By Mike Grubbs

Duke University won the men's college basketball championship in 2001. According to most experts, the Blue Devils will repeat as champions in 2002.

"With the best backcourt in the nation in Jason Williams and Chris Duhon, Coach K has a great shot to repeat as the national champion," Dick Vitale said in an article on ESPN.com.

Vitale is not the only one who thinks Duke will win the title.

"As much as I hate to say it, I don*t think anybody will be able to keep Duke from winning," Jason Dalling, a Utah State University student, added.

Every major preseason poll including USA Today/ESPN and Associated Press, has Duke ranked No. 1. Duke is also the top-ranked school in the latest AP and coaches polls from USA Today.

While the balance of college basketball power appears to be east of the Rocky Mountains, there are some western teams that could compete, according to Patrick Thomas, a University of Arizona student.

"Right now, I think Arizona is the best team out west," Thomas said. "I also think UCLA, Stanford, Gonzaga and Fresno State could make some noise come March. Nobody has played as well as Arizona. They beat three top10 teams and one top 25 team in their first five games, with the only loss to Kansas, another top 10 team."

Greg Hansen, a sports columnist for The Arizona Daily Star, thinks UCLA may be the best west-coast team.

"I'd probably go with UCLA by year's end, with Arizona and Stanford on their heels," he said.

Hansen's top five teams so far are Duke, Arizona, Maryland, Missouri and Syracuse. Two of Hansen's top five players are from western teams. Hansen's top five players to date are Jason Williams (Duke), Jason Gardner (Arizona), KaReem Rush (Missouri), Mike Dunleavy (Duke) and Dan Dickau (Gonzaga).

Utah also has some good basketball teams, Dalling said.

"I think Utah State is the best team in Utah, but BYU, Utah and Weber State all should be pretty good," Dalling said. "If you look at last year, Utah had three teams in the NCAA tournament, which is impressive considering that Utah isn't really known as a basketball powerhouse state."

Hansen agreed that the Aggies are the best team in Utah.

"I think Utah State has the best chance to be the top of a good crew of Utah teams, Hansen said. "BYU and Weber State are good, no doubt, so are the Utes, but beating BYU and Utah in the early going puts the Aggies up there in my mind."

USU's record stands at 6-1, the only loss coming on a buzzer-beater at Weber State. Some other key games for the Aggies are back-to-back home games against UC-Irvine and Long Beach State on Jan. 10 and 12. The complete schedule can be found on the ESPN website.

Desmond Penigar, a junior college transfer in his first year with the Aggies, is a big reason for USU's early success, Dalling added.

"Penigar has really helped down low," he said. "He just might be the best player in the conference." Penigar leads the Aggies in scoring with 19.8 points-per-game, and rebounding, with 6.2 a game, according to ESPN.

"I think the Aggies have a chance to do what they did last year and maybe even more," Dalling added, referring to the Aggies' surprising NCAA tournament win over Ohio State.

The men's NCAA tournament begins March 14 and the national championship game is on April 1 in Atlanta, according to the Final Four website.

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