Fiction Louisville lost too many guys this year and needs time to get new players acclimated to Pitinos style. Fact or Fiction Brian Butch plays like a McDonalds All American should this year
FACT, A lot of people have forgotten how good Butch was in High School. He now has two years of NCAA experience under his belt and has added a lot of muscle. I pulled up his stat sheet, and it looks like he was productive this year in almost every game that he got serious playing time. I didn't really see much of him this year, because he never really played serious minutes, but with his size (6-11, 240 lbs.) and his track record, odds are he lives up to the expectations this season, especially with Wilkinson and Morley graduated. Fact or Fiction - C.J. Giles will score more than 10 ppg this season.
Fiction Miles has too many good players around him if Tucker can keep his grades up. He will be a really good complimentary player and come close to 10 points per, but won't actually get there. Fact or Fiction Indiana will go to the sweet 16
FICTION, Now that they didn't get Brandon Rush, they don't look as good. They'll be a solid tournament team for sure, but Mike Davis isn't Bobby Knight. He can't take a team like this and lead them to anything special. Fact or Fiction - Conference USA will send two teams to the NCAA Tournament. <font size="1">(BTW - I was talking about C.J. Giles from Kansas, not C.J. Miles from Texas. Miles isn't even headed to Texas; he's going to play with the Utah Jazz. Giles the 6-11 Center who only averaged 2.8 ppg last year but has the potential to be a lottery pick.)</font>
Fact someone between UAB, TCU or Tulsa will emerge as a solid team and beat up on the rest of the conference much the same way that Memphis will. However, this conference's RPI is going to plummet... Fact or Fiction: Viginia Tech will make the NCAA Tournament
FICTION, They'll be a bubble team for sure, but I don't see them finishing as a top six team in the ACC, and there's very little chance that the ACC gets 7 teams in the tournament this year. Fact or Fiction - Julian Wright is one and done.
FACT. The kid has too much talent to stay in KU for too long. He does a lot of everything, he's athletic, and a human highlight reel. He is big for his position too, I believe he will win freshman of the year, and then bolt. F/F - Temple will be a sleeper team in the tourny.
FICTION, I think everyone knows they'll be a talented team, so I don't think I'd call them a "sleeper". Even if so, I can't see this team getting past the Sweet 16. There are just too many other talented teams. If I had to pick a tournament sleeper, it'd probably be Oregon. Fact or Fiction - Marcus Williams will play NCAA basketball for the Connecticut Huskies this season.
Fact In the sad era we live in of privlege granted to idiots as long as they can do something special, I'm sure he'll play again... Fact or Fiction: The Big 12 will get more than 4 teams into the NCAA Tournament
FACT. I have the Big 12 sending five teams to the tourny being Iowa State, Kansas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, and Texas. There might actually be six if Texas Tech has a nice run. F/F - Malik Hairston has another great year and leaves for the NBA after this season.
Fiction I think he'll have a very good year, but will decide to stay anyways a la Hassan Adams because he's got a team around him that is getting better and could do some big things. BTW-you see Oklahoma State in the Tourney? Fact or Fiction: Curtis Withers will win A-10 player of the year over Mardy Collins
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Schaddy:</div><div class="quote_post">Fact or Fiction: Curtis Withers will win A-10 player of the year over Mardy Collins</div> Nope, just can't see it happening. Fact or Fiction: The Red Storm will make a little noise in the NCAA?
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting MrJ:</div><div class="quote_post">Nope, just can't see it happening. Fact or Fiction: The Red Storm will make a little noise in the NCAA?</div> Fiction, just don't see them doing anyhting this year. F or F Louisville will compete with UCONN for the Big East Crown.
Fact Louisville will make a big run at the Big East title. With UConn's PG situation pretty much fubar'ed for the forseeable future, they are somewhat vulnerable, and a team like Louisville can be a big challenge. Fact or Fiction: North Carolina's frosh will be better than Duke's
FICTION, You'll probably see North Carolina's freshman putting up some great stats while the Duke frosh (McRoberts, Paulus, Marty P) struggle for playing time and touches. That's just because Duke returns such a talented roster though while North Carolina's freshman will step into big time scoring roles right off the bat. I don't think that talent wise, there is anyone on North Carolina who is as good as McRoberts. He's simply the best incoming freshman in the nation. I also think that Greg Paulus is the best incoming freshman Point Guard in the nation (although you could make a case for Chalmers). His All-Star game performances were damn impressive. This kid is a pure Point Guard, something that doesn't come around too often. I also got the chance to see Marty Pocious play in the Nike Hoops Summit here in Memphis, and he was by far the best international in the game. He held his own against guys like Tyler Hansbrough. This is one hell of an incoming class for Duke. The only school that comes close to their class is Kansas' now with Brandon Rush. Fact or Fiction - UCLA will win the National Championship sometime in the next 15 years.
Fact. I like my chances on that 'Fact or Fiction'. I am not making any predictions but I will say that UCLA will definitely contend this year for the title and if they get the big three to come back next year then I would have to say they would be a top ten team. Plus in 15 years who knows UCLA might be bringing in the next Lebron James, who would be 3 years old today. F/F - If the age limit were in effect for this year, Gerald Green would win freshman of the year.
FACT, Gerald Green would be playing on an Oklahoma State team where he would be the main option. The combo of Byron Eaton, JamesOn Curry, and Gerald Green could have been one hell of a combo. Too bad the age limit couldn't have been put into place a year earlier. Fact or Fiction - Duke will go back to being an unranked team sometime in the next six years.
Fiction. At this rate they just keep bringing it recruit after recruit after recruit and as long as they have Coach K on board it'll stay that way. If it was in ten years I would say fact for the fact that we wouldn't know if K would be coaching in ten years. F/F - UNC with Wayne Ellington and Ty Lawson coming in 2006 will be a top ten team (in 06').
FICTION, I doubt it. You know that at least one of the UNC players will try to jump to the NBA after this year. Noel, Grant, and Sanders will also be leaving. Let's assume Hansbrough and Green do come back for another year (which is 50/50). Their starting lineup will be very small, with a lot of players playing out of position. According to you, Ginyard (PG) would be playing the two, Ellington (SG, 6-4) would be playing the three, Green (SF, 6-5) would be playing the four, and Hansbrough (SF/PF, 6-8) would be playing Center; all while a 5-11 freshman runs the point. That'd probably be a ranked team, but top ten? Teams like UCLA, Ohio State, Arizona, Kansas, Connecticut, Louisville, Memphis (if they get Young), and Washington (if they get Hawes) are just some of the teams off the top of my head that would be better. I'm sure there are more. Fact or Fiction - LaMarcus Aldridge will average more than 12 ppg this year.
Fact. One of the easiest ones here the only maybe I have is if that injury he had last year isn't 100% yet and that would be extremly unlikely. F/F - Texas will win the national title in 2006 (Daniel Gibson, Kevin Durant, PJ Tucker, Mike Williams, LaMarcus Aldridge)
