Friday, November 11, 2011

Basketball

Basketball is finally back. Well, at least, college basketball is back. I'm so glad that there is something that is happening in the week so I don't have to follow football 24/7 each week.

Without further ado, we'll do a quick preview for college basketball.

National Championship pick: North Carolina. I'm afraid it's going to be a wire to wire season for North Carolina.  I'm not the only one who thinks that they're going to win the national championship.  I've looked at what both ESPN and Sports Illustrated has been saying and the consensus is that North Carolina is the best bet to win the championship.  Every North Carolina fan that I talk to is very happy that Larry Drew doesn't play at UNC anymore and will turn it over full-time to Kendall Marshall.  I'll be very surprised if North Carolina doesn't at least make it to the Final Four.  I think it's entirely possible that they might lose before then but overall they're the best team, in my opinion.

Best thing to happen to college basketball this season: The NBA lockout.  Not only do you have a series of underclassmen who came back to their schools but now everyone who needs a basketball fix is forced to watch college basketball, instead.  I would imagine that basketball's ratings are going to be higher than they have been for awhile.  Last year, it looked we were going to be getting closer to a 16 seed finally beating a 1 seed.  This year, I would be surprised if we have very many upsets, at all.  It seems probable that we'll have a final four with only the #1 seeds.

Pre-season player of the year: Jared Sullinger.  I think with a down year in the Big Ten that Sullinger will have an even better season than he did last year.  While I don't think Ohio State is in the same class as North Carolina, I think Ohio State will only have a few losses at the end of the season.

Thing that worries me: Vanderbilt's high ranking and there are a couple of writers who think that Vanderbilt is going to make the Final Four.

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