No, SkyDog, it's not too early to start talking about College Basketball
 

College football is now well underway, but there are still several months to go. However, it is almost time for midnight madness to sweep across the nation's campuses! Who do you like this year? How do you think your favorite team is going to do? To get the discussion kicked off, here is the preseason Top 10 as picked by the Blue Ribbon College Yearbook:

1. Connecticut
2. Texas
3. Duke
4. Oklahoma
5. Louisville
6. Gonzaga
7. Michigan State
8. Arizona
9. Kentucky
10. Boston College

It's never too early to talk about college basketball!

I'm curious to see just how far UNC is going to drop after losing seemingly every contributing player last year.

Yes.

:D

That was just waaaaaayyy too tempting. :p

BUUUURRRNNN!!!

Funniest thing I've seen around here in a while. Nice touch, SD.
:)

LOL!!!

I was about to fire off a combination HA/JiMGA/HM/FN style PM stating it is less than 3 weeks until midnight madness!

anything less than a final four will be a dissapointment.

I think Kelvin Sampson is a good coach. I am just not convinced that he has what it takes to win the dance though. Texas is probably overrated once more though :D

OU is overrated.

I'll settle for another Final Four though.

The Miners should be at or near the top of CUSA despite losing Fili Rivera and Omar Thomas. Texas transfer Edgar Moreno and OSU transfer Tremaine Fuqua should fill in nicely in their place and a couple of talented freshmen should give us some minutes off of the bench.

We should tell how our season is going to go in early January. In a three game stretch we'll be playing Georgetown at home (if both teams make it to the Sun Carnival Tournament final, that is), at Texas Tech, and at Syracuse...

Umm... UCONN has 2 frosh PG and 3 guys in jail... they're #1 how?

-Chas

For who, the Illini? I'm a big Illinois fan, but they don't have near the cast they do last year. I'd be surprised if they win the Big Ten this year.

Iowa should be pretty damn good this year, of course with Steve Alford as coach I'm not getting my hopes up....

I'm pretty high on the new guys coming in to replace them. I think it'll either be a magical season where Weber gets to shove it in everyone's faces who said he can't recruit or it's going to be horrible with all the newswriters repeating that he can only win with Self's guys.

I'm sure uCONn will have Marcus Williams back in the lineup by the time conference play rolls around. What do you expect from Calhoun?

UMass will be better this year, at least the NIT if not NCAA's, depending on how quickly they adapt to the new system, then next year we add in Forbes from UVa, Mayben who was supposed to go to Syracuse and Bonner from WVa. Basketball will actually be exciting up here again.

Yeah, you could have only one player in jail this year :p

SI

Wisconsin has a solid top line of Earl-Pavelski-Skille, and I think Brian Elliott has the ability to be the best goalie in the country. The key could be the performance of Andy Joudrey, a superlative leader who appears to have more potential than he's yet realized. Um, what were we talking about?

Actually they have 0 guys currently in Jail (although two face charges). Antonio Kellogg was thrown off the team (transferred to San Francisco). Marcus Williams has applied for accelerated rehibilitation (special probation for first time offenders) and likely will be back after being suspended through the first semester (once he fulfills the requirements of the probation the charges would be dropped). The other player A.J. Price still isn't medically cleared and has pleaded not guilty. (Both have yet to go through the universities punishment system)

That said I do agree with the freshmen likely leading the club at least through first month at the point, #1 isn't likely. Plus I would have liked UConn's chance much better had Andrew Bynum not stayed in the draft (although he made the right decision given he went 10).

UConn will be good and has depth, but they will need Williams to contend for the National Title. At least at the start of the season they are not the best team, and will likely lose early in the Maui Invitational as they break in the frosh PGs.

MSU SHOULD BE #! BABY!!!!!!!!!! RARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!

Matt's little bro is transferring to UMass?! First I've heard of it...but that will make me want to go to a few Minutemen games.

I'm hoping UMass does well this year. Travis Ford was one of my favorite players when he played for Kentucky and I'm hoping he has success as a coach.

Rutgers will suck as usual

Indiana may have the Big ten locked this year. Check out their roster if you dont believe me. If they don't, thats the end of Mike Davis. Killingsworth and D.J White are both likely all americans...its going to be a great year.

Andrew Bynum is a stiff and a fraud.

The Big Ten should be strong. MSU is the overwhelming favorite. Wisconsin and Illinois will be tough and Indiana and Michigan both have the talent to match up with anyone even if their coaches are...um...lacking.

I just hope these teams enjoy it while they can because Ohio State's domination starts next year. :)

Indiana will take Alford any day. Iowa doesn't exactly have a history of basketball excellence. I don't get you Iowa fans talking trash about Alford. Your record with him hasn't been that bad, yet I hear so many Iowa fans that are disgruntled and want him fired...I just dont get it.

Just a guess but I'd say none of these teams end in the top 10. Uconn has issues already talked about here. OU should be good but play in a very tough conference and I just don't think they will end that high. I want to like the zags but how many more years do they have to flame out in the tourney before we stop rating them this high? MSU is super thin IMO, though their starting 5 should be great. Looks like Izzo has stopped recruiting hard. I'd say he's jumping to the pros after this year.

For awhile there I was thinking the same thing but the last couple months he's been recruiting hard. I'm guessing he'll close the deal with Raymar Morgan this weekend after picking up a commit from Dahlman a couple weeks ago. He could also land Herzog in the near future as well. I guess he woke up.

I'll need a bit more. I figure your just a Kentucky fan that wishes he had half the team we did this year.

As a disgruntled Seton Hall fan, I think you have more to look forward to than us. At least you have assistant Fred Hill recruiting know, the man behind the highly-touted recruiting class at SHU, and some good ones at Nova as well. We on the other hand have the Louis Orr in charge, who may be a great guy, but is certainly not a great coach.

OK... Here's some from an IU alum.

I didn't miss a game for 21 years. I don't follow as well as I used to, however, I know basketball. All of Indiana's "strengths" this year will revolve around the ability of their team to get the ball in the post. Unfortunately, they do not have a player on their roster that has proven capable of consistently getting the ball to a player in the post in position to make a play (read: triple threat position, or inside the 8-ft arc). Further, there remains no one on the team that has proven willing, or capable, of assuming the responsibility to be a playmaker (i.e. give me the ball if you haven't got a clue).

This doesn't touch on the staff's complete lack of *tuning* their set offense (I emphasize set) during game time. Their success this year will be completely a function of their athletic ability and the per chance they develop an in-game rapport among themselves. Defensively, they'll be strong, yet undisciplined.

I see a 20-13 type of year (on par with the best Davis has done), and a 1st round loss in the NCAA. Unfortunately this will probably be enough to save his job as Indiana continues to fade into the mediocrity of college basketball. It's a shame when we're looking "up" to teams such as Syracuse, Oklahoma, and Illinois... teams that we were able to point out demonstrable flaws in not 6 years ago.

Just my 2 cents, albeit strong ones...
Chas

They'll certainly drop. If the returning reserves(David Noel, *gulp*Quinten Thomas) can play a little bit, and that great recruiting class can learn under pressure, they have a shot at the top half of the ACC. Everything I've read so far talks about the ACC being Duke, Boston College, and everyone else. If UNC can be one of the better "everyone else" teams the season will be a success. An NCAA tourney bid would be a huge accomplishment.

You must know nothing about basketball because Bynum was tearing it up in the summer league and just turned 18. Let him play a year or 2 in the league before you label him a fraud.

Uconn will have Marcus Williams back for league play starting in Jan. most likely. Even without Williams, and a freshman PG, Anderson, Gay, Armstrong, and Boone are a tough team to tangle with. Anderson aside from being a 17ppg scorer can help with the PG duties, while Gay and the boys (+ Ed Nelson former ACC rookie of the year) eat teams alive down low. Having Bynum would have been nice but even a player of his caliber would have a hard time working his way into Uconn's lineup. Aside from Duke no team in the last 10 years has had more success than Connecticut. GO UCONN

I respect your opinions and see some of your points. I still really hope your wrong. I hope this is the year that players step up (ie Marshall Strickland, Vaden, Ratliff) and were able to make a strong showing. Most preseason polls have us in the top 20 which is nice I guess.

He's already here, but ineligible for this season. Unlike some other players, he's actually legit 6-11, 7ft, and looks like he'll be able to run the floor, which is a must in Ford's offense.He hasn't even coached a game here yet, but Travis Ford will be a great coach. Between the way he turned around EKU, to his recruiting ability and enthusiasm for the job, I'm sold he'll do amazing things at UMass and have them winning the A-10 and back in the top 15 within 2 years. The only downside is that he'll probably jump ship then when a big time program comes calling. I fully expect him to be coaching in one of the power conferences within 5 years at most.
Ed Nelson is a stiff and a fraud. :p

Re IU, I'd be more inclined to agree with Chas (in that the entire season turns on the PG position). Unless Lewis Monroe call run the point well (we already know Strickland cannot), it will be another bumpy season and Mike Davis' last in Bloomington. Shame, really - I wanted Mike to succeed from the beginning, but it looks more and more like he was just not a good fit for the job.

If he does move on, I have one request for the AD: Please, in the name of all that is holy, do NOT hire Steve Alford to replace him. Coaches who cannot win at Iowa are not what IU needs.

My favorite team, the University of Dayton.... they need some guards. NOW. You hidin' any under there?

They may push for the NCAA's, but only if they can get some good backup guard play from a guy or two who up until now have looked like total shit. They will dominate the boards, as usual, but they're not gonna be able to shoot worth a damn.

Guard Trent Meacham transferred to Illinois... if he gets any playing time there next year ('06-'07, I mean), I would be surprised. He's not Big Ten material. He was barely At.-10 material.

OU #4???? Oh my. Not many in Big 12 country see it that way, but whatever. It'll make Mizzou look better when they beat them.

BTW......I know there are a few Mizzou fans on this forum. Big news in Tiger country yesterday as they got a verbal commit from the #1 rated JUCO player in the nation for next year. He's expected to sign in the fall. Name is Ty Morrison (6'7", 230 lb. forward). Most compare his game to Joey Graham if you remember him from Okla. State last year.

I'll eat my hat if Wyoming makes even the NIT, let alone the Big Dance.

BC #10.. interesting.. I'm not sure about that.

So, in danger of being labelled a fanboy, I feel the Texas preseason ranking of #2 is a bit high, but not out of the question. I really thought they would have a better season last year, but injuries and scholastic problems took away two of their fantastic freshmen. As with any team, injuries can easily make a difference between a final four run and a nervous tourney selection day, but this year Texas will be even more vulnerable, due to the fact they graduated quite a few key bench players last season.

But Rick Barnes has shown that he can be a great coach when the chips are down. If Texas football ends up winning the Rose Bowl, the pressure will be on the Runnin' Horns to complete the college sports triple crown of baseball, football and basketball!

Kentucky will finish better than #9 this year.

It's probably because he's a fucking prick. Anyone from Iowa who isn't blindly loyal to the Hawkeyes knows it, and I'm from Chicago.

:confused: You haven't beaten us since 1999. Killingsworth couldn't beat us when he was at Auburn, and your psycho coach cracks up everytime he plays us.

I saw Calloway play at a Indiana all star game at Ben davis earlier this year. He impressed the hell out of me...much more so than the other recruits. Maybe he'll be able to step up into the point. I dont know about the Alford thing, more than anything I just want an IU team that can win without cheating (seems tough for some of the other top schools not to cheat). I dont really care who the coach is.

big IU fan, and i think we are gonna be a contender this year...the talent is there, the depth is there, senior leadership in Killingsworth, Monroe and Strickland....JC transfer Earl Calloway is apparantly very quick and can get tot he basket with ease......Ben Allen and Cem Dinc have loads of potential, but only need to play backup roles this year.....Im very much looking forward to this season, and can't wait to beat Duke when they come to Bloomington

Nova
 

Villanova has got to be preseason Top 10. Four returnng senior starters, two contributing junior and a sophomore stud guard. Also, four new frosh. Sure, they could tank during the season,, who knows, but judging by last year and their performance in the NCAA tourney, they're legit.

Quinn Snyder.

Oh baby! College basketball=my favorite sport.

Stanford was picked to make it to the Final 4 in Athlon's preview. PG Chris Hernandez is now a senior and should continue his development into one of the nation's premier floor generals. Matt Haryasz is a potential NBA talent at the 4/5 spot, Dan Grunfeld (17 PPG) is back after his injury...Should be a pretty good season on the farm, but nothing compared to what awaits when the Lopez twins (and hopefully spencer hawes) hit the floor.

Isn't this where I follow with "Bill Self"? :p

SI

Bucknell.

He's easily one of the 3-4 best recruiters in the country and Kansas is absolutely loaded over the next few years I admit. But I just doubt his game coaching skills. He never makes any adjustments at halftime and I think his High-Low Offense can be beaten with the right sort of gameplanning.

I know Weber hasn't had nearly the same success with recruiting as Self did but with Weber I feel confident that our guys can atleast stay in each and every game played. And besides, I am sure that recruiting will be on its way up after our final four appearance.

Hehe. I figured that was the next response ;)

SI

Jeebs, UTEP has no chance of winning CUSA. Memphis is the cream of the crop. And we just got a huge commit today, as Wille Kemp picked up. Kemp is rated as one of the top point guards in the country.

Go Tigers!

Memphis is certainly the team to beat in CUSA, GE. But you might be surprised by how good the Miners are going to be...

They may be good, but they are chasing. We may have two players kicked off. Hunt, a very solid 2 guard and a Senior is in all types of trouble with the law. Andre Allen, a Memphis home-grown talent, tried to have sex with a prostitue and got busted. We should still be ok.

It also appears we are about to land the #3 prospect in the country. Some people thought being in the NC-USA would hurt us recruiting wise.

I will talk smack all day long about basketball. Is Ben Affleck still on the UTEP team?

Or how bad C-USA is going to be - UTEP will certainly be able to compete for the conference title with the teams that were left behind after C-USA was pillaged, not that I mind. I for one am very excited to see the new Big East - their scheduling methods are dumb IMO since there are two teams each team does not play at all while playing three teams twice but at least they didn't leave out the marquee matchups. But I would much rather see Louisville - UConn than Louisville - East Carolina

Scout.com came out with their final recruiting class rankings.

http://scout.scout.com/a.z?s=75&p=9&cfg=bb&c=14&yr=2005

KU topped the list with 4 Top 25 5-star players. :)

SI

All I had heard before now (take with a grain of salt since I live in Oklahoma) was that OK State had a solid hold on the #1 spot. Their class looks pretty outstanding, and they already have a top 20 commit for next year. I've always been an OSU fan in basketball, and the future certainly looks bright for them.

In a sign of how bad football season has been at NC State, people are actually looking forward to basketball season again. Well...they were up until Tony Bethel got hurt (again) and Gavin Grant suddenly found out he was an illegal alien 10 years after the fact. We can't stop illegals from making a mockery of the Mexican border in the here-and-now, but we can bust a college kid who has been here for 10 years. Ugh.

Tonight, #12 Memphis plays at #15 Alabama. Tune in at 9 PM on ESPN2 to see how good them Memphis Tigers be!

Nono..

Tune in to ESPN2 at 7:00 Drexel takin' it to Sam Houston State to see a CAA team go to MSG and play Duke...


Err.. I'll edit for you guys..

Tune in to ESPN2 at 7:00 Drexel takin' it to Sam Houston State to see a CAA team go to MSG and get their asses kicked by Duke...

Memphis is playing like crap. We should be beating this team by 30. We are giving up way too many easy looks.

Beat 'em Tigers... :)


And DAMN! Syracuse crush Tech. Gotta love that, but that makes me scared about the Miners trip to the Carrier Dome this winter...

Go Dragons! Beat Duke!

I picked up the NCAA sports pack from our digital tv provider, and ill get to see my Hoosiers take on Nichols State tongiht....SO EXCITED!!!!...i missed college basketball....it ranks just behind hockey with me

I am also a die-hard (almost dead) Hoosier fan. Always hope that this is the year, but with a couple injuries early on, it could be tough. Should be our typical 20 wins, 1st round out or NIT-bound...

Guess I will have to pick up Total College Basketball when it comes out to recruit my own good IU team

come on man...its the start of the season...optimism....i like this team, its deep, lots of talent. Sure, we'll miss DJ, but if Kline plays as well as he's been praised, and Marco is indeed a monster, we'll be fine...Duke on the 30th....cant wait!!!

i do like this team. emphasis on team. wright was good, but everyone stood and watched him. now the wealth is spread, and we do have some depth. since we have some decent size, we might get by with white's inept-at-times defense (he can be a monster on one possession and can disappear the next). I am one of the few that also likes davis. he has the potential to be a good coach. he did have the opportunity to learn under the general. he nor the team has been the same since his tantrum against ky.

all that said, I do have some optimism for this year. we need to do better about keeping in-state recruits at home and not keep losing them to the ACC teams.

Tonight is UTEPs first real game of the season and it should be interesting to see how we do without Fili Rivera and Omar Thomas. The team looked pretty danged solid in their two exhibition wins except for our free throw shooting, something that was a major strength for the team last year...

This is what most teams (including UTEP) will be doing after Memphis smashes them on their home court.

Washington is unlikely to be a #1 seed again this season, and will have a tough time repeating as Pac-10 champs, but they should win 20+ and make the NCAA tourney again behind Seniors Brandon Roy and Bobby Jones and Freshman big man sensation Jon Brockman. The future looks very bright after the Huskies landed a consensus top-5 class (and #2 in a few rankings) led by Spencer Hawes (C, #2), Quincy Pondexter (SF, #7), Phil Nelson (SF, #13) and Adrian Oliver (PG, #19), guys that were all top-25 at their positions. This year should be good (though not as good as last year), but next year could be very, very good.

I may be a diehard OU fan, but I really respect OSU's basketball program. I have always admired Eddie Sutton

Unfortunately we'll only get to face y'all in Memphis. And if our team shooting doesn't improve then you'll be exactly right. However, Jason Williams is gonna give Darius Washington hell when we play. I'm just worried about who is going to cover the rest of the Tigers...

UCLA gets Memphis, but we'll have 2 players out and two more limping, including 3 starters out of those 4

Yep. I was born and raised an OU fan, but I did my undergrad at OSU, and the basketball atmosphere there is just amazing. I was there during the Final Four run in 95, and that along with Sutton made me a big OSU basketball fan.

All that said, I watched their game last night. They may have a ton of talent, but it looked very raw last night. They had a lot of sloppy plays.

What did you think of NMSU, Bug? I hear that their PG is pretty damn good...

Yup. He is a former Mickey D AA and looks to get most of the shots

Are you talking about Elijah Ingram? He was actually a highly touted recruit at St. John's a couple years back.

Hawaii beats Sparty 84-62. MSU had 3 players go out with cramps in a 4 minute span in the 2nd half. It was also Riley Wallace's 300 win at UH.

so hoosiergoody....whats you impression after our first 2 games.....I saw the win over Nicholls State, but not yesterday's thrashing of Florida A & M....

Last season, we werent destroying anyone this way, im super impressed. Marco looks like a beast, so smart, uses his nice very well. Strick shot the lights out, and little Errek Suhr has played amazing, anything we get from him is a bonus.....

Bring on the Dukies!!!!

Yay, Hawkeyes beat Kentucky!

Why is it that Alford is a hell of a tournament coach (last year's run in the preseason tournament, almost every recent Big Ten tournament), but when it comes to the regular Big 10 season, the Hawks almost always disappoint?

Well, from what they were talking about here in KC ahead of the Guardians Classic, Iowa isn't the most talented team out there but it's a very veteran laden team so they can knock off young teams early in the season. Granted this is an isolated case we're talking about.

SI

3 things. Ha ha at Kentucky losing, Tyler Hansbrough is a beast, and Danny Green should be starting.

Meh, UNC lost to Santa Clara in their first game last year.

I'm not really worried about an early loss to a top 20 team. Especially since we may get our starting center back later in the season.

Yeh, well that was minus Felton so the atrocious Quentin Thomas had to play PG (starting a freshman over him this year). But anyway, I didn't see anything about the game, just read the boxscore--how the heck did Rondo get 19 rebounds?

Unbelievable game going on right now between Michigan State and Gonzaga 80-80 going into OT

No idea. I didn't get to watch the game because the great minds at UK decided to have the ticket lottery for the UNC and UL games that night. 7,000 students showed up for 3,500 tickets. I managed to get some nose bleed seats, but I'm not complaining.

But you also have to consider our loss last night was minus Morris. I hope the NCAA allows him back (and preferably soon) because we have little inside presence without him.

I have not seen a team yet that can run with Memphis. We have some freakin athletes. If we shoot well and defend, I think we are going to shock some people. Asuuming we get past UCLA, we will get Duke on Friday.

MrBug, how is that PG's ankle? He better have it taped up well or DWash is going to go right past him.

UTEP gets their first real test Saturday night when the Miners travel to Albu-queer-que and face UNM in The Pit. After destroying Western New Mexico and UT-Permian Basin it will be nice to see what the guys can do against a solid team.

Fatigue finally caught up with the Hawkeyes with about 5 minutes left against Texas. Ah, well, would have been cool to win, but I like watching the Hawks play.

Man, this year's Maui Invitational may have been the best preseason tourney ever. Sure, I know that's not much to hang your hat on, but still. There was yesterday's amazing 3OT classic after Arkansas won earlier in the day by one point over Kansas. And then today with another OT game and the UConn/Gonzaga clash.

SI

I happen to agree that I had fun watching the Maui Invitational. Is it just me or does college basketball seem much better this year? I guess it is te upsets and the good games. I am just hoping Memphis will beat Duke on Friday. It is time to play with the big boys.

I don't think I've ever enjoyed a week of college basketball this much outside of the tournament. So many big games between top ranked teams... They were good games too and lived up to the hype.