Teams To Watch

The College Hoops season has just begun, I've seen a few teams that may suprise people this year and get pretty far come March...</p>

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Baylor Bears --- I saw the Baylor-Notre Dame game the other day, and Baylor looked like a team to watch. Even with Haragody having a crazy game in the post for Notre Dame, Baylor was resililent and didn't go away. They were behind for most of the game until the last 5 minutes when Jerrells just took over the game. Jerrells has that saavy like Acie Law had last year, and he looks like he can lead this team. They have a few good post players that get the job done with different roles, Rodger is their post scorer, Lomers and Thiam are both gutsy post players that just give good minutes. To help out Jerrells in the guard position, they have senior Aaron Bruce, who is NBA talent, Henry Dugat, which is also a good college guard, and 2 great young guards off the bench, LaceDarius Dunn and Tweety Carter (former McD All-American), that can light up the scoreboard quick.</p>

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Washington Huskies --- Washington has a very balanced team that are led by Junior, Jon Brockman. Brockman is a force to be reckon with in the post, after playing the shadow of the likes of Brandon Roy and Spencer Hawes for his first two years, he is finally the main man. Washington also has a great wing player in Quincy Pondexter, who should have a monster year also. Pondexter has just as much talent as Chase Budinger, just lacks the confidence Budinger enjoys. The Floor General, Justin Dentmon, is one of the most overlooked PG's in the country and should have a great season.</p>

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St. Mary's Gaels --- I know this pick is a bit risky but they have a very solid team compared to other mid-majors. Diamond Simpson is the leader for this team without a doubt. Standing at 6'7", Simpson is probably the best post player in the WCC (Oh yeah! Better than Heytvelt), his game is really similiar to Paul Millsap with college 3 point range. Simpson is one of the best players that you've never heard of, he averaged 14.7 PPG 7.7 RPG 2.5 BPG as a Sophomore this past year. The Gaels also have another post player named Omar Samhan that will be a sophomore this year. Last year he manhandled Gonzaga in an upset victory at home. Samhan is a very smart, crafty post player that has little to no athleticism which makes him so much more interesting. After seeing Samhan play, it's kinda hard not to become a fan of the kid. St. Mary's also brought in another prized Aussy player this year. Everyone was drooling over Andrew Ogilivy's oozing potential but the point guard that got him the ball was Patrick Mills. Mills is a fantastic playmaker that will livin' up this St. Mary's team as a freshman. St. Mary's plays Oregon today and that game should show you what they have, hope they don't make me look bad </p>

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Let me hear your sleepers for this year.....</p>

 

I have to agree, I love St. Mary's and I am looking forward to seeing what they do in the WCC this season.</p>

I dont know what to expect from Washington, they are going to be up and down. Pondexter has talent, but isnt consistent. Brockman is a potential All Pac-10 performer, but he really doesnt have any help. If Washington is going to go anywhere this year Appleby has to step up and become a much mroe consistent shooter and Pondexter has to take over the offense.</p>

 

I really like your sleeper picks because they're actually sleepers. Not like Kansas State and UConn or something.</p>

Let's see if I can offer a couple, maybe you already heard these elsewhere.</p>

George Mason - The standout underclassmen from perhaps the greatest Cinderella story ever are seniors now, and they've got some talented players behind them. Folarin Campbell and Will Thomasare both averaging double figures, with Thomas pulling down 17 pts/14 rebs in their first three games. I'm curious to see how well they hang with KSU.</p>

Rhode Island - I'm hearing a lot about them from some of their fans. You'll recall they finished last season very hot and took out a very good Xavier in the A10 tournament. They're out to a 5-0 start this season.</p>

 

Hey, your St. Mary's pick beat Oregon.</p>

 

Right now, I'm thinking Syracuse is gonna be the best team in the country, heck, why not, Ever.</p>

 

ASU's weak link is at PG. They have Harden and Pendergraph, both of whom could compete for All Pac-10 honors if they only had a PG.</p>

 

Patrick Mills was flat out insane yesterday, dropped 37 against Tajuan Porter which might show a weakness for sure in Oregon's D. St. Mary's got a still when they brought Mills in because he was the starting PG for the Aussy national team, he's the whole reason Ogilivy is getting any hype. Oregon frosh, Kamyron Brown, scored 20 points yesterday, he's someone to watch for this year out of the great frosh. He's Miles Simon cousin for all of you who don't know, so he's got talent running in his veins </p>

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Tejuan Porter is not a PG, but he has to turn into someone who can play a little defense and not turn the ball over. For more, check out my Pac-10 blog.</p>

 

Mason beat KSU pretty handily.</p>

They advance to play Nova.</p>

 

Yeah, George Mason just manhandled KSU pretty easily IMO. Thomas seemed like he was getting tons of lobs, makes you wonder where the help was for KSU. Kansas State was just too young and inexperienced to compete with GMU, which kind of disappointed me, I was pumped to see them. I wonder if Bill Walker will regain his explosiveness sometime, if at all....</p>

 

George Mason was very impressive tonight, but Kansas State's not necessarily the best measuring stick. They really showed what a one man team they are tonight. Granted, it's still a solid victory, they're not as good as they're regarded as being. Bill Walker's ACL (it was his ACL, right?) has really taken away from his slashing game, and as far as I know, he never had much of an outside game to write home about. Pullen's firey, but he's a bit too trigger happy. I would never trust the guy to run my offense. So essentially, they're Mike Beasley and a bunch of players who bring him down more than anything else. They looked great on paper, but their talent isn't as cohesive and productive on the court together as you'd hope.</p>

That's not a knock on George Mason though, because they do look like they'll have a great year, probably even a top 25-caliber one (especially considering their remaining non-conference schedule). Vlad Moldoveanu (sp?) looked really good in particular. I don't know why they didn't play him more, but he looked great in the 20 or so minutes he got. He's tall andlong,has a deadly shot from perimeter, and he's only a freshman. With him on their roster, George Mason should contend for the CAA title for a while.</p>

It's a little late for preseason predictions, but I'll try to put my hindsight blinders on and look further into the future, because I'm just getting back into the swing of things here at s2 -</p>

Tulane - They're my team obviously, but in all seriousness, we're off to a 3-0 start so far, including a win over Auburn, who isn't as good as most of their SEC counterparts but still has McDonald's AA Kovortney Barber. We're also mostly experienced players this season, all back from the 17-13 season we had last season. I'm not predicting a tournament birth, but I can more or less guarantee a birth in the NIT, which is a big step for Tulane basketball.</p>

Illinois State - They'll probably get blown out when they play Indiana, but I can see them beating Cincinnati and challenging for the MVC crown this year. They've got a ton of seniors and their leading scorer, Osiris Eldridge (former Rivals150 prospect), can score from all over. He's too short for the pro's, but he'll be a mid-major legend by the time he graduates. We all got to see flashes of this team's potential when they knocked off a pretty decentN. Iowateam last season (back when they were still a contender), so I'm thinking they'll finally crack the NCAA's this season.</p>

Missouri - I think they should be ranked. They lost to Michigan State already, but State's an elite team this season, and that game came down to the wire. They also just blew out Maryland the other night, who's not typical Maryland but a pretty solid squad none the less. Brown and Horton are both disappointing this season (just like the last three), but they've got a solid core of soph's and jr's that I can see taking them deep in March, especially Leo Lyons; thearguably the topfour not named Mike Beasley in the Big 12.</p>

 

Hey, has anyone seen UNC-Ashville play yet? They're 5-0 playing scrubs but they've blown out the first 3 and have won pretty handily against the last 2. They have a 7'6" C named Kenny George, who has been pretty dominant so far against these weak team but has a condition that limits how great of condition he can be in. He's been playing a little over 20 minutes a game this year and has 13.5 PPG 8.0 RPG 7.5 BPG, if he can keep this up against Mid-Majors, they'll be duking it out with Winthrop for the Big South title. This guy is only a junior with very little NBA potential, so he should be back next year too. Any Mid-Major with a C like this & 5 people averaging 10+ PPG is definitely a team to watch but I'm not going to buy this team until I see what they can do. They get Va Tech December 1st, that should gauge them a bit, then they also play Tennesee Dec. 19th & UNC Jan. 9th, 2 uptempo teams that would make George a non-factor from what I hear.</p>

 

Kenny George had a dunk last year where he didn't even jump. He can barely even get up and down court, against a decent team he's more of a detriment than anything.</p>

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I'm going to the Legends Classic tomorrow (later today, whatever). Texas/New Mexico State, followed by Tennessee/West Virginia. Should be a good time.</p>

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I really like Missouri's frantic pressure defense and up-tempo game, could cause problems for teams.</p>

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Kid Chocolate)</div><div class='quotemain'></p>

I really like Missouri's frantic pressure defense and up-tempo game, could cause problems for teams.</p>

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Agreed...Mizzou is going to be a very scary team this season...Hannah, Lawrence, and Carroll is as good a trio of players that Mike Anderson has ever coached, and considering what he's done before at UAB (beating #1 seeded UK in '04), that's scary for the Big 12.</p>

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