College Basketball 2008-2009

[BlueBandit24]

College hoops is back! I thought we could use a thread to talk about the season's action and possibly give a rundown of your team's outlook this season. Not a ton of high profile games in the season's first few weeks, but there are a few good ones scattered here and there.

Preseason Top 25:

1-North Carolina
2-Connecticut
3-Louisville
4-UCLA
5-Pittsburgh
6-Michigan State
7-Texas
8-Duke
9-Notre Dame
10-Gonzaga
11-Purdue
12-Oklahoma
13-Memphis
14-Tennessee
15-Arizona State
16-Marquette
17-Miami
18-USC
19-Florida
20-Davidson
21-Wake Forest
22-Georgetown
23-Villanova
24-Kansas
25-Wisconsin

Games already underway.

[The Lung]

With all the returning starters, if Pitt doesn't make the Final Four this year, they never will.

[A Fleshner Fantasy]

Gonzaga Overrated every year.

[VaderFin]

It's really, really weird to see Miami rated so highly to start out the year. Hopefully they can live up to it.

[BlueBandit24]

The Gophers kick off their season with three straight games this weekend at the NABC classic. Not exactly a loaded set of matchups, with Bowling Green, Georgia State, and Concordia-Saint Paul (a D-2 team) but it will be nice to get a look at this squad in Tubby's second year. Solid returners in Damian Johnson, Lawrence Westbrook, and Al Nolen and a solid recruiting class highlighted by Ralph Sampson III, Devoe Joseph, and JUCO transfer Paul Carter. Should be a fun year in Williams Arena and I expect the Gophs to be firmly on the bubble come Selection Sunday.

[BlueBandit24]

First big upset of the year with Michigan knocking off UCLA. As much as I detest the maize and blue it's nice to see the Big 10 fair well in early NC action.

[A Fleshner Fantasy]

First big upset of the year with Michigan knocking off UCLA. As much as I detest the maize and blue it's nice to see the Big 10 fair well in early NC action.

One of their sports teams might as well do something...

[disgruntledjetsfan]

Ugh, the Heels looked quite good last night.. They are going to be tough to beat this year.


Who does everyone think is going to win player of the year? Hansbrough? Blake Griffin? Stephen Curry? Someone else?

[BlueBandit24]

Who does everyone think is going to win player of the year? Hansbrough? Blake Griffin? Stephen Curry? Someone else?

Those three look to be pretty heavy favorites at this point, but I could see guys like Tyler Smith, Luke Harangody, and AJ Price sneaking into the discussion. Greivis Vasquez has also been off to a fantastic start for a Maryland team that blew out Michigan State last night. There is a lot of older talent around the country this year which is great to see.

Speaking of Curry, did anyone see Loyola's plans for shutting him down the other night? Double teamed him wherever he went, basically leaving Davidson on a 4 on 3 for the whole night:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081126/ap_ ... _goose_egg

That quote in there could be one of the more confusing things I have ever seen from a coach.

[Free Bagel]

Speaking of Curry, did anyone see Loyola's plans for shutting him down the other night? Double teamed him wherever he went, basically leaving Davidson on a 4 on 3 for the whole night:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081126/ap_ ... _goose_egg

That quote in there could be one of the more confusing things I have ever seen from a coach.

Meh, that article basically rips him a new one saying that they stuck with it even though they were down big, but Davidson only put up 78 points against it which was their second lowest output of the season. The problem was Loyola just wasn't scoring on offense.