Championship Week and Selection Sunday have both come and gone. All that's left now is the best three-week stretch during the entire sports calendar, at least in my opinion.

There's tons of stuff to be discussed in regards to the Big Dance.

First, I'd like to mention the Tennessee Journalist Bracket Pool on Facebook. Follow the link on the right under related links to join and see if you can beat myself and others on the TNJN.com sports staff.

I'll get to my Cinderella candidates and title contenders shortly. However, before I get to that I want to touch on the "horrible" draw the Tennessee Volunteers were handed.

Sure this was a team that could have been a number one seed. The Vols probably even deserved a top-seed based on their entire body of work. There's no doubting it will be extremely difficult to get through North Carolina in the Elite Eight.

There's no doubting it will be extremely difficult to get through North Carolina in the Elite Eight. A lot of people are making noise about the rest of the draw for Tennessee, though. I'm here to tell you it could have been much, much worse.

Many Vol faithful seem to be wary of a match-up with Butler in the second round because of what the Bulldogs did against Tennessee 17 months ago.

A lot has changed in that time. Most notably, the Vols now have Tyler Smith and J.P. Prince and are a much more talented team than they were then. This is also March, not November. Butler won't be sneaking up on teams at this time of year as they did in the 2006 Preseason NIT.

The Bulldogs were a proven commodity with wins over a handful of tournament teams when they entered the Big Dance a year ago, and although they won two NCAA tournament games last year it wasn't like they beat great teams.

They opened with a win over Old Dominion and followed by beating a Maryland team that had to escape its first round game against Davidson.

People continue to say Butler gave Florida the toughest challenge of the Gators title run, when, in actuality, the Bulldogs were just another team that hung tight before the Gators salted the game away.

The Gators beat Purdue by seven, Butler by eight, Oregon by eight, UCLA by 10 and Ohio State by nine during their title run.  They did not dominate its way to the title as some have made it seem over the past couple days.

This year Butler beat zero teams that are playing in this tournament. They only played against one, and Drake went on the road and won that game.

This year Butler beat zero teams that are playing in this tournament. Vol fans need not worry about the Bulldogs. Butler isn't even going to make it out of round one. Watch for South Alabama to pull the "upset", even though if you compare the resumes the Jaguars might should be the favorite in that one.

As for the potential Sweet 16 game with Louisville, sure it will be tough. Once a team gets out of the first two rounds it has to expect to beat four quality opponents in a row if a National title is going to be won.

Louisville is very strong team, but it's actually not a horrible match-up for Tennessee. The Cardinals like to run up and down the court and score a lot of points. They will allow the Vols to play the type of style Bruce Pearl prefers.

That's not true of the other three-seeds the Vols could have been matched up with. Stanford and the Lopez brothers, both of whom stand around seven foot, would have been a horrible match-up for Tennessee. Wisconsin would have slowed down the game and is talented enough, unlike Butler, to beat the Vols.

I'm not saying Louisville is a push-over by any means. They're talented, well-coached and will be a very tough opponent for the Vols should the two teams meet. All things considered, though, Tennessee may have caught a break for the regional semifinals.

And that potential Elite Eight contest with North Carolina? There's no sugar-coating it.

The Vols will have to bring their "A" game to beat the tournament's No. 1 overall seed. However, to win a national title they would have had to beat the Tar Heels at some point. Why does it matter if that came in the title game or the regional finals?

Tennessee has been at its best lately when doubted, and the selection committee clearly doubts the Vols. It does appear the selection committee had the Vols as the third two-seed. In my eyes Georgetown and Texas were obviously the top two.

I can guarantee the Pearl will play the disrespect card over and over and over again during the next three weeks. Tennessee has been at its best lately when doubted, and the selection committee clearly doubts the Vols.

And that might be just what this team needed to bring a title to Knoxville.

The title contenders

Last year I gave a list of eight teams and guaranteed the champion would come from that bunch. Florida was one of my eight and helped me avoid disaster by beating Ohio State in the finals. I didn't have the Buckeyes included in my list.

This year I'm going to go a step further. I'll narrow the field to five teams and once again guarantee the champion is on this list.

5. Stanford

Any time a team has two players standing 7-foot it has a great shot of putting together a run in a tournament like this because that's difficult to prepare for. If the Cardinal can get through a Sweet 16 game with Texas in Houston, watch out.

4. Georgetown

The Hoyas play good enough defense to stay in a game with any team in the field of 65, so they've got a shot against anyone. If they get into a high-paced game against a team like Kansas, they might need to hope Roy Hibbert finds foul trouble. That would let Jonathan Wallace to take the game over, which is when the Hoyas are at their best.

3. UCLA

Injuries are a concern for the Bruins and I had downgraded them after they were bailed out by the officials twice a couple weeks ago. However, they were handed a great draw by the selection committee and should walk into the Final Four with relative ease. If they're healthy by the time they get to San Antonio this team is experienced enough to cut down the nets.

2. Tennessee

I've said for a long time I thought this tournament would come down to two teams, and Tennessee is one of them. The team hasn't shown a killer instinct since the Memphis game, but I expect them to find it again. The Vols have always played best with a chip on their shoulder, and it should be back after being dropped to a two-seed and paired with North Carolina.

With a healthy Ty Lawson, North Carolina is far and away the best team in the country. 1. North Carolina

With a healthy Ty Lawson, North Carolina is far and away the best team in the country in my eyes. I expect the Tar Heels to dominate up until the Elite Eight, and as long as they don't get bigheaded for their game with Tennessee, Roy Williams should be cutting down the nets for the second time in four years.

Of course, I thought the same last year and the Heels fell in the Elite Eight. Trust me, I'd be perfectly fine with the same thing happening this year.

Notables left out: Kansas, Memphis, Duke, Texas