coach Mark Richt told Frostproof AD Chuck Loveless that ever since he coached Warrick Dunn at FSU he has been looking for someone who can make special moves in space just like the ex-Tampa Bay Buc and current Atlanta Falcon.

Thomas is the best at his school since a guy named Travis Henry, who is also still running in the NFL.

Needless to say, this should be worth following.

If perception equals reality…

Tommy Tuberville has a long row to hoe, that’s for sure.

I mean, “the party’s over”?

… But that game is over now. Alabama has a new CEO, and while Saban has looked shaky at times, he proved this week he will be a titanic force in the state and around this part of the country.

So what’s Tuberville to do? Or at $3 million a year (and a $6 million buyout), perhaps the better question is: Does he even care?

And at The Joe Cribbs Car Wash, an offer to a long snapper is taken as a starting point for an angst ridden examination of ‘Bama’s return to the SEC stage.

…For Auburn fans, the year-plus since Saban’s arrival in T-Town have been a lot like living in Rowling’s “wizarding community” after Harry came back from the graveyard at the end of Book/Movie 4 telling everyone Voldemort (the long-thought-dead villain) had returned. Like the wizards, many Auburn fans scoffed outright at the idea of the archenemy reborn and ridiculed those who said it was happening. I would say the majority of us weren’t so dismissive but adopted a easier-on-the-nerves position of remaining unconvinced until seeing the evidence of return first-hand. A very, very small handful believed the archenemy’s full-bodied return was imminent, only a matter of time, which of course is what those on the Other Side have been saying for a while.

Jerry does hold out hope for his side at the end, but still.

Hey, don’t get me wrong here: Saban has proven he’s a terrific recruiter, and this is a ginormous, talented class that he’s landed. ‘Bama fans have every right to be excited. But it’s just one class. And it was bolstered by what’s turned out to be the best in state group of high school seniors that Alabama has produced in a while. Let’s see what happens when the in state class isn’t so strong. Maybe then we’ll see how disinterested Tubby really is.

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UPDATE: Some more thoughts here.