As the Sweet Sixteen is pared to the Final Four by Sunday, here’s the Trap’s takes on some issues related to the tournament and college hoops is general.

With a showdown with the Cards on the horizon and a berth to the final four at stake I am somewhat surprised that inspiration for guitar shots is not coming that easily this week. After all this is a historical time for the Tennessee basketball program. Perhaps like the majority of the board, I have spent so much time of my life focused on the sport of football, that the success of our basketball program is too novel for me to approach intelligently.

In all the basketball talk the past couple of weeks, a strange thing occurred. Spring practice started. Doug and Justin were kind enough last week to give some perspective on key players going in to 08, and it seems they are pretty spot on, based on some of the early returns after a couple of practices. But in reading a few articles by Drew Edwards found on GoVolsxtra.com, I found a few excerpts that stood out to me.

Ahead of an early flight to Birmingham, here are the Trap’s postseason awards and some news and notes.

Just a few weeks ago the national media descended on Memphis to market what was the highest ranked regular season basketball game of the year. The media machine was in full force, and Tennessee and Memphis did not disappoint. If only for one night Tennessee (of all places in these United States) was the center of the basketball universe. Now one question remains. What were the members of the NCAA selection committee watching when all this was going on?

But the bright spot is that today is also “The Day of the Bracket”. Everyone frantically printing brackets and trying to figure out who is going to be this year’s George Mason. It really is a good time of year. For all those teams that made it through the long 30+ game regular season, now it’s just 6 to go.

This edition of the VN Interview is one of my personal favorites. Charlie Spoonhour is one of the finest gentlemen in the game, as well as one of the sport’s sharpest observers. Thanks to UNLV SID Andy Grossman for helping facilitate the interview. Hope you enjoy.

Long before the SEC athletic directors realized the revenue potential of March Madness my grandfather sat me down and unwrapped the great mystery of sports in the south. Before soccer moms and the three point shot, in every southern state, save Kentucky, he explained to me that there were two sports that mattered. The first was football and the second was spring football.

The Trap is preparing for a week spent glued to the conference tournament action that serve as the prelude to March Madness. Here’s what’s on my mind:

As spring practice nears, football fans tend to salivate. Everybody wants to know about which player looks the best, which looks the worst and who’s going to start. Well, here are some names to keep in mind. These are some guys that you can expect to hear a lot of good things about: