Hey, Hawkeyes, eat crow! Terps? Grab a rebound, for crying out loud! And Carolina? We'll get to you in a bit.

I received several e-mails in response to my Georgia Tech column, mostly from irate Iowa, Maryland, and North Carolina fans who felt dissed. Let's see. Right after I put my pen down, Iowa dropped two fat L's to Wisconsin and Michigan. And this past Saturday the Hawkeyes lost to Northwestern. I can't scream this loudly enough: Northwestern!

As for Maryland, all the Terrapins needed was to take care of the ball and grab a single rebound in the fortieth minute and they beat the Dukies. Now they can't beat anyone. Those Tar Heels? Can't say anything bad about them now after 18 straight -- wait, yes I can. They play great team basketball, but this isn't Jordan, Worthy and Co. What does it say about the strength of the college game if the Tar Heels can get clocked at home by a mediocre Kentucky team and then bounce back to No. 1 in the country? It says this: despite their win streak, the Heels aren't that good. No one is. Not Stanford. Not Duke. Not Carolina. Not anyone.

Not all of this is bad news. This sort of parity should provide another killer NCAA tourney, as long as those awful Wisconsin Badgers don't rear their heinous heads again (judging by how they played against Butler, that shouldn't be a problem). That said, here are four teams I would love to see go deep into March, teams that make college basketball worth watching:

Xavier -- Skip Prosser has to be one of the most underrated coaches in college ball. The Muskies are 18-4 with that pressing, up-tempo style and they have a lot of interesting parts. The backcourt of senior Mo McAfee and frosh Romain Sato is quick and deadly. David West is a force in the paint. Kevin Frey made my all-white-guy team. Nuff said. And Lloyd Price is only averaging nine points. This guy has NBA skills.

Georgetown -- The Hoyas have been in a bit of a slump, but if you saw the Seton Hall game, the one where 6-2 Demetrius Hunter dunked in Eddie Griffin's mug, you know how talented and athletic this squad is. Kevin Braswell is as smoove as they come at the point. He's like me (if I had game). Mike Sweetney, the ox from Oxon Hill, Md., is one the Big East's best freshmen, and we know what 6-11 Lee Scruggs can do from three. Even Anthony Perry is showing he can play this year.

Florida -- I know they almost went the distance last year, but dude, you got to love the white boys who rain from deep. Teddy Dupay, Brett Nelson even Matt Bonner can hit the trey. Udonis Haslem is this team's MVP, though. The thing about the Gators is even as favorites they play like underdogs.

UCLA -- Okay, I got to preface this pick: I'm from LA and Lavs is my boy. But lost in the whole Pitino thing is that the Bruins are winning with an old Rick trick: the press. In the process, they've become one of the toughest matchups in the country. And this is not the most talented team. Outside of the backcourt of Earl Watson and Jason Kapono, the Bruins are a bunch of B-listers with big wins over Stanford and SC. Yeah, Lavs!

All these teams make college hoops great. Instead of protecting the goal, they pursue the ball and they put up points. Let's hope one of them breaks through come tourney time. This blue heaven stuff is getting to be a little much.

John Gustafson writes college hoop for ESPN The Magazine. E-mail him at john.gustafson@espnmag.com.