College basketball is unique in that every team has a chance to win it all, and even the smallest schools can field a D-I team. The problem posed by over 300 teams spread across the country is where to start? Easily enough, 35seconds is going to begin as this young season unfolds, adding to the conversation where it can as the identities start to form, contenders take shape, and conferences bear down. If we can rip off some good humor while we’re at it, all more the better.

Tonight’s Jimmy V Classic in NYC brings together 4 teams in various stages of contending maturity: Southern Cal, Memphis, Notre Dame, and Kansas State. Comparing them from scratch is a tough task for even legitimate journalists, so we’re going to cut straight to our blogging roots and begin with the old chestnut, the comparison post. Ladies and mostly gentlemen, the Jimmy V Classic as General Mills Monster Cereal.

Southern Cal- Count Chocula

The old standby of the charactered breakfast cereals, Count Chocula is a go to pick for sugary Saturday mornings in front of the cartoons, lazy Sundays, and all those other times when you want to eat vampire sponsored chocolate. The Trojans may have been forgotten for a bit, but just like the Count, once you start thinking about them, you realize just how good they can be. Freshman standout OJ Mayo, the defacto story coming out of SC, is dazzling everyone with his guard play. Averaging 21pts a game against such competition as Oklahoma and #4 Kansas, the HT prospect is making good on his hype. Fellow freshmen, Davon Jefferson is also getting it done at forward for the Trojans. They face a tough matchup late Tuesday night with Memphis, but Southern Cal already has some tough experience to draw from.

Memphis- Franken Berry

The Memphis Tigers are a damn good basketball team, and nobody needs us saying so. Ranked #2 in the latest polls, the team still probably doesn’t get enough of the attention it deserves. Also, just like Franken Berry’s unconventional taste, the Tigers are experimenting with a new fangled offensive philosophy. Based on international play, you know, the kind that whoops on traditional US stylings, Coach Calipari is running a more aggressive, wide-open offense that encourages full speed driving and attacking the boards, dubbed “Princeton on Steroids.” Memphis is always stacked from top to bottom with tremendous athletes, matching this unconventional style very well. They are 10 deep, with guards Chris Douglas-Rogers and Derrick Rose leading the charge. We haven’t had the time to catch it in action, and can’t wait to see it for the first time tonight.

Notre Dame- Boo Berry

Confession time. The writer is an unabashed Notre Dame fan and a legitimately obsessed ND Hoops fan. While his attention to the team has lapsed recently, deep down is still the kid who camped out for seats back when Troy Murphy was still around. Under Mike Brey, the Fighting Irish have certainly had their ups and downs, going from quality Big East seasons to missing the tournament for what feels like forever. Just when you think they’re back to respectability, Winthrop gives them the mid-major business in last year’s first round. Putting it simply, on any given day Notre Dame can be a really good team, but they can also be a really bad team, just like Boo Berry. Most identified by wily point guard Kyle McAlarney and manchild Luke Harangody, the Irish are always an enigma looking to do some damage when they can.

Fruit Brute- Kansas State

The “forgotten” team of this year’s Jimmy V Classic, Kansas State seems to be here just because. Well, not to mention the likeness to the Fruit Brute is uncanny. The Wildcats bring in a relatively young team of freshmen under coach Frank Martin that nearly upset #17 Oregon last week. Teetering on the bubble of a national ranking, K-State joins the vast ether of power conference teams struggling to keep momentum throughout the season. A victory over Notre Dame would give them some cache going forward, but nothing like upsetting bigger names like USC and Memphis. Led by freshman guard Michael Beasley’s 27pts a game, Kansas State hopes to get noticed and remind everyone that they are a quality team despite hiding in the shadows of the Big XII.

While there’s really nothing on the line save a little bit of pride and a hell of a good cause, here are our picks:

Memphis over Southern Cal

Notre Dame over Kansas State