Tobacco Road's finest hails from Big Ten country 
• What if I told you the best player in the state of North Carolina did not play for UNC or Duke and was not named Stephen Curry? In addition to being the best player in the state in the 2008-09 season, the same player grew up right in the heart of Big Ten country and was not heavily recruited by the league.
Wake Forest guard Jeff Teague is averaging 21 points per game, shooting 54 percent from the field, 55 percent from 3 and is an 85 percent free-throw shooter. Teague also averages 4 assists and 4 rebounds a game. If you need any more proof of his supreme talent and national player of the year candidacy, look further into Teague's numbers. Wake Forest has played, by my estimation, three tourney teams and two NIT teams at this point in Baylor, BYU, North Carolina, BC and UTEP. Teague has obliterated all of these opponents except for Baylor. He struggled against the Bears with 1-of-10 shooting and 6 turnovers. Nonetheless, if you were to simply look at Teague's numbers, performance and the level at which his team is viewed nationally, I think there is a case at this early juncture that Teague has been the best player in the state of North Carolina. Period.
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College Basketball Experts
Fran Fraschilla is an analyst for ESPN and was previously the head coach at New Mexico, St. John's and Manhattan.
Joe Lunardi is the resident bracketologist for ESPN.
Seth Greenberg is an analyst for ESPN and was previously the head coach at Virginia Tech, South Florida and Long Beach State.
