Friday, September 30, 2011
2011-12 College Basketball Preview
As the NBA lockout makes little progress and rumors about players heading overseas abound, college basketball awaits, ready to play because you can't get locked out when you don't make any money.
Simultaneously, through college football programs, the conferences of the NCAA are being ripped apart. Consequently, college basketball programs sit back, waiting to see which conference they'll end up in because it seems like there is no boundary. For all we know, the defending champion Connecticut Huskies may end up in the Pac-10 or Pac-12 or Pac-39 for all we know.
And we as fans sit back, wondering when the smoke will clear, not really caring about the landscape of college basketball because most of us don't start paying attention until late February anyway.
Well, the time is coming to start paying attention, far earlier than February. Why? Because of the first thing I mentioned, the NBA lockout.
Speculation looms as to whether the season will start on time, and if not when it will start and some are even going so far as to say there may not be a season. Gasp! The NBA needs a season. If it doesn't have one the global market will explode and professional basketball will likely become more like soccer in logistics, with a champions league and the best players spread over numerous professional clubs.
Maybe that's a good thing in the long wrong. Maybe not. But the NBA can't possible believe it to be a good thing to lose control over the vast majority of the basketball talent the world has to offer.
So, why should we start paying attention to college basketball now? Because it is the only basketball season that will be televised in the United States this fall, winter, and spring. If you love basketball, the college game will be all you have. Sure, ESPN may throw up a highlight of Deron Williams in Istanbul, donning the black and white of Besiktas. Or Kobe Bryant may end up in Italy and get some air time. Or we may see some more Kevin Durant street ball. But will that really be enough? No. It won't.
So if you're going to start paying attention to college basketball, there are probably a few things you should know before the season starts so that you don't look foolish in front of your friends ... and probably a few you don't really need to know, but you want to sound clever, don't you?
1. The coolest venue for a game of any sport will take place when Michigan State faces North Carolina onboard the USS Carl Vinson, an aircraft carrier. Seriously. How cool is that? The game is on 11/11/11.
2. Butler has made it to the national championship game each of the last two seasons, losing to Duke in 2010 and UConn in 2011. Do not expect them to make it back. Do not even assume they will make the field of 68. They obviously have a great program, but they lost a ton of talent and leadership and that will be very difficult for them to overcome.
3. Jokes about being Jimmered are so last year.
4. A young man playing for the Northwestern State Demons named William Mosley average 4.9 blocks per game last season. He had three games with double-digit blocks. The last time he didn't record a block was on January 23, 2010. This guy must be 7'4" right? Wrong. He's 6'7".
5. UConn will not repeat as champions. After going .500 in the Big East last year, the Huskies got hot at the right time and took home the title, riding on Kemba Walker who was drafted ninth overall into the locked-out NBA, despite having a year of eligibility left. Everybody seems to expect Shabazz Napier to take Walker's place as the scoring stud of UConn, putting up 20-25 points per game. However, Napier was cut a few days ago from the United States World University Games team, coached by Matt Painter of Purdue. Maybe there was a chemistry problem, but if he's ready to be the next Kemba Walker, he wouldn't have been cut. Maybe in 2013, he'll have his game together.
6. BYU has reinstated Brandon Davies both to the school and to the basketball team. But being Jimmer-less will mean the Cougars will be mediocre at best. Davies is a role player who can't carry the team; neither can anyone else on the team.
7. Here are some mid-majors (or maybe lower than mid-majors) you can expect to make some noise in March: Montana, Harvard, Creighton, Long Beach State, and Iona.
8. There is a lot of talk about which conference will be the best. Some say Big East, others stick with ACC, and some even are talking about the depleted Big 12 or Big 9 or whatever they're called now to be the best. The gigantic Big East will never be the best conference when Rutgers, Providence, South Florida, and DePaul are all terrible and haven't really been good for quite a while. When one-fourth of your conference is bad, you can't be the best conference in my opinion. Providence had their moments last year, but they've lost Marshon Brooks, the second-best scorer in the nation in 2010-11.
The ACC has much more balance from top to bottom. Wake Forest is certainly in the cellar, but that was only last season, they were in the tournament the year before, so I think the nod has to go to the ACC over the Big East.
The Big 12 doesn't have the power at the top that they other conferences have. The Big 12 has Kansas and that's kind of it for powerhouses. So if any of your friends ask, "Which conference do you think is the best?" You have your arguments.
9. Even with LaQuinton Ross being declared ineligible due to academic shortcomings, Ohio State still has a fantastic recruiting class and will still be my favorites in the Big Ten. But expect the Minnesota Golden Gophers to put together a decent season. I'm not saying they'll be a contender for the title, but Sweet 16 or Elite Eight is not out of the question for Tubby Smith's team. If they don't perform, expect Tubby to be searching for another job, simply because he's tired of losing.
I'm looking forward to a solid season, potentially with more games on TV as the NBA fights over money and leads itself towards its own demise. But as always, expect March to be a month of insanity and excitement.