On Monday, the NCAA will announce the 2009 tournament seeds, brackets will get filled up and fates will be revealed. One team's path to the national title will take shape.

At this point there are favorites, challengers and long shots and everyone has their gaze locked upon the target on the #1 team's back. They all want to be the one to take down Goliath and none of them have anything to lose.

Life as the favorite can be very beneficial; you get the best seed, the easiest first round match-up, the most TV time and you carry with you the intimidation factor that can break an opponent before you even play the game.

But it can also be a team's undoing. That target on your back gets bigger and bigger as you rack up the wins. Read more...

As expected the Coaches Poll stayed pretty static this week. The top six remain unchanged from last week as most of the top teams were not challenged by the weekend's competition.

Of interest though - Penn State dropped game one to Purdue this week with a score of 31-29. The Nittany Lions ended up winning in four, but the loss breaks their nine-match streak of bagels. Purdue is not a team they want to be dropping games to this close to the playoffs.

UCLA's hot streak is officially over. They lost to #18 Oregon to fall two spots to #9. It has been a very topsy turvy season for the Bruins. We'll see if they can find some consistency once the playoffs begin.

Two more weeks until the first round of the NCAA tournament. Most of the top teams will not be challenged this weekend, but #6 Stanford will take on #11 Cal and that is always an unpredictable match-up.

Not even football was safe in the Knight Commission's recommendations for NCAA cuts. Finally, the lavish college football spending is on the chopping block along with all the usual suspects.

Being the predominant revenue producer certainly should have its perks, but it has always struck me as insane that many football programs spend money to put all 60 guys up in a hotel even when playing at home. The Knight Commission listed this as one of the suggested cuts and I think it is about time.

The Knight Commission is a panel of educators, administrators and athletic directors and has no power to inact changes, but they can put pressure on the NCAA to implement some of these cuts.

Balancing the books will very likely mean that entire sports will get cut as well. It always scares me when I hear this because men's volleyball could very well see some programs disappear in the near future. With so few programs and scholarships left for men's volleyball, more cuts could devastate the sport. Here's hoping they keep the scissors aimed at the behemoth that is college football.

The playoffs are fast approaching and the top five teams in this week's Coaches Poll remain unchanged. They will likely remain this way for the last three weeks before the tournament begins.

Penn State and Hawaii are still sitting pretty. Penn State beat #5 Illinois in three sets this week to continue their steamroll tour through the Big Ten.

#4 Washington had a rollercoaster weekend down in LA. The Huskies lost to then #17 USC in five sets, but then beat #6 UCLA (formerly the hottest team in the Pac-10) in three sets to remain in the top spot in the conference, which they currently share with Stanford. No major tests scheduled for any of the top teams this coming weekend, so they should all sail smoothly to the same spots next week.