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Michael Wilbon joins you live from San Antonio, Texas, to talk all about the start of the Sweet 16. He's in Texas to watch Maryland take on Michigan State Friday night. So, come on into The Chat House to talk hoops.

The transcript follows.

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Helena, Mont.: CBS's broadcast of the NCAA tourney is puzzling. Why did they spend $6B and then schedule the games so that they start at the same times? The switching back and forth between games that are close diminishes from all the games. Start the games at least an hour apart. Your thoughts?

Michael Wilbon: I tend to agree w/you. I never understand it. I don't get what CBS is doing most years w/these games. But, when you pay for it, you can do what you want. Those are the rules right? --Mike

Fairfax, Va.: Mr. Wilbon, thank you for taking questions today. Someone, maybe you, wrote a column a while back discussing the lower overall quality of play in NCAA basketball, mainly due to underclassmen/high-schoolers going on to the NBA. That may be true, but Kentucky sure looks as complete as any team that's played in the tourney. How do you think they rank?

Michael Wilbon: Well, they look as complete as any team in memory in some parts -- and I'm not sure to what degree this is -- b/c the competition is not as good. Everything is relative. And, I think what Tubby Smith and Kentucky have done this year is fabulous. But could this Kentucky team beat one of the Sam Bowie teams of the 80's? I can't imagine that. Could it beat one of the Georgetown teams of the 80's? I can't imagine that. So, competition makes everything relative, even single season greatness. --Mike

Arlington, Va.: I'm getting married on May 11 -- but today might be the most crucial day in my relationship: Kansas finally gets to play Duke.

I was born in Lawrence, and she has bandwagon-ed herself to Duke since Christian made the turnaround j on Kentucky.

Obviously, God has a sense of humor.

My question is this:

When my fiancee comes home tonight from work at midnight, which one of us do you think will have bragging rights? (And which one of us will have to put up with the other dancing around like a total idiot?)

Michael Wilbon: First, congratulations. And then, I must say I have baggage to carry before I answer this question. I've picked Duke to beat Kansas in this round. So I'm not exactly an objective source. I think that Kansas is probably a more complete team, but there is something about Duke this year getting better late in the season which impresses me. The Blue Devils don't have much inside. And clearly, Nick Collison will be the best front court player on the floor. But, I'm playing a hunch here and in the first 2 rounds, my record in my picks was 29-3 so I'm feeling pretty cocky. Good luck w/the marriage. --Mike

Silver Spring, Md.: The ACC for the last few years has had one, if not two teams in the Final Four. Will they keep up the tradition this year? Duke has a tough game tonight against Kansas and if they do win, they still have to beat Arizona or Notre Dame. Maryland has a winable game against Michigan State (they may lose but the odds makers think the Terps are a little better) and then they would have either Texas or UConn.

Michael Wilbon: I have, for what it's worth, Maryland and Duke in my Final Four. So, I think it's possible, though I would not make the case that the ACC teams this year are as strong as they have been. I think Wake's loss underscores that point. But I still think it's possible to get one or two in which for an allegedly down year would be quite an accomplishment for the Terpies or the Duke-ies. --Mike

College Park, Md.: Could you walk us through how a sports reporter and commentator like you would watch a game, say seating, note taking, how in tune are you to the fast paced action, etc.?

Thanks Mike.

Michael Wilbon: When I cover a game, I'm at the game sitting a press row seat w/anywhere between 15 to a couple of hundred other reporters depending on the magnitude of the game. I watch it the same way I watched it years ago.... no special secrets w/a notebook and a roster and game notes, some of them provided by the league or the teams, some of them from interviews and research I've done. But there is no special secret to it. Now, if I'm watching games at home, it depends on who the teams are and how intensely I need to watch the game. I don't ever go to sports bars. That's for yelling and screaming, not for watching games seriously. --Mike

Weingar, Tenn.: Mike, I think Maryland has underachieved somewhat during the season for reasons I have no idea. What I did notice, however, was that Gary used his bench quite extensively during the Xavier game, which he never really did during the season unless his team was sure to win. The decision in hindsight was brilliant. Was this his secret weapon all along?

P.S. Please smack Gene.

Michael Wilbon: You thought Maryland underachieved all season? You and I weren't watching the same team. Maryland won 10 games in the ACC. They won 3 games in a row by an average of 35 points.... Gary Williams developed 3 players to come off the bench.... what are you watching? How could you come up w/that assessment? This is a team that lost 3 players to the NBA and still managed to win 19 games w/out playing a non-conference schedule that included Florida and Wisconsin. That isn't a secret weapon: a coach has to develop it intentionally and have a plan by which to do it and patience to implement it. You don't go throwing new subs in on the road in tight games. Major kudos to Gary for getting John Gilchrist, Jamar Smith, Andre Collins and Travis Garrison ready to play by March. Not only is that not underachieving, that's getting it done. --Mike

Brownsville, Tex.: Is the championship experience in the south region going to work against Texas this weekend? Do the Longhorns have enough talent to overcome the experience of UConn and Michigan State or Maryland?

Michael Wilbon: I don't think so. I have said this since the beginning of the tournament that if you had to pick a #1 seed to play against, you'd rather play against Texas than Arizona, Kentucky or Oklahoma b/c the Texas has not been Final Four tested. Now Texas has a huge advantage in playing 70 miles from its campus in Austin. But, I think UConn will beat Texas tomorrow night. --Mike

Herndon, Va.: Mr. Mike: Your comment about the teams of the '80s -- while I agree that "leaving early" is hurting the college game, doesn't improved conditioning give a big edge to today's players? Of course, it's not the same as with the pros, but I think a current representative college team would at least be on an equal footing with one of todays.

Michael Wilbon: God no. Conditioning makes you a better athlete. It doesn't make you a better ball-player. That might help someone running a marathon or a 10k, but it doesn't help you learn how to play basketball. It doesn't teach how to watch film properly or how to defend against a certain defense or how to run multiple offenses. Most of these kids, as college and pro coaches will tell you, are fabulous athletes who have no idea how to play. Of course, Kwame Brown is in better condition than a player w/his same build and maybe even genetic makeup would have been 20 years ago. But 20 years ago, Kwame Brown would have spent 3 years in college, at least, learning how to play and as you can see, that's not the case now. The kid is a great athlete, but most nights he's lost on a pro court. --Mike

Boston, Mass.: Mike,

Did you get to watch any of the McDonald's game last night? Mike Jones, a big recruit for Maryland, looked pretty good.

Michael Wilbon: No, I didn't see any of those games last night. I put zero stock into high school All-Star games in terms of projecting. As I say that, I've gone to the All-Star games before. The first time I saw Jason Kidd in person was at an All-Star game and he was fabulous. But, I'm just not one to watch high school basketball. I watched a couple of pro games last night. --Mike

Washington, D.C.: What is it about Syracuse's game that, all season, they consistently fall behind in the first half and come back to win in the second? Is it that Carmelo just doesn't turn it on until the second half? And if so, is that a sign that, as amazing as he is, he's not quite NBA-ready? Can't complain about the results so far, but it could mean trouble as the tourney competition gets tougher.

Michael Wilbon: Carmelo is a freshman. Unlike Maryland or Kentucky or Oklahoma, Syracuse's best player is a freshman. So, he's not going to play as consistently like an upper classman would. That's the difference between having an experienced team and not. But that kid is SO good, he may be able to overcome his team's lack of deep tournament experience. --Mike

Herndon, Va.: Mr. Mike: Who is your candidate for the biggest surprise in the field of 16? Butler?

Also, my best wishes for a safe return to your cousin with our armed forces in Iraq.

Michael Wilbon: Thank you very much. The only surprise would be Butler or Auburn. Those are the only 2 schools that are seeded low enough to pull off what we could legitimately call and upset. And, I'm not sure that a Butler victory would be as great an upset as some would make it out to be b/c Butler is such a good team. --Mike

White Plains, Md.: How big of a mistake was it for Craig Esherick to keep Georgetown out of the NIT last year? With all the close losses during this season and their current run of road wins in this year's NIT, don't you think experience from last year's NIT would have vaulted them to the NCAA tournament?

Michael Wilbon: Good question and good point. I thought a little bit about that this morning on the plane as I was looking at the games Georgetown has won. You would have to think that there would have been some carryover had they been able to get some tournament experience in the NIT last year, which might have given them more poise to have a stretch of games this year. Obviously, I'm traveling w/Maryland and don't have access to Coach Esherick now, but you ask a great question, one that somebody has to ask him. --Mike

Minneapolis, Minn.: I know that you have been watching a lot of the men's games, but do you have any thoughts on how you think the women's tourney will turn out?

Michael Wilbon: Here's how the women's tournament will turn out: Connecticut will beat everyone in its path. I don't think UConn's one loss to Villanova in the Big East Tournament will hurt the Huskies at all. It's just the opposite of the men's bracket where so many teams look so capable of beating anybody. As great as Kentucky has looked since January 1, the Wildcats don't have the personnel to call them unbeatable or dominant. But, UConn does have that in the women's tournament. --Mike

Little Rock, Ark.: With all the regular season talk about the Big 12 and SEC being the most dominant conferences, why is it that the Big East has had success so far and do you think it continue in the sweet 16, particularly UConn?

Michael Wilbon: As I've said before, I think UConn can beat Texas and I have Syracuse going to the Final Four. But, having said that, you have to review each match-up those conference teams had in their first couple of rounds. There have been a couple of years where a conference has been clearly the best in both the regular and post-season. I'm thinking about 1985, the Big East put Georgetown, St. John's and Villanova in the Final Four and Boston College could have made it. Obviously, 2 years ago, the ACC had what I think were the 2 best teams in the country in Duke and Maryland. The reason I don't give the Big 12 that much credit this year is b/c the Big 12 had patsies at the bottom of the league on which you can fatten your record if you were a good team. All these conferences w/12 and 14 teams have 2 factors which could be misleading as to how good they are: most of them don't play each team in the league twice in one season anymore and when you have that many teams you have patsies. In the ACC, every school plays each other home and home. In the Big East now, some teams don't play each other at all. --Mike

Michael Wilbon: I gotta run. I'm going to see David Robinson and Yao Ming play here in Texas tonight. Take care. --Mike

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