National College Basketball Preview

Opening weekend in college hoops is literally just hours away and my excitement can hardly be contained. So far, we’ve taken a look at the Greyhounds’ roster and how the MAAC shapes up. Today the focus is on the rest of the college basketball landscape.

Here are a couple FAQ’s and my answers that will serve as a little season primer. If nothing else this will be very interesting to revisit come March.

Who is the best team?

The answer is plain and simple… the University of North Carolina. Maybe UCLA if Kevin Love and Luc-Richard M’bah a Moute had returned to Westwood, maybe Kansas if Brandon Rush and Darrell Arthur came back in an attempt to defend their title, maybe even Texas or USC is D.J. Augustine and O.J. Mayo didn’t make the jump to the league – but they are all playing for pay now on an NBA Arena nearest you. Carolina had Ty Lawson, backcourt mate Wayne Ellington, and Danny Green all rescind their names from draft consideration at the last minute to come back to Tobacco Road for one last shot at the national championship. Oh, by the way, UNC also brought in the #1 ranked recruiting class in the nation, headlined by Larry Drew the nation’s #3 ranked PG and bigs Tyler Zeller and Larry David, two of the top three rated scholastic power forwards from last year. And one more thing, this guy they call “Psycho T” is back… heard he’s pretty good too.

Who are the other legit contenders for the Final 4?

My preseason picks to be National Semifinalists are UNC, Duke, Gonzaga, and Syracuse. I see tremendous upside and potential in these squads, though as the old adage goes, “potential gets coaches fired.” But I don’t think Coach K, Mark Few, or good ol’ Jimmy Boeheim have anything to worry about. I love that Duke has inserted Nolan Smith at the point for Greg Paulus, with the skill sets each possess the move makes perfect sense. If freshman 6’10 center Mike Pumlee, who Coach K loves, plays well and Gerald Henderson takes his game to the next level, Duke has more than enough with Kyle Singler and Jon Scheyer to make a deep run. This is the best talent Gonzaga has ever had in their program’s history. The WCC POY, Jeremy Pargo, is back at the point, Josh Heyvelt is polished in the post and sophomore Austin Daye could be a first team All-American if he has the breakout year people in Spokane predict. Finally, I really like Syracuse to be a big surprise this season. One-and-done Donte Green could be addition by subtraction for the Orange who will have potentially the best PG in the Big East, Mike Flynn, the best athlete in the Big East, Paul Harris, and a center in Arinze Onuako, who is not afraid to mix it up with the other big rebounders in the conference. Other teams who could have the talent to make it include, UCLA, Texas, and anyone with a winning record in the Big East.

Is the Big East “Super Conference” super enough to get 10 bids?

When March roles around that could very well be the case, but more likely I see 8 or 9 receiving bids. I expect, in no particular order, Louisville, Pitt, Marquette, Notre Dame, UConn, West Virginia, Villanova, and Syracuse to be in the Top 25 pretty much all season long but you could probably see as many 10 or 11 teams make an appearance in the national polls. UConn is ranked #2 in the preseason AP and Coaches Poll, but I just don’t see them being that good. Pitt has had 25 wins a year for the past decade, but no appearances past the Sweet 16 to show for their consistency. Louisville got rid of biggest headache in college basketball in Derrick Caracter and replaces him with the best freshman post-player in the nation, Samardo Samuels. Notre Dame has Luke Harangody, the returning conference POY and two do-it-all combo guards in Kyle McAlarney and Tory Jackson. And as for Marquette they have their three-headed monster in the backcourt, Domenic James, Jerrell McNeal, and Wesley Matthews. All have a chance to make major noise in the tournament.

What about the ACC, is it just Carolina, Duke, and everyone else?

The ACC is no longer the #1 conference in college basketball and it’s for no other reason than its lack of depth on the second tier. This year is a perfect example; you have the Tar Heels and Blue Devils and a major drop off. The conference has not been weighed down with the conference expansion for football, heck Boston College, Virginia Tech, and Miami have made more tournaments recently then some of the good ol’ boys of the ACC, like NC State, Maryland, Georgia Tech and UVA. The conference will still get its 5 or 6 team in the big dance, but other will be NIT bound. The two teams I will be watching most closely are Maryland and NC State, two perennial programs who have fallen on tough times of late. Not all is well in Gary-land. The Terps have not capitalized on their NCAA Championship and brand new on-campus Comcast Arena the way program boosters think they should have. Maryland has no post options at all, unless Braxton Dupree has improved substantially, and Greivis Vasquez is still on of the top guards in the ACC, but he needs help. Throwing this out there - Freshman Sean Mosley will be starting by midseason and make the all-rookie team. As for Coach Derek Whittenburg’s Wolfpack squad it’s one last go around for the nucleus of Courtney Fells, Ben McCauley, and Brandon Costner. For a group that had so much promise after a run to the ACC Tournament Championship Game 2 seasons ago, J.J. Hickson really messed things up by dominating touches in his only year in red… or at least that’s what they’d like you to believe in Raleigh.

Who is this year’s crop of big time freshmen?

The trendy pick for the best freshman in the country is UCLA combo guard J’rue Holliday. I really like his chances because he’ll be playing under Coach Ben Howland and alongside, coach-on-the-floor point guard Darren Collison, who will both make sure he plays the right way, right away. Louisville’s Samardo Samuels is the class’s best frontcourt player, right above Georgetown’s new pivot man, Greg Monroe, but they could both struggle a bit with the Dejuan Blair’s, Hasheem Thabeet’s, Onuako’s, and Harrangody’s of the world in the Big East. Tyreke Evans, a high scoring Philly product will have the green light in Memphis, as will the high flying wing, Demar DeRozan, USC’s top recruit from Compton. However the pick that may have the most to do with the amount of success his team has is Al-Farouq Aminu of Wake Forest, the 6’9 forward held strong on his verbal commitment to the Deacs even after the untimely death of Skip Prosser.

Lastly, whose names will we be inundated with when everyone puts out their All-American lists at season’s end?

1st Team: F Tyler Hansbrough, North Carolina; F Blake Griffin, Oklahoma; G James Harden, Arizona State; G Johnny Flynn, Syracuse; G Darren Collison, UCLA
2nd Team: G Stephen Curry, Davidson; F Luke Harrangody, Notre Dame; F Earl Clark, Louisville; F Patrick Patterson, Kentucky; G Patty Mills, Saint Mary’s
3rd Team: F Austin Daye, Gonzaga; F Kyle Singler, Duke; F Sam Young, Pittsbugh; G Eric Maynor, VCU; G Nick Calathes, Florida