Bracket picks: Wetzel | Dodd | Mejia

NASCAR is loud. Rosie O'Donnell is fat. U2 tends to win awards.

And Duke will win the national championship.

Jason Williams is the best player and his Blue Devils are the best team.(AP)

How easy was that? Talk about stating the obvious. Predicting this year's national champion is lot like picking it most years. So how hard can 2002 be?

The Blue Devils will make sure things end the way they did in 1991, 1992 and 2001. Or almost did in 1986, 1994 and 1999 when Duke lost title games.

Step aside Maryland, Kansas, Cincinnati and Oklahoma. Go back to your cleaning Cinderellas. It's over.

It's over because college basketball's power teams are collected at the top like suds on a shaken-up beer. Ninety percent of this year's bracket can't compete with the six or so teams at the top.

What makes Duke the best of the best is they are extremely talented and never lose their drive to get better this time of year. The Blue Devils are an overwhelming favorite to at least reach the Final Four for the 10th time in Krzyzewski's career.

Oh, and did we mention the South is the easiest region of the four? The South will go south after the Blue Devils get through with it.

Winthrop is a scrimmage. Notre Dame or Charlotte is at least a Division I game but still no problem. Coach K will be so upset at facing his former assistant (Irish coach Mike Bray), he might hold the winning margin to 20.

After that the possible opponents are Southern Cal, Utah or Indiana. Now we're at least talking. But there's a small problem. Duke is on a roll. It ripped through North Carolina, Wake Forest and North Carolina State in becoming the first ACC team to win four consecutive postseason tournaments. The only thing missing was another meeting with Maryland.

That can still be arranged.

"They had gotten themselves up for the game," Krzyzewski said after the 30-point championship game victory over the Wolfpack. "When I went into my pregame talk I said, 'You better not say too much, you'll ruin the moment.'

"I love that because that's the maturity that has developed over the last couple of weeks."

Last couple of weeks? Duke was 24-2 two weeks ago then went on a 5-1 finishing kick. In the past two weeks, Duke's average margin of victory is 25. Despite the Virginia loss Feb. 28, the Blue Devils are ready to take on the world.

Carlos Boozer attempted 39 shots against North Carolina State this season. He missed six. The 91-61 victory over the Wolfpack was the second largest in ACC Tournament history. Shooting 63.5 percent set a championship game record.

There's a message being sent here. It's a message that has been sent for the past 16 years, or when Duke became a title threat almost every year since 1986.

Jason Williams is the best player in the country, but he has a lot of help. Mike Dunleavy combined with Boozer and Williams to score 38 of Duke's 46 first-half points Sunday.

One more thing about Williams. He is what college basketball used to be about. He stayed in school because he enjoyed it. He plays without attitude. There is no player quicker off the dribble.

There is no team quicker to the draw when March comes around.

It's obvious.