Today may be the best day of the year. It's the start of college basketball season, with my Duke Blue Devils (yeah, yeah, forward me your hate mail - I'm not a bandwagon fan, i've been a fan since I was 14) taking on Boston University on ESPN at 7:30. Duke is the overwhelming preseason choice for the #1 ranking, returning two all-Americans from last year's team, losing only one player of consequence and adding the top recruiting class in the nation. They will have two first team all-Americans this year and perhaps the freshman of the year in Josh McRoberts.
Clearly the team to beat. My other team, of course, is MSU, also rated generally in the top 5 in all the preaseason polls. They return 3 starters from last year's final four team, but they lost 4 of their top 9 players and didn't have much of a recruiting class. Still, depth shouldn't be a big problem. Redshirt freshman Marquise Gray is going to be a beast at power forward and they've got a great backcourt with Neitzel, Ager and Shannon Brown. I expect a breakout year from Brown.
So fire up the Tivo, baby. It's college basketball time. Now if I could just find a way to filter out Dick Vitale's annoying voice.
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I find it sad that on this, the happiest day of the year, I can see into the future and watch you in a humiliated puddle in front of a TV as Duke gets crushed by the University of Texas in the Tournament.
Sometimes prophecy is indeed a burden, but I have learned to accept it.
Oh, crap. Since I hate duke, and on top of that am a B.C. fan, does this mean I have to hate you now? :(
Oh well, at least the Eagles football team won their game over NC State on Saturday night.
Jeff Hebert wrote:
Do I see a bet coming? I'd love having more of that Cooper's BBQ. Actually, while I'd make that bet, I think Texas is pretty clearly the #2 team in the nation and they are definitely capable of beating Duke. Gibson is a great point guard, PJ Tucker is as difficult to guard as anyone in the country, and Aldridge is gonna be a star if he can stay healthy. Buckman is a good player (and isn't he in his 9th year on the team?) as well. Tucker is my favorite player on the team, though. He's from North Carolina and none of the big four teams there recruited him at all. Big mistake. He reminds me a lot of Charles Barkley, a 6'5 power forward who shouldn't be nearly as good as he is down low.
Texas' big weakness is depth. Their first 6 are great. After that, it's a little hazy. An injury to Gibson and they're sunk. But I agree, it's a great team and we'll find out before the tournament who is better. They play during the regular season, on December 10th and on a neutral floor (The Meadowlands in New Jersey). That's the game of the year, as far as I'm concerned.
Chris Berez wrote:
I hope not! I think B.C. is the 2nd beat team in the ACC this year, which is pretty impressive coming in to a new conference. Al Skinner is not a good coach, he's a great coach, and he's turned B.C. into a serious basketball school. Jared Dudley will be first team all-ACC and probably 2nd or 3rd team all-American, and Craig Smith is an absolute beast. When Duke and BC play, the paint is no place for the weak. Shelden Williams and Craig Smith are both big and incredibly strong and that will be a battle all game long on the low blocks. I think they'll finish second in the ACC, ahead of Wake and Maryland. And they're capable of beating Duke, especially since they only play them once this year and it's at home for BC.
Wow, at the start of the game I was all prepared to gloat about a Duke loss, but the Blue Devils really went and ratcheted up their defense like a bloody vise. B.U. is now spending more time turning the ball over than they are getting off shots. I'm begining to think Duke might really run away with this one.
Sportsfan rule #1: you get one team per sport. Sorry, Ed, you either like Duke, MSU, or neither.
RPM wrote:
Hey, I'm a rebel. See, I became a Duke fan way back in the early 80s, before they started winning championships, when I saw an article about the Cameron Crazies. They were just starting to become known for their antics and I thought it was really cool, so I started rooting for Duke. But I couldn't leave MSU behind because, well, my family would have killed me. My father has two degrees from MSU, my mother was in the administration there, one sister is an assistant athletic director there, I went there. We bleed green. So I just have to have two teams. It does make it tough, though, since both are among the best teams in the country every year. Duke and MSU have played in the NCAA tournament twice in the last 5 years.
I've been reading your site with great interest since the start of the dover trial and now I find out you're a fellow spartan? wow.. Watch out for Goran Sutran too, he's going to make some waves in the post. He and Delco Rowley will definitely make Paul Davis more productive on the wing. I like Duke too in the ACC.
As the great Vizzini said, there are two classic blunders concering Gambling. The first, of course, is "never start a land war in Asia" but the second, only SLIGHTLY less important, is "never bet against a Krzyzewski when a title is on the line!"
So I politely decline your offer of a wager, Duke's just too good and I have to save my money to lose it at poker tomorrow night. I'd hate to disappoint the regulars who feast on my bankroll every week.
Jeff Hebert wrote:
Ha! Great line, but I think you're missing 5 or 6 letters in Coach K's name (I've never figured out how to spell it).
I'll take Dick Vitale over Billy Packer anyday. Billy to me appears to be so stupid he could be an ID supporter.
re: Roundball - I get to root for my kids feeder basketball team - YES! I would rather watch his team play than a NBA game - at 12 they are just starting to get it, and the coach is a great teacher. We'll play all over NW Illinois,and finish at a tournament in Madison
WI.
If you are also an aging hoopster, check out this blog - http://setshot.blogspot.com/
J-Dog wrote:
Unfortunately, those are our only two choices much of the time and they're both horrible. Vitale is the king of sycophants and little more than a babbling bald cheerleader. He never says anything at all insightful about the game because he's too busy declaring every kid who ever scored in double figures to be a "PTPer" and every coach who ever won 20 games to be a "Hall of Famer". Someone needs to tell him that if everyone is good enough to be in the hall of fame, there's no point in having one. I know he's enthusiastic and I know he loves the game and all that, but it would be nice if he actually said something about the game he's allegedly providing commentary for.
Packer is the anti-Vitale in many ways. He goes out of his way to be unduly negative, much like Bill Walton does for the NBA games, but he often makes really stupid statements during the game. But I'll give Packer credit for one thing - he does at least talk about what's going on in the game, and he'll talk about adjustments being made and why. He may well be wrong in his analysis, but he at least does point out that a coach has changed the way their team switches on a pick and roll, or that they've changed offensive sets, and so forth. That's the analyst's job.
Give me Brad Dougherty, Jay Bilas or Len Elmore over those two any day of the week.
2-0. I almost felt bad for Seton Hall (almost). That Pocius kid looks pretty solid for someone I've heard almost nothing about.Oh, and I vote for the first Friday of the Tournament as the Best Day of the Year — but Wednesday was real close.