Dispatches from the Culture Wars

It's the frontcourt that could be a problem. Sophomore Delvon Roe will be their best low post player and I expect him to have a big year. As a freshman, he was still recovering from double knee surgery his senior year in high school but showed flashes of greatness that showed why he was the top-rated big man in his class before those operations. Now he's back to 100% physically and he should be a beast at power forward.

Center will be done by committee, with 7-foot project Tom Herzog and freshmen big men Garrick Sherman and Derrick Nix splitting time until one of them stakes a claim for the spot. Nix has tremendous potential, very soft hands for a big man. He just needs to continue to get into better shape to get the minutes he deserves. Depending on the size of the opponent, MSU will sometimes start one of those players at center and at other times have Roe at center.

Raymar Morgan is this year's Goran Suton for the Spartans, the X factor that will determine how far the team can go. Morgan is a tremendous talent who can play facing the basket or with his back to it. He was hampered by mono last year, which sunk his great start to the Big Ten season when he was on his way to all-conference honors. If he can stay healthy all season, he has the potential to be as good as a 2nd or 3rd team all-American. Or he could be inconsistent and mediocre. Which of those two things happens may well be the key factor in telling how good MSU can really be. If he's putting up 14-16 points a game and 7 or 8 rebounds, MSU is going to be very, very tough to beat.

And I haven't even mentioned Draymond Green, who may be my favorite player on this team. Green is an undersized power forward at 6'6, but he's a wide body with a very high basketball IQ. He just has a nose for the ball and always seems to be in the right position to make the perfect play. He'll play some at the 3 and 4 and he'll do all the little things necessary for this to be a great team.

MSU has its typical brutal non-conference schedule and they may well take a loss or two before the Big Ten season starts. They get Gonzaga and Florida at home, play at North Carolina and at Texas all before the conference season starts. Izzo loves scheduling those kinds of games because it prepares the team for the tournament. That #2 ranking likely won't last long, but come the end of the season this is a serious contender for yet another final four and possibly a national championship.

Duke comes in ranked lower than usual, around 8-10 in most polls. This is an unusual Duke team, fairly deep in big men but very thin at guard after losing Gerald Henderson to the NBA and Elliot Williams to transfer after a family tragedy. After being overloaded with good guards the last couple years, they only have three guards on the entire roster this year - Nolan Smith, Jon Scheyer and freshman Andre Dawkins.

But there's enough depth in the frontcourt that Kyle Singler, who has frequently had to play the 4 and even the 5 in his first two years on the team, will be able to return to his natural position as a small forward and play facing the basket. Singler should be an all-American and likely ACC player of the year. The 4 and 5 positions will be manned by Miles and Mason Plumlee, both 6'10, 7-footer Brian Zoubek, Lance Thomas, Olek Czyz and Lance Thomas.

This is not a great Duke team. They'll still get 25 wins and probably play on the second weekend of the NCAA tournament, but I don't think they're a serious contender for the Final Four or a national championship.

So who else is? Well Kansas is an obvious choice. They return practically everyone, including preseason all-Americans Sherron Collins at point guard and Cole Aldrich at center. Add Xavier Henry, a silky smooth freshman shooting guard who will be an absolute beast on this team, and they are loaded.

Texas is loaded as well. Transfer Jai Lucas (yes, another son of John Lucas) takes over at point guard and joins big man Damion James and a cast of terrific role players. This team should be built for a deep run in the tournament.

And North Carolina has its usual ridiculously loaded roster. Tyler Hansbrough may be gone but the team returns Ed Davis, Deon Thompson and Tyler Zeller, who will be joined by all-world freshman big man John Henson and 6'9 twins David and Travis Wear to man the front court. The only hole is at point guard, where replacing Ty Lawson may not be easy. Larry Drew II will be the nod to start and his development at point guard will determine just how far this very talented team will go. If he can just be above average, this is a final four contender because the rest of the roster is so talented.

I hate to even mention Kentucky, which does have a tremendous recruiting class and a loaded roster. And yes, John Calipari can obviously coach. But he's such a vile person and such an obvious cheater -- he's now taken two teams to the final four and had to vacate the wins both times -- that I hate to see the guy win. He's one of those coaches who plays very close to the edge on NCAA rules and he's doing it again with John Wall.

With that being said, Wall has been cleared to play by the NCAA and he's going to be an absolute monster on the court. He could follow in the footsteps of Kevin Durant and Michael Beasley as freshmen players of the year, he's that good. And Patrick Patterson should have an all-American year down low as well. Yes, this team could make a deep run in the tournament. But it's only a matter of time before they end up vacating all those wins when the NCAA infractions hit the fan.

My early final four predictions: MSU, Kansas, North Carolina and - yes, this is a sleeper - Butler.