The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year (NCAA Basketball Preview)

The Dukies look to go back-to-back for a second time.

In all of my madness and melancholy of covering football from college to the NFL I almost forgot what time of year it was… THE START OF THE COLLEGE BASKETBALL SEASON!!!

It happened last night as I was watching the Bengals season go down in flames (still can’t believe I picked them to win it all), I look over and what do I see? Number 4 ranked Pittsburgh taking on Rhode Island. Hmm, I love the excitement of the crowds, the college kids from the Oakland Zoo to the Little Apple to The Kennel all going crazy with the prospectus of their team somehow going for the glory come March.

You see college basketball trumps the NBA to me in so many ways; 1. The atmosphere, there are no places in the NBA like Cameron Indoor Stadium, Rupp Arena or Hinkle Field house. The crowds are right on top of you and the energy is surreal. Even when watching it on TV at half volume you can feel buzz, the stadium shaking, and the kids going bonkers. Maybe Madison Square Garden and maybe Arco Arena do that in the NBA and that’s it.

2. The rivalries. It doesn’t matter if it’s Kansas-K-State, Syracuse-UCONN or Duke-Maryland, every time interstate enemies or inter-conference rivals go at it its must see TV. Last year I watched Memphis play Tennessee in a down year for both programs and t didn’t matter. The game was still full of energy and passion and don’t turn your head away action that made for an awesome night especially when you’re procrastinating as to stall yourself from studying for a meaningless exam. Not that I ever did that in college.

Kansas- K-State. One of the many rivalries that make college basketball so awesome.

(speaking of which, the greatest sporting event from my college years had to be the 6 overtime marathon between the Cuse and UCONN about 20 months ago. I was struggling through that quarter of school badly, I’m talking Carolina Panthers quarterback situation badly, and I absolutely needed to focus on getting at least a 2.0 that quarter and it was finals week. So what did I do instead of study for an Italian final or write my medieval poetry final paper, I watched Jonny Flynn, A.J. Price and a cast of thousands go hard for nearly 4 hours of grueling basketball that left my roommate Ian wanting to kill me for yelling so loud at 1230am and had me up until 4am watching highlights and trying to figure out what the hell just happened. That one game is the reason you watch college basketball, because the unexpected is always bound to happen. You never know when the next ESPN Classic moment will happen. Side note: I did pass all of my finals that quarter but it wasn’t pretty. I blame the referee for blowing the Eric Devendorf call on the three that was clearly good before the buzzer and the fact that St. Patrick’s Day fell during finals week.)

3. The fact that college basketball is changing. The elite programs are still there… sort of. Last year UCLA, Arizona, UCONN and North Carolina DID NOT MAKE THE TOURNAMENT. Yeah you read that properly, four of college basketball’s best programs didn’t even sniff the tournament. There was a point in the tourney where we were looking at a final four that could’ve consisted of Northern Iowa, Butler, Xavier (hi Sean Miller) and Baylor. Yeah that’s where we are at. Granted UNC won it all in 2009 and Duke took home the crown last year, but the game itself is no longer the top heavy huge program dominated juggernaut it has been for the last 20 years.

The top 3 teams expected to make a run at the crown for this year are Duke, Michigan State and… KANSAS STATE! Yes the same Kansas State who you couldn’t name one single player from their roster for a 20 year period. The same Kansas State who wasn’t even a factor in the BIG 12 until Bob Huggins convinced a guy named Michael Beasley to come to Manhattan, Kansas three years ago and then left before Beasley arrived. The same Kansas State that was Kansas’s whipping post for every season that I’ve been alive and they are now viewed as the best team in Kansas. Time’s they are a changing.

What Frank Martin has done at K-State is amazing, he got great results from Beasley and Bill Walker and he is now able to bring in excellent recruits to Manhattan and leave the folks in Lawrence feeling a little salty. Led by Jacob Pullen and his beard and guys like Wally Judge and Curtis Kelly, the Wildcats have what it takes to overpower the Jayhawks and get to the Final 4. Yep, Kansas State, believe it.

Then of course there is last year’s darling the Butler Bulldogs who were two inches away from pulling off one of the greatest upsets sports has ever seen against Duke in the title game. The Dogs proved that they belong in the hunt for the crown for a long time to come with a run that stunned everyone in the sport that included wins over K-State, Syracuse and Michigan State. They return with no Gordon Haywood but pretty much same team from Ronald Nored and his tough defense and Matt Howard and his inside post game. They have replaced Gonzaga as the best little guy in the game and will be a tough draw in the tourney for anyone.

(With that said Gonzaga is ranked higher and with Robert Sacre at center they still aren’t a team to be messed with. Also the recruiting class they have for 2011 is stupid silly good. You think Mark Few is happy he stayed at Gonzaga instead of take the Kentucky job a few years ago? Yeah, me too.)

So what about the big dogs? Oh they’re just fine thank you. Ohio State behind one of the silliest recruiting classes including Jared Sullinger since the “Thad 5” is primed to go toe-to-toe with Sparty for the Big 10 and the national title. They have a date in November with SEC rival Florida which finally seems to have shaken the title hangover of a few years ago and are expected to rule the SEC this year behind do it all forward Chandler Parsons. They still have Kentucky hanging around in the background however. Yes they lost John Wall, Demarcus Cousins and Eric Bledsoe and Enes Kanter is still awaiting eligibility pending an NCAA investigation (hmmm, another investigation involving John Calipari? No way), however they get another top flight point guard for John Calipari to groom in Brandon Knight and swingman Terrance Jones from Oregon. They’re young again but if anyone knows how to get the best out of a young squad then its John Calipari.

Now I know what you’re wondering, Kevin, you haven’t even begun to wax poetic over the Mighty Big East yet. You know the conference you love so much that you’re willing to through any other program under the bus when playing them. You know the conference that you think is so much better than everyone else but last year underachieved in mostly every big out of conference matchup. Yeah yeah yeah I know. I know they struggled last year with off years by UCONN, Georgetown and Louisville and honestly past Syracuse, Villanova and Pittsburgh every team is the same. G’Town, Marquette and Seton Hall all have shots to make an impact behind guys like Austin Freeman, Jeremy Hazell and others and Steve Lavin may finally bring St. John’s back to where it belongs in the picture of college basketball. Yet I’m not sold that the conference is better than the Big 10 who have 3 teams who could make a Final 4 run including Purdue who I think is getting undervalued because of the loss of Robbie Hummel. In the Big East I think only Syracuse and maybe Pitt has a shot at the Final 4. However, even though it might be a down year for the conference the games will still be a blast to watch.

Something about the words Melo and Syracuse just sounds good together.

(Side note: I really like this Syracuse team. They are deeper than last year’s squad and they have a guy in the middle that will be a huge problem for everyone in the future, Fab Melo. Hmmm, an impact freshman in Syracuse named Melo? Smiley face.)

However with all of that said, from the little guys to the big ones, from the “Thad 5” part two to the beard, from Indianapolis to Spokane the two teams to beat come from tobacco road and (ugh) the ACC, Duke and UNC.

Duke brings back everyone from last year’s team including the soon to be player of the year Kyle Singler and they get Kyrie Irving, a lightning quick guard, and Seth Curry, yep there’s another one of them running around. Plus the Plumlee twins return to roam the middle with their size and athleticism which is going to be a problem for anyone to handle.

As for UNC you knew that last year’s flame out was only an aberration. Roy Williams returns with a team that has a year of experience under its wing, a healthy Tyler Zeller and Harrison Barnes one of the most talked about freshmen in the nation. Barnes as well as Reggie Bullock should help shoulder the load left by Ed Davis and the Wear twins who transferred to Stanford.

Both Duke and UNC should have little trouble running the ACC with one exception, Maryland might be back. Gary Williams has escaped the firing that seemed eminent years ago and has his best team since the Steve Blake, Juan Dixon days.  Sean Mosley and Jordan Williams provide a great in and out game and Mychal Parker and Pe’Shon Howard will provide some pop off of the bench.  If he can find the right rotation for this team then it should be happy times in Gary-land for the Terps.

With all of this said who should be playing in the Final 4 come March? How about Duke, Ohio State, K-State and Syracuse with Ohio State winning it all. No it’s not a cop out because I went to OSU it’s because OSU has the best mix of under classmen and youth of any team in the nation. David Lighty, Dallas Lauderdale and Willie Buford all return to blend with the aforementioned Sullinger, Jordan Siebert and Deshaun Thomas. I think Michigan State is a tad overrated with no Kalin Lucas and the Buckeyes should steamroll through the tough Big 10 behind their talent level and Thad Motta’s defensive scheme.

So there you go, even in the changing landscape of college basketball where the little guys are getting bigger, the top dogs still reign supreme. However, don’t be surprised if everything I said gets blown to smithereens and the landscape changes again. That’s the beauty of the college game, and I’m so happy that it’s back.

PLAYER OF THE YEAR- KYLE SINGLER

BIG EAST WINNER-SYRACUSE (SLEEPER: VILLANOVA)

ACC- DUKE (MARYLAND)

BIG 12- KANSAS STATE (TEXAS)

BIG 10- OHIO STATE (ILLINOIS)

PAC 10- WASHINGTON (ARIZONA)

SEC- FLORIDA (TENNESSEE)

THE NEXT BUTLER- San Diego STATE

ATLANTIC 10- XAVIER (mark my words; you will take the A-10 seriously again. The league is too good to be considered a mid-major)

Those Damn Dukies

Word to the wise, never go against your favorite team no matter the circumstance. Don’t outsmart yourself with what you didn’t see, go with what you did see. Don’t focus on the negatives, just the positives. If I would’ve done that then I would’ve picked Duke to be in the final 4 and win the national championship instead of having them losing to Louisville in the second round… oops.

Duke, the forgotten one seed, wins it all.

The argument against Duke was that they were a 3-man team of Kyle Singler, Nolan Smith and Jon Scheyer (which was true, check the stats on offense to see). They weren’t athletic enough to beat Baylor, weren’t tough enough to hang with Purdue, and didn’t have the experience to get by West Virginia. They lost games to NC State (inexcusable), were beat up by Georgetown, and outhustled by Maryland. They got an easy draw in the tournament by the committee, based on the name brand being Duke. In reality all of those negatives hid the mind numbing positives.

(Just to be clear though, the easy bracket thing is most definitely true. Look I’m a fan, but there is no way that they should’ve gotten the third number seed over Syracuse, and handed an easier bracket than the team that was number one for 70 percent of the year in Kansas. However, in fairness they did play a virtual road game in Houston when they took on Baylor. Word to the NCAA, from now on when doing the field, maybe you shouldn’t put the three seed in a bracket where if they win they would be the home team over a 2 or 3 seed. Just saying)

One; they were not just Scheyer, Singler and Smith, the big men on this team made them tick. Brian Zoubek, after 3 highly disappointing season, dominated the boards in every tournament game and made life hell for the Butler guards on the inside. The Plumlee twins, Miles and Mason, were offensive rebounding machines and gave great minutes off of the bench, and Lance Thomas, the forgotten senior, was his usual stoic self limiting the Butler guards on their chances on the outside and giving Matt Howard fits on the inside while Zoubek rested. They were a complete team I just never saw it.

You can’t say enough about Kyle Singler however. Singler drove the offensive bus this evening when Smith or Scheyer couldn’t get shots to fall. Singler’s outstanding final four of averaging 20 points and 9 rebounds came off of a wretched game against Baylor when he shot 0 for 10 and finished with 5 points. Singler was the best player on the court for Duke offensively and made great plays on defense by blocking three shots and harassing Gordon Hayward all night.

Yet the credit will, and should, go to coach Mike Krzyzewski. For the last few years you had to wonder if maybe Roy Williams was winning the recruiting battle in North Carolina, and that maybe Coach K was more focused on coaching LeBron and company in the Olympics. This tournament proved that Coach K is as focused as ever. He used the Plumlee twins brilliantly off of the bench and implementing that hellacious man-to-man defense that wouldn’t sleep. He kept the ball in the players’ hands that knew what best to do with it and gave the others their proper roles and it paid off in the end.

So it seems like life is back to normal in college hoops. After the wildest tournament in recent memory that was filled with surprises. An old faithful stands at the top of the hill, much to the angst of everyone from Indianapolis to Chapel Hill to the left coast. Turns out for all of our talk about Kansas, Kentucky and Syracuse being the best team in the country, the best one of them all was sitting right there all along. All of us, including yours truly were blinded by what was wrong and missed everything that was right. My bad Coach K. It will never happen again, promise.

Maryland Makes A Statement

When it was all said and done, the Maryland Terrapins made more noise than what expected going into last night’s tilt with the Duke Blue Devils. In the Terps 77-69 victory, they out played out hustled and beat up a Duke team with more than a few worries headed into the NCAA tournament. 

The Terps jumped on Duke early with quick shots and great defense. Even though they lost their lead momentarily, they never lost their fight. They made Duke a three man team (more on that later) and overpowered them with balance from their starters, including Jordan Williams who was outplayed by Brian Zoubek in the first game but got the better of the matchup this time, and Dino Gregory and Adrian Bowie off of the bench.

Vazquez basks in his glory

The star of course was Greivis Vazquez who cemented his candidacy for ACC player of the year with a 20 point, five assist outing, which included an amazing off-balanced shot that was eventually the undoing of the Blue Devils. Last night’s game personified Vazquez’s career at Maryland. He is a player who plays with his heart on his sleeve and with reckless abandon. He comes of cocky (and he is) and even talks himself into corners that he can’t get out of, yet Vazquez has always been a fearless competitor that plays every game like it’s his last.

It was also vindication of sorts for Gary Williams. Williams has been getting a lot of heat in the last few years (and rightfully so for his horrible recruiting) and there was even talk of him being fired two years ago during Maryland’s second consecutive NIT trip. This year has been his best coaching job since that 2003 national championship team with Juan Dixon and company. Williams has put together a team of overachievers and little know recruiters and has turned them into the most dangerous team heading into the tournament. Tell me this; would you want to play a team that has won 8 straight, heading into a weak ACC tournament where they can pick up more steam? If you’re Kansas, Syracuse or Kentucky then the answer is no.

The really intriguing thing about last night’s game was not just that Maryland won, but they may have finally exposed weaknesses that Duke had been able to avoid all year. One, The Dukies can’t seem to get any scoring from guys other than Kyle Singler, Jon Scheyer, and Nolan Smith. In last night’s game Duke took 66 shots, 14 of them came from the other 6 players in their rotation; Maryland meanwhile had six players with 5 or more shots taken. At times you could see Smith and Scheyer pressing because they know that if they can’t get it done then no one will. It leads to their second problem which is consistency. The Plumlee brothers have been terrible down the stretch watching their minutes decrease nightly, while Brian Zoubek has been hot and cold all year as well. It has to concern Coach K that he doesn’t know what he’s going to get on any given night from guys that aren’t part of the big 3. If Duke wants to go deep in the tournament, and avoid another sweet 16 letdown, then someone other than SIngler, Scheyer or Smith has to step it up.

What else Duke has to worry about is their seeding in the upcoming NCAA tournament. Maryland is making a strong case for a possible two-seed in the tournament with their play of late while Duke may have just played out of a number one seed. It opens the door for a team like Ohio State that recently clinched the Big Ten title and plays in a stronger conference that Duke.

Maryland just made the tourney committee’s next few weeks a little more interesting, and made them a force to be reckoned with. Maryland is not back at the top, but they have returned to being a respected team in the landscape of college basketball. Teams will watch the Terps very close over the next two weeks and hope that maybe there is a chance that maybe their momentum can be slowed in the ACC tournament. However, this looks like a team on a mission with something to prove. Fear the turtle indeed.