Season previews
Who’s excited for college basketball’s tip-off? Show of hands!
You’ve got Ohio State vs. Alcorn State, along with North Carolina vs. Florida International at 4 p.m. ET, then Albany at Syracuse (9 p.m. ET) and Murray State at Cal (11 p.m. ET). All four games feature ranked teams, which must mean there’s some buzz about the season, right?
(crickets)
Oh well. I’m excited. As are the other hoopheads. But the average fan – people who’ll fill out a bracket and not much else – probably didn’t even know the season began today.
So how does that problem get solved?
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There are really only two sure things when it comes to preseason All-Americans this season.
Tyler Hansbrough and Stephen Curry. One’s a three-time All-American who’s trying to lead North Carolina to back-to-back Final Fours and its fifth NCAA title. Curry is the Davidson sharpshooter who led the Wildcats to within a whisker of the 2008 Final Four.
Everything else is up for grabs. And there are plenty of great players to choose.
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Rule of thumb when planning the fall months is to let the NFL, baseball playoffs and college football carry the load (fantasy football gets lumped into the NFL). NASCAR’s chase gets some attention, along with an occasional golf event, depending on who’s involved. Once the NBA begins, that works into the mix.
Those sports are the backbone to just about any site’s coverage. College basketball is usually secondary until the NFL season ends and Duke-North Carolina gets all the casual fans involved (we die-hards will be watching on Nov. 10 when Coaches Vs. Cancer tourney kicks off).
So imagine the die-hards’ glee at ESPN’s brilliant idea: A hoops marathon to give college basketball a proper season opener.
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It’s a funny thing about Florida. The 2004-05 squad won 24 games, won one NCAA Tournament game and 58 percent of their offense left for the NBA.
No one thought they'd be a title contender after that. Back-to-back crowns later, shouldn't we have second thoughts about not giving this year's group a chance?
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Who’s the face of college basketball?
That’s the question posed by ESPN’s Andy Katz. Without the fab five at Florida, Greg Oden, Kevin Durant, Katz wonders who will be this year’s face of college basketball. It’s a far cry from two years ago when one couldn’t escape the J.J. Redick and Adam Morrison highlights.
This year the focus is on guys like Tennessee’s Chris Lofton, UNC’s Tyler Hansbrough, Georgetown’s Roy Hibbert or Michigan State’s Drew Neitzel, all preseason All-Americans and upperclassmen.
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Jeff Green never put up big stats for Georgetown last season, but everyone knew how integral the junior swingman was to the Hoyas’ Final Four run. The Big East player of the year was arguably the nation’s best defender, Georgetown’s go-to guy in the clutch and set the tone for efficient, solid play that typified a 30-7 Georgetown squad.
But was Green so good that his early departure to the NBA is scaring off supporters for another run to the Final Four?
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It's a funny thing about this year's freshman class. There may be some disagreement about the No. 1 recruit (some say USC's O.J. Mayo, others go with K-State's Michael Beasley), but there's very little disagreement about the top 5.
Whether it's Beasley or Mayo at No. 1 (take your pick between rivals.com and scout.com for that), the rest of the top 5 almost always includes Memphis point guard Derrick Rose, Indiana shooting guard Eric Gordon and UCLA center Kevin Love. Rivals has Duke's Kyle Singler ahead of Love, but that's about the only variant.
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For the moment, pardon my indulgence.
Never been the biggest fan of Big Ten basketball. Whether it was downplaying Illinois’ remarkable 2004-05 season, ignoring Michigan State’s chances to beat Duke in the 2005 NCAA Tournament or bemoaning the ACC-Big Ten Challenge each season (win some games, then!), the league has never appealed to me.
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Everyone’s got an opinion when it comes to who’s No. 1 in men’s basketball. And it’s one of those season when it doesn’t look like there’s going to be a consensus.
But after a season where Florida rolled to its second-straight NCAA Tournament title, a little variety at the top will be refreshing.
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Midnight Madness has gone the way of the summer movie. It used to be a simple thing with skits and a scrimmage. Now it takes fancy cars, fireworks and a bit of panache.
Then again, considering how much I enjoyed The Bourne Identity and Transformers, a bigger show isn’t all that bad -- especially when I think of just how excruciating Midnight Madness could be. Hanging around in the gym on a Friday night just to see an exaggerated scrimmage? Ugh. Fans could use a little entertainment.
Enter the Jerry Bruckheimer version of Midnight Madness.
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