... We've been here for, well, a year. Rockin' our peers, puttin' suckas in fear. And, today, Friday, Jan. 25th is the first day for the new year of the college basketball blog, In the Paint.

Why today -- well the season is about half over and now things are starting to heat up and also, the football season for those of us who have to cover it is finally over and I have the time to do this thing right. Also, it seemed appropriate given that it is the 20th anniversery of this fine moment in Pitt history....

Now, I'll start with a few loose items and then each day we'll get a little deeper into the world of college hoops.

First, from what I've seen, the four best teams (in no particular order) by far are...

UCLA (16-2) -- Kevin Love, no disrespect to DeJuan Blair, is the best freshman in the country and the Bruins still play stifling defense and still have an excellent backcourt combo in Collison and Westbrook. Probably not as talented top to bottom as the other three on this list, but close and given their toughness and defensive prowess, might be the last team standing in April.

Kansas (19-0) -- Nobody has ever doubted Bill Self's ability to acquire talent or win in the Big 12 and there are few, if any, teams that can match the Jayhawks talent. But it is Self's ability to translate that talent into a Final Four run (though he's been close twice in the past four years) that has been in question and if he doesn't get this group to the Final Four those questions will get louder and louder. This team is deep, experienced and talented and there is no reason they shouldn't be Final Four bound.

Memphis (18-0) -- The Tigers biggest problem could be a lack of interest by the time March rolls around as they no doubt could sleep walk through Conference USA and still come out either undefeated or very close. However, they beat Oklahoma, Connecticut, USC, Arizona, Georgetown and Cincinnatti so they clearly deserve their place among the elite.

North Carolina (19-1) -- Pound for pound and talent for talent, on paper this is the best team in the country. Unfortunately, the Tar Heels are always somewhat of an enigma and their head-scratching loss last week to Maryland was just the latest example of why we can't write their name in the Final Four in ink. Yes, they should be there but they should have been their last year and didn't make it and the loss to Georgetown in the Elite 8 was a lot like the loss last week to the Terps -- the Tar Heels played with no sense of urgency, failed to execute, missed way too many shots and had too many lapses on defense. Still, if they play their A game, they are probably the best team.

The next group of teams -- I don't know yet -- but if I had to guess I'd say Michigan State is very good as is Tennessee, Texas and Washington State, but I don't think any of those schools are in the category or near as complete as the four at the top of the list.

Let's take a quick look at the local scene...

Pitt (16-3) -- The Panthers have three things going for them: (1) talent (2) experience and (3) depth and all three have been tested by injuries. But they have played remarkably well in the absence of Cook and Fields and have also benefitted from the fact that the Big East is not nearly as strong as the organizers of this mega-conference had hoped. In fact, it is looking more and more like this will be a six-bid conference come tourney time which is not going to sit well with the coaches and athletic directors. An NCAA lock at this point.

WVU (15-4) -- I have covered this team three or four times now and I can say without a doubt that Bob Huggins is a far better coach than I ever realized. Consider what he is doing with a roster of guys he'd have had very little interest in recruiting because they don't fit what he likes to do. But he has the Mountaineers buying into playing defense and rebounding and with the shooters left over from Beilein's era, they are a very dangerous team. Tomorrow night they play host to Georgetown -- a big test. Id say they are closing in on NCAA status.

Duquesne (12-5) -- The Dukes are a lot of fun to watch but they won't survive long if Shawn James doesn't get back healthy and in the mix immediately. Still, what Ron Everhart has done in a short time has made Duquesne basketball relevant again on the local sports scene -- and that is saying something. The Dukes look like an NIT team perhaps, which is a big step forward.

Robert Morris (13-5) -- Mike Rice is doing an excellent job with the Colonials. They probably don't have enough firepower to win the Northeast Conference Tournament and get to the NCAA, but the win over Boston College suggests they will be a tough out. This has the feel of becoming the kind of program that is knocking on the door of the tournament every year.

Penn State (10-8) -- At one point the Nittany Lions had won eight in a row and were looking like they had finally turned the corner. Then Geary Claxton gets injured and Penn State turned into, well, Penn State again and has now lost four in a row and looking ahead at the schedule, could stretch that streak to 12 before consecutive home games against Iowa and Michigan provide a little reprieve.