By Kevin Asseo BBC Sport in the USA

Kentucky Wildcats are the top seeds for "March Madness"

For basketball addicts nation-wide, 11 long months of waiting are over.

The NCAA tournament - otherwise known as March Madness, which pits the country's top 65 university teams against each other in a lose-and-go-home format - is back.

It would be difficult to overstate the popularity of March Madness in the States. If the typical US sports fan had to choose only one event a year to watch, chances are the Super Bowl would be the first choice and March Madness a close second.

The trophy is up for grabs this year after a topsy-turvy finish to the regular season.

Kentucky, who probably would not have earned a number one seed in any of the four brackets had the tournament started two weeks ago, is now the top seed overall.

The Wildcats can thank Mississippi State, Stanford, Duke, and St Joseph's, who each lost a game since the beginning of March, for their climb up the rankings.

The Wildcats (26-4) enter the tournament in top form, riding a nine-game win streak that includes their breeze through the Southeastern Conference play-offs, and a place in the Final Four is waiting.

Tiny St Joseph's from Philadelphia have been maligned for playing in a weak conference (Atlantic 10) but the Hawks (27-1) will prove their doubters wrong with a trip to San Antonio.

Stanford are the most vulnerable of the top seeds, and are in that bracket where a cinderella story is most likely to take place.

Look for number four seeds Maryland to emerge from the Phoenix bracket, joining Duke, Kentucky and St Joseph's in San Antonio.

Duke may not have their strongest side ever, but the Blue Devils always feel right at home in the chaos of March Madness and should again emerge as champions.

The image of Vancouver Canucks forward Todd Bertuzzi viciously assaulting Colorado's Steve Moore last week sent shockwaves through North America, and not only with ice hockey supporters.

Bertuzzi horrified ice hockey fans with a frenzied attack on a rival

Violence and hockey have gone hand-in-hand for years, so it may be difficult for people unfamiliar with the NHL to understand why Bertuzzi's cheap shot was met with such horror.

The reaction of hockey fans stems as much from the gravity of Moore's injuries - a broken neck and concussion - as the manner in which Bertuzzi delivered the vicious blow.

The NHL turns a blind eye to face-to-face fisticuffs between players, when lads mutually drop their gloves and have a go at each other, because it is a "fair fight" which the supporters love to watch and rarely results in injury worse than a bloodied lip.

But there are two things the NHL will not tolerate - stick attacks and premeditated attacks on a defenceless player.

Bertuzzi's assault on Moore was the latter, and may have been the worst of that kind the NHL has ever seen.

The Vancouver forward's penalty - suspension without pay for the remainder of the season, resulting in the forfeiture of a minimum of $500,000 (�276,000) in salary - may sound severe enough, but at least Bertuzzi will someday return to the ice.

We may not be able to say the same for Steve Moore.

Get ready to call 2004 baseball season the "year of the steroid".

Baseball commissioner Bud Selig has failed to tackle steroid abuse

The issue of steroid use in the sport is not only not going away, it is picking up momentum and has overshadowed everything else in spring training.

With every slugger who loses weight or succumbs to injury, the question immediately pops up - is it due to steroid use?

I have said it before and will say it again: This issue rests solely with the players now.

Major League commissioner Bud Selig has proven he has no intention other than to duck questions on the drugs issue and the men in charge of the players union are not going to budge without provocation.

Until a large segment of respected players steps forward and states their collective desire for a stricter testing policy, nothing will be done until the current labour agreement expires following the 2006 season.

That is far too long to wait.