Attention, football zombies: Here’s a succinct summary of what’s been going on in the major worlds of basketball in this country while you were convinced, as was I, that no team with as inferior an offense as the Denver Broncos had could possibly become Super Bowl champions on stellar defense alone.

NBA: Only a handful of teams can win it all.

College: Anybody can win.

This is hardly a new circumstance in the NBA. We have gone through several stages in which it was pretty well known before the season that only a handful of teams had a legitimate shot at the championship. Think 1980s. Think Lakers, Celtics, 76ers, and Pistons. Did anyone seriously think that the likes of Atlanta and San Antonio, good teams for sure, actually had a chance to go all the way? I think not.

Last season, for example, people didn’t want to grasp just how dominant the Golden State Warriors were. We all rhapsodized about how many good teams the West had, and how much better the West was than the East. On that score, there was little dispute.

But what few had come to grips with was the fact that while there were indeed many quality teams in the West, one of them had finished 11 games ahead of the pack! Yup, it was Golden State.

Now there is an even higher level of respect for the Warriors, who are on course to become the winningest regular-season team in NBA history. It’s not often that a defending champion has a built-in we-don’t-get-enough-respect motivational factor, but that’s precisely what we have with the Warriors, who resent the fact that people cite the absence of Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love in the Finals as major reasons why the Cavaliers fell short.

It’s obvious this time that the Warriors don’t want to deal with any “yeah, buts.’’

Well, it just so happens they do have some competition. Once again, the Spurs will be heard from. The great Tim Duncan will be 40 when the playoffs commence, and he is no longer a nightly commanding force. He doesn’t have to be. The Spurs wisely imported LaMarcus Aldridge to the mix, and, after a brief adjustment period, he has settled into Spurdom rather nicely.

For years we have been asking when it will end in San Antonio, and the only answer I can give you is “not yet.’’ Tony Parker is closing in on 34, and he still can squirm and worm his way to the hoop with the best of them. I will grant that perhaps this is the absolute end of the line for 38-year-old Manu Ginobili (he’d better become a Hall of Famer). But I can see a huge 3-point shot or two winning some playoff games before he convenes the retirement press conference.

And please remember the reason San Antonio has maintained its elite status is that general manager R.C. Buford has restocked the cabinet nicely over the years, most notably with All-Star Kawhi Leonard. The Spurs are a beguiling combination of old heads and aging legs interspersed with frisky young’uns. Then there is Boris Diaw, who defies characterization.

Nor can we discount Oklahoma City’s championship possibilities. Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook are the most potent 1-2 combo in the league. Serge Ibaka is capable of great things. The current revelation is Enes Kanter, the large Turk who began to assert himself in December, giving the Thunder a new dimension. It also appears that Billy Donovan is the NBA coaching natural many thought he would be.

With all due respect to the Clippers and Grizzlies, that’s it for the West as far as legit championship contenders go.

Over in the East, it’s easy. You have the Cavaliers, and . . . and . . . and . . .

You get the picture.

Flawed as they are and as messy as the coaching situation may have been, the Cavs remain the only team in the East with a chance to win the title. The only other question in the East is who gets the honor of losing to Cleveland in the Eastern Conference finals.

If Durant and Westbrook are the best 1-2 punch in the league overall, I think we can say that LeBron James and Irving are the best 1-2 punch in the East. At least, they can be. Or should be.

Let’s take it one step further. LeBron, Kyrie, and Love ought to be the best 1-2-3 to be found anywhere, unless you lobby for Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green, which is definitely a valid premise.

Figuring out how best to employ Love is Tyronn Lue’s biggest challenge in his new coaching gig. Whatever his defensive shortcomings, offensive, rebounding, and outlet-passing talent such as Love possesses should not be squandered. If you’re the coach, you must make it work.

That’s it, folks: four true contenders.

Turning to the colleges, there isn’t a person on earth who could accurately predict on Feb. 14 the identity of the four teams that will gather in Houston on April 2. Anyone would be lucky to get one right. Forget about four.

Whatever the reason, this is the most wide-open year in memory. You don’t ordinarily see a top-ranked team (currently, it’s Villanova, by the way) with three losses at this point in the season, nor do you ordinarily see a top 10 in which six teams have four losses.

A year ago, the only pertinent issue all season was whether Kentucky would go 40-0. This year we have the complete flip side.

I think this is great. Just about every night, plus Saturday and Sunday afternoons, there are multiple fun matchups. If somewhere between 20 and 30 teams can project themselves into the Final Four, what’s wrong with that?

Two final college thoughts: The Player of the Year is Oklahoma’s Buddy Hield, who is striving to supplant Mychal Thompson as the best player ever to come out of the Bahamas. But the Most Entertaining Player, without question, is Georges Niang of Iowa State, the Tilton School, and Methuen. Trust me on this.

Bob Ryan’s column appears regularly in the Globe. He can be reached at ryan@globe.com.