Every year we fall in love with the best college teams. And then every year we can't help but wonder: how would that [insert Final Four team here] do against the Clippers?

This year, things are totally different.

The Heat are way worse than the Clippers.

(And, led by D-Leaguer Kasib Powell, the Heat just beat the Chicago Bulls who must have played even worse, somehow.)

At Yahoo, MJD makes the case that this year's Memphis Tigers could take the current, banged-up version of the Miami Heat.

In fact, if we can factor in variables like effort, emotion, and intensity, I'm not even sure it's a close game. Memphis might just roll them.

The backcourt is a clear advantage for Memphis. Derrick Rose could do whatever he wanted with Chris Quinn. Post him up, take him off the dribble, take his mother out for a nice seafood dinner and then never call her again. He could do whatever he wanted.

The matchup at the 2 is closer, but CDR is a superior athlete to Daequan Cook, and could beat him off the dribble. Cook is a solid athlete and a good shooter, though. Still, given the choice, I'll take Douglas-Roberts.

The matchup at small forward is odd, but not really tough to call. Ricky Davis is the kind of guy people never take into account when talking a hypothetical college vs. pro game. He's not a star at the NBA level, but in this game, he'd be the best scorer on the court and almost impossible to check for any college defender. He'll shoot, he'll beat you off the dribble, and he's a great athlete.

Mitigating the Heat's advantage at the position, though, is the fact that Davis is an idiot.

I'd wager on Miami.

Put it this way: How many of those Memphis Tigers are going to make the NBA? Three? The rest are going to get beat out by the guys like Chris Quinn ...

Put it another way: Last year's Florida Gators were one of the best college basketball teams ever. While Al Horford, Joakim Noah, and Corey Brewer are NBA players, as currently presented, the Gators' leading scorer, Taurean Green, is still trying to get some NBA PT. And frankly, it's amazing that four players from one team even made the NBA. (UPDATE: If Chris Richard -- who was on that Gator team and now plays for the Timberwolves -- has mean and nasty things to say about TrueHoop, I will understand. My bad.)

The Heat have a roster full of guys who have already beaten out NBA everyone who didn't make the NBA. I realize that seems to be an oversimplification, but it's the impression I get from people who know basketball. Even the mediocre NBA guys are bigger, faster, stronger, and tougher/dirtier.

(Not to mention, those Tigers, with their lousy free throw shooting percentage, would be on the line all night.)

Why dwell in the hypothetical, though?

If the wacky side of sports can give us Floyd Mayweather vs. The Big Show, why not set this up? Play the game already.

UPDATE: Todd Gallagher, author of "Andy Roddick Beat Me With a Frying Pan" has spent a lot of time investigating hypothetical stuff like whether this or that person could beat this or that person at this or that sport. He emails:

As someone who lives part time in the hypothetical, maybe I can help inform this discussion. I actually did a chapter for my book on the USC vs. Oakland debate and then decided it was such a no brainer that it wasn't worth putting in the book. This is not far off. Can you imagine what Mark Blount and Earl Barron would do to Dorsey and Taggert? Is Dorsey, who isn't even tall enough to play center in the NBA, going to come in and start for an NBA team in the middle like Blount has since he was on Boston? Will Taggert even make an NBA team, ever? And let's not forget that Chris Quinn was at least as good in his senior year than Rose was in his freshman and now is 2 years older with NBA experience. The bench is a huge joke as well. CDR and Cook is the only possible edge but even there, you have Cook's year of NBA experience to account for.

I'm not sure there's a college team in history that could beat a pro team. For that matter, I'm pretty sure Memphis would get smashed by the team I coached in the USBL. I think people really don't understand how much practicing every day with pro coaches, playing against men, and having your body mature means. We'd have really top college players come in and they'd get schooled by a guy who was WVU's backup point guard but was 24 years old and had been playing in the USBL for 3 years. The Globetrotters select team (the team they use for competitive games), which features a number of USBL guys, went 7-1 on their 2003 Fall College Tour and defeated number three ranked Michigan State and defending National Champion Syracuse.

For a college team to beat a pro team It'd have to be a college team with a historically great big man...maybe UCLA with Lew Alcindor vs. the worst team of that era. Although there were less pro teams then, so probably not. Maybe this question: Could Memphis beat Kansas?!?!?? A dream matchup indeed!