Forget football and the NBA, college basketball is here. And in case you're one of those people who believes that the college basketball season starts in February, how about this for some drama: Grand Valley State 85, Michigan State 82; Findlay 70, Ohio State 68; Gardner-Webb 84, Kentucky 68.Parody isn't a strong enough word to describe what has already gone down in the NCAAs this year. In football, you have Michigan losing to Appalachian State and Kansas ranked #4, and now basketball is getting into the mix. Nobody is safe. What this means in the long run is two things: good teams start the season thinking they can beat anybody, and you shouldn't put money on your tournament bracket. Actually, the latter is always true. But this year seems to be different as far as the level of talent is concerned. Fact is, football and basketball are huge sports, and the talent pool breaks the confines of the traditional schools.
This is how you know that everything is upside down: as a Kansas fan, I am confident of the football team and sketchy about the basketball team. Even if I was 100 years old, that feeling would still be new. It all comes down to one thing, which is having a go-to guy that can rise above an upset. Kansas has that in football (Reesing on offense and Talib on defense), but not so much in basketball (Chalmers? Rush? Robinson? Collins?). That's why so many people are picking Memphis as NCAA basketball champions; they have a legitimate go-to guy in Derrick Rose, even if he is a Freshman. Same thing goes with North Carolina and Tyler Hansbrough.
Teams might get you upsets, but superstars are going to win you championships. Unfortunately, this goes against everything we've ever believed in. But with Grade-A players expanding all the way to Division II, it's reality. What this could mean is that players going from high school to the NBA might actually be a good thing, since it would rob schools of getting that superstar and completely open up the chances for any school to win it all. Good God.
2 comments:
who was it that had been suspended this year? I heard bits and pieces but I didnt catch the names. It was something about an allstar game not being approved.
Well, I know that Indiana's coach got caught violating recruiting rules. Are you talking basketball?
Post a Comment