The 'Ville is For Real
If you’re a fan of Kentucky basketball (like yours truly), then this hasn’t been a good start to the college hoops season.
First, we get torched for 111 points by Virginia Military Institute. (In the spirit of Allen Iverson’s “Practice” speech) Not by Florida, not by UCLA, but by VMI. Then, the ’Cats were embarrassed by North Carolina in primetime.
The college hoops week didn’t get any better for me – especially after this question came up.
You see, I’m thinking that Big Blue’s biggest rival will be this year’s NCAA champ; that’s right, I believe hated Louisville will cut down the nets in March (or early April).
When it comes to making preseason picks, I’m not a sucker for hype (are you listening, UNC fans?) and give very little weight to preseason polls. However, I like to gauge three things: whether a team has a good coach, whether a team has a solid corps of returning players and how the team did in the previous tournament.
My preseason pick from last season, Memphis, did everything right for me – save for a couple of minutes against Tennessee and Kansas. They had a good coach in John Calipari, they had a solid corps of returning players, led by Chris Douglas-Roberts and Joey Dorsey; also, the team advanced to the Elite Eight a year earlier.
Let’s take a look at the ’Ville. Rick Pitino – yeah, yeah, he’s a good coach. The Cardinals return four starters, led by standouts Terrence Williams and Earl Clark. How did the Cards perform in last year’s tournament? You guessed it, they advanced to the Elite Eight before they succumbed to UNC.
Why not UNC, you ask? Aside from the Carolina blue bulls-eye on the team’s back, I believe the team shouldn’t focus its offense through Tyler Hansbrough. The NBA is a big man’s game; the college game, though, is a guard’s sanctuary. Check the trend of recent NCAA champions, my friends.
Kansas’ Jayhawks were last year’s champs, and once again, bird will be the word. I anticipate this year’s beast of the Big East will toughen in a topheavy conference, then soar to the top of the heap.
First, we get torched for 111 points by Virginia Military Institute. (In the spirit of Allen Iverson’s “Practice” speech) Not by Florida, not by UCLA, but by VMI. Then, the ’Cats were embarrassed by North Carolina in primetime.
The college hoops week didn’t get any better for me – especially after this question came up.
You see, I’m thinking that Big Blue’s biggest rival will be this year’s NCAA champ; that’s right, I believe hated Louisville will cut down the nets in March (or early April).
When it comes to making preseason picks, I’m not a sucker for hype (are you listening, UNC fans?) and give very little weight to preseason polls. However, I like to gauge three things: whether a team has a good coach, whether a team has a solid corps of returning players and how the team did in the previous tournament.
My preseason pick from last season, Memphis, did everything right for me – save for a couple of minutes against Tennessee and Kansas. They had a good coach in John Calipari, they had a solid corps of returning players, led by Chris Douglas-Roberts and Joey Dorsey; also, the team advanced to the Elite Eight a year earlier.
Let’s take a look at the ’Ville. Rick Pitino – yeah, yeah, he’s a good coach. The Cardinals return four starters, led by standouts Terrence Williams and Earl Clark. How did the Cards perform in last year’s tournament? You guessed it, they advanced to the Elite Eight before they succumbed to UNC.
Why not UNC, you ask? Aside from the Carolina blue bulls-eye on the team’s back, I believe the team shouldn’t focus its offense through Tyler Hansbrough. The NBA is a big man’s game; the college game, though, is a guard’s sanctuary. Check the trend of recent NCAA champions, my friends.
Kansas’ Jayhawks were last year’s champs, and once again, bird will be the word. I anticipate this year’s beast of the Big East will toughen in a topheavy conference, then soar to the top of the heap.
posted by The Good Doctor @ 3:50 PM
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