Gary Parrish

• Duke under Mike Krzyzewski.
• North Carolina under Roy Williams.
• Maryland under Gary Williams.
• Wake Forest under Skip Prosser.
• N.C. State under Herb Sendek.

The most interesting game today is Arizona-Arizona State.

Why?

Because a win by the Sun Devils could be what snaps Arizona's streak of 24 consecutive NCAA tournament appearances, and what would be better than snapping a rival's streak? On the other hand, can Arizona State really beat Arizona in the Pac-10 tournament?

Or anybody in the Pac-10 tournament?

That's obviously a silly question.

But considering the Sun Devils haven't won a Pac-10 tournament game since 1990, perhaps it's not. Seriously, ASU has dropped six consecutive Pac-10 tournament games. Combine that with the fact that it did not qualify for the tournament in 2004, and that the league didn't hold a tournament from 1991 to 2001, and it is true that the Sun Devils are looking for their first Pac-10 tournament win since they beat Gary Payton's Oregon State Beavers in 1990.

Of course, James Harden didn't arrive at ASU until the 2008 Pac-10 tournament.

And Jeff Pendergraph wasn't involved in anything before the 2006 Pac-10 tournament.

Those two people will likely be the key to Arizona State breaking this streak if Arizona State does break this streak, and would you believe it if I told you Pendergraph could be more crucial than Harden? Consider: In ASU's past four games against Arizona (all of which were wins, by the way), Pendergraph is 24-of-38 (.632) from the floor and 22-of-26 (.846) from the free throw line. He is averaging 17.5 points and 10.0 rebounds. Meanwhile, Arizona's Jordan Hill -- a projected top five pick in June's NBA Draft -- is 21-of-51 (.411) from the floor and 12-of-18 (.667) from the free throw line in those four games. He's averaging 13.5 points and 10.3 boards.

Advantage: Pendergraph.

Really?

Yes ... at least statistically over their past four match-ups.

So that's a good sign for Arizona State, I think. But if Pendergraph -- who had 27 points and 10 boards in last weekend's win over California -- doesn't dominate Hill, there's always this (from the blog of the Arizona Republic's Doug Haller): ASU is 5-0 in games that have started before 1 p.m. local time.

Today's tip-off is scheduled for 3 p.m. ET.

In Los Angeles, that's noon.

For ASU, that's good.

Arizona State has been to just one NCAA tournament in the past 13 seasons.

Trying to make it two in 14 is becoming more difficult by the day.

Why?

Because it's now doubtful Jamelle McMillan will play Saturday when the Sun Devils close the regular season against California, ASU media relations director Doug Tammaro told CBSSports.com on Friday. The 6-foot-2 guard left the arena on crutches Thursday night following a groin injury late in the loss to Stanford -- a loss that extended ASU's losing streak to three and dropped its record to 21-8 overall, 10-7 in the Pac-10; McMillan did not practice Friday. And though his expected absence clearly doesn't fall into the category of Oklahoma missing Blake Griffin or Saint Mary's missing Patrick Mills, it should be noted that McMillan was 14-of-27 (.519) from 3-point range while averaging eight points in 26 minutes per game in ASU's past seven outings.

Also worth noting: ASU's RPI ranking is currently 40.

This is important to keep in mind because no school from a BCS-affiliated league has ever been left out of the NCAA tournament with an RPI ranking of 39 or better. But 40? Yeah, 40 has been omitted (it happened to Cincinnati in 2006), which is my way of saying that if Arizona State beats California and gets that RPI ranking into the 30s everything should be fine. But if the Sun Devils lose and their RPI ranking drops deeper into the 40s, well, then things will start to get sketchy, especially when considering that four schools with RPI rankings in the 40s (No. 42 UMass, No. 46 Creighton, No. 48 Ole Miss and No. 49 Ohio State) were left out of the NCAA tournament last season.

One team I did not mention in the Friday Look Ahead is Arizona State, but there are a couple of interesting notes about the Sun Devils as they head into Saturday's game at Oregon State.

First, James Harden is coming off a 36-point effort.

That's strong.

And then there's this: ASU has now won three consecutive Pac-10 road games -- at UCLA, at Arizona and at Oregon -- for just the third time in the past 27 years. The last time was 1995-96, way back when Harden was a little kid. Or when I was a freshmen in college.

The AP All-American team looks exactly like the CBSSports.com All-American team.

But that doesn't mean there shouldn't be some debate.

The reality is that when I put together my team the only must-have-players were Tyler Hansbrough, Stephen Curry and Luke Harangody. I can't understand why any ballot wouldn't include those three names, but I can't understand a lot of what happens on AP ballots. So whatever. As for Blake Griffin and Darren Collison, yes, I also featured both. But I considered teams without those names and actually almost went one of the following:

G: Darren Collison (UCLA)
G: Stephen Curry (Davidson)
G: James Harden (Arizona State)
F: Luke Harangody (Notre Dame)
F: Tyler Hansbrough (North Carolina)

Or ...

G: Stephen Curry (Davidson)
G: James Harden (Arizona State)
F: Tyler Smith (Tennessee)
F: Luke Harangody (Notre Dame)
F: Tyler Hansbrough (North Carolina)

To be clear, I love Griffin and Collison. But Collison's dreadful Final Four appearance is something I nearly couldn't get out of my head, and though Griffin was dominant as a freshman his numbers weren't quite as good as Hansbrough's or Harangody's. So that's why I considered dropping one or both for Harden and/or Smith. But in the end, I think I got it right. And I think the AP voters got it right, too.

So good for me.

And good for them.

And we'll just have to argue some other day.

I was going to try to get through the day without posting this blog.

But I knew I'd never make it.

Unfortunately, some of my readers -- not you reading this; just the stupid ones -- lack reading comprehension skills, which causes me to often times explain things over and over again as if I'm talking to my 5-year-old son. It's frustrating. But it comes with the territory. So let me use this space to further explain my column about "NBA talent" on college teams and address some emails I've received this morning.

Ready?

Here we go!

Question: My favorite team (insert name here) has a great player named (insert name here) who is probably a lottery pick. How could you not count him as being drafted this year or next year?

Answer: As I clearly stated, whether prospects are considered "NBA talents" is not something I decided for the purposes of this column. I turned that over to DraftExpress.com. In other words, this was a simple process for me. If DraftExpress.com had a player listed as going in the first round or second round of the 2009 or 2010 NBA Draft, I listed him accordingly. If not, I didn't. So any questions about the status of prospects should be directed to DraftExpress.com's Jonathan Givony, not me.

(Sorry Jonathan!)

Also, I explained in the column that this is not an exact science or an absolute predictor of which teams will and will not be great. One reason is because many players considered "NBA talents" in October won't be considered "NBA talents" in March, and vice versa. Another reason is because though I believe with every ounce of my brain that "NBA talents" are necessary to win the national title (just look at the recent history of national champions), I do not believe they are required to make an Elite Eight or even Final Four. For example, I think Notre Dame is going to be great this season, but (according to DraftExpress.com) there isn't a future first-round pick on the team. So while history suggests this suggests the Irish won't be our national champions, it doesn't mean they can't win the Big East and much more.

Question: My favorite team (insert name here) has committed (insert name here). He's ranked 10th in the Class of 2009 and will surely be a first-round pick. Why are you not counting him?

Answer: What on earth does a Class of 2009 prospect have to do with this season?

Regardless of where John Wall signs, he won't have anything to do with what happens on the court in the 2008-09 season because he won't play college basketball until the 2009-2010 season. Same goes for Abdul Gaddy. And Renardo Sidney. And Derrick Favors. And you get the idea, don't you?

Bottom line, only players on the current roster matter.

People who may or may not come in the future have nothing to do with this column.

Question: Why did you only list teams with at least eight points?

Answer: Because there were nine teams with at least eight points, and that took me to 1,500 words. That was plenty. But I did use the same exercise to go further down the list. In all, there were 16 teams with at least six points. So if you want to look at the rest of the list, well, here you go ...

-- Pittsburgh --

• Number of projected draft picks:  2
• Number of points: 7
• 2009 first round: Sam Young (4 points)
• 2010 first round: DeJuan Blair (3 points)
• 2009 second round: NA
• 2010 second round: NA

-- Oklahoma --

• Number of projected draft picks: 2
• Number of points: 7
• 2009 first round: Blake Griffin (4 points)
• 2010 first round: Willie Warren (3 points)
• 2009 second round: NA
• 2010 second round: NA

-- Tennessee --

• Number of projected draft picks: 2
• Number of points: 7
• 2009 first round: Tyler Smith (4 points)
• 2010 first round: Scotty Hopson (3 points)
• 2009 second round: NA
• 2010 second round: NA

-- Arizona State --

• Number of projected draft picks: 2
• Number of points: 6
• 2009 first round: James Harden (4 points)
• 2010 first round: Jeff Pendergraph (2 points)
• 2009 second round: NA
• 2010 second round: NA

-- Georgetown --

• Number of projected draft picks: 3
• Number of points: 6
• 2009 first round: NA
• 2010 first round:  Greg Monroe (3 points)
• 2009 second round: DaJuan Summers (2 points)
• 2010 second round: Austin Freeman (1 point)

-- Memphis --

• Number of projected draft picks: 2
• Number of points: 6
• 2009 first round: Tyreke Evans (4 points)
• 2010 first round: NA
• 2009 second round: Robert Dozier (2 points)
• 2010 second round: NA

-- Texas --

• Number of projected draft picks: 2
• Number of points: 6
• 2009 first round: Damion James (4 points)
• 2010 first round: NA
• 2009 second round: Connor Atchley (2 points)
• 2010 second round: NA

• Oklahoma (Willie Warren and Blake Griffin)
• Notre Dame (Kyle McAlarney and Luke Harangody)
• North Carolina (Ty Lawson or Wayne Ellington and Tyler Hansbrough)
• Pittsburgh (Levance Fields and DeJuan Blair)
• Connecticut (A.J. Price and Hasheem Thabeet or Jeff Adrien)
• Arizona State (James Harden and Jeff Pendergraph)
• Southern California (Demar DeRozan and Taj Gibson)

Looks like Lamont Smith will be a head coach someday.

That's a solid guess considering he was officially added to Herb Sendek's staff at Arizona State on Tuesday. Smith replaced Mark Phelps, who left last month to do what six other one-time Sendek assistants did before him, i.e., become a head coach.

Phelps is now in charge at Drake. Meantime, former Sendek assistant Thad Matta is in charge at Ohio State, former Sendek assistant Jim Christian is in charge at TCU, former Sendek assistant Sean Miller is in charge at Xavier, and the list goes on.

So get ready, Lamont Smith.

If history is any indication, your time is coming.