It may be early, but make yourself look good when the time comes, place your prediction on who will win the NCAA championship. I've been reading in sources, some have Louisville as champs, may not all be a bad choice. Louisville has a lot of talent on their team. Of course, it all starts with Francisco Garcia. The man is an all around great player and puts up great stats every night. They also have Taquan Dean who last season made the transition from SG to PG and it worked out well. When he was out with a groin injury, Louisville suffered, badly, because Dean led that offense at the point and his defense was very underrated. They are also returning Ellis Myles who will be BIG for them this season. He missed all of last season with a knee injury but he can be one of the most dominant big men in the country. He will provide a much needed low post game for the Cardinals. They also bring in a few recruits. Juan Diego Palacios will be very helpful to them, a 3rd team HS All-American. He's compared to Mashburn in the NBA because of his savvy and his all-court game. They bring in Brian Johnson who is a big body that can bang down low. Lorenzo Wade is brought in, who can hit the long ball and will get minutes. Only question marks in the Cardinals lineup is the SG and PG position. Dean made the transition from SG to PG and it seemed to workout well. Larry O'Banon was then put in the lineup at SG. Though, Brandon Jenkins, this season, needs to improve his game and will be th PG, putting Dean back at SG. But, if Jenkins fails to perform well, we might see O'Bannon back in his starting role. National Champs? My top 5 favorites, in no order: Wake Forest, Illinois, Syracuse, Louisville, and North Carolina.
I'll go with a UNC vs. Syracuse tital game, UNC coming out on top... Syracuse, has the returning talent of Warrick and Gerry Mac, both with experience of winning the big game...And with a primetime coach UNC got all starters returning from last season, which never can be bad, throwing in Marvin Williams into the mix makes the lineup that much sweeter... Others: Memphis Tigers: Sean Banks, Darius Washington, and Rodney Carney make up a young, but inexperience trio of players... Illions: With a backcourt of Deron Williams, and Dee Brown and big man James Augustine coming back they should surprise some people in the Big Ten...
I'm as big of a Memphis Tigers fan as the next guy, but champs? I wouldn't say so. It's going to be a tough role for Darius to fill at starting PG. Big shoes to fill. I mean Burks was the C-USA POY. I'm not even sure if they will win the C-USA. Louisville is looking VERY strong, and watch out for Charlotte. UAB has a very strong defensive team, leading the nation in steals last season. So National Champs for Memphis is out of the question in my opinion. At best, I can see them making the sweet 16, but no further than that.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting J-Roc:</div><div class="quote_post">I'm as big of a Memphis Tigers fan as the next guy, but champs? I wouldn't say so. It's going to be a tough role for Darius to fill at starting PG. Big shoes to fill. I mean Burks was the C-USA POY. I'm not even sure if they will win the C-USA. Louisville is looking VERY strong, and watch out for Charlotte. UAB has a very strong defensive team, leading the nation in steals last season. So National Champs for Memphis is out of the question in my opinion. At best, I can see them making the sweet 16, but no further than that.</div> Well if Sean Banks can have a Melo like year and if Darius CAN (that's a big can) fill the shoes of the lost Burks then they can surprise some people...They are still young, Carney is going to have to step it up, but those are big expectations from those kinds of players...I think Louisville will beat them in the C-USA torny, Louisvillie will have a great/outstanding year, but Memphis is my sleeper...
I can join you on saying Memphis is a sleeper. Calipari is expecting huge years from Banks and Carney. I see Banks as being maybe the conference's leading scorer. If Darius can have a Chris Paul type season, we are in store for a good season. But this season, I've got Louisville ranked ahead of Memphis as fan as I'm concerned. As you probably have noticed, Im a big fan of Memphis and Louisville lol.
My preseason title pick has to go for my favorite team UNC. They have the best starting 5 from last year, and two top freshman in Marvin williams, and Quentin Thomas. And they have arguably the best coach in college basketball. Other contenders are Duke because you can never count them out. And then there is Florida, and IMO the biggest sleeper is Illinois. Watch out for Dee Brown, he is instant offense. other contenders will be Syracuse, Kansas watch for J.R Giddens too have a breakout year. Oklahoma St., and Arizona also have outside chances at the title.
Yea I forgot bout Kansas, they should make it far, maybe possibly the final 4, with Giddens, Simion, Miles, and Lankford...
I'm not too sure if I see Florida and Arizona as National Championship contenders. Arizona has Frye, Shakur, Hassan Adams, and Isiah Fox, who missed mainly the whole season last year. Besides them, they have almost no bench whats so ever. Not a deep team at all. And Florida, they have Walsh, Lee, Roberson, and a huge recruit in Brewer, who I think is just a straight up athletic freak, but not a team that can contend for a title. Duke I don't see as a contender either. With the loss of Duhon and Deng, they have some spots to fill. I don't even see them winning the ACC championship. I see Wake and UNC as better teams than Duke is. And I can tell you now, Illinois isn't much of a sleeper. Expected to have a huge year. At least, in my view.
I see Demarcus Nelson in and changing Duke's whole dinamic. He is as big as a triple double threat as there will be this year. He might be one of the most under rated incoming freshman this year. He averaged 30.3 points per game, to go along with 10. 9 rebounds, and 5.8 assists per game. As a junior he averaged 35 points per game, and 13 rebounds and 9 assists. He will be able to dominat the ACC as a freshman. As much as I don't like Duke no matter who they lose the reload, and become a power.
I think that Syracuse is going to take it again, I dont know much about College hoops but I have heard the names Gerry Macnamara and Hakim Warrick a lot, those two guys should be a big factor in how many games syracuse wins this year. If not Syracuse I think that the UNC 'Heels will win it, because of Marvin Wiliams, Rashad McCants and Ray Felton.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting MavsJ33:</div><div class="quote_post">I see Demarcus Nelson in and changing Duke's whole dinamic. He is as big as a triple double threat as there will be this year. He might be one of the most under rated incoming freshman this year. He averaged 30.3 points per game, to go along with 10. 9 rebounds, and 5.8 assists per game. As a junior he averaged 35 points per game, and 13 rebounds and 9 assists. He will be able to dominat the ACC as a freshman. As much as I don't like Duke no matter who they lose the reload, and become a power.</div> I hate Duke too but they still got J.J. Redick, Shelden Williams, Daniel Ewing, and most importanly COACH K, he will keep them in every game, Redick, Williams, and Ewing all can play great this year, and here is a sleeper name Shavlik Randolph, showed that he can step in the game against Uconn (6-6, 13 points) If Nelson can come in and just give a fraction of what Duhon gave then they will be OK, As a UNC fan this scares me a little...But I got UNC ahead of Duke
I've got Wake ahead of Duke to. Wake is returning their entire team. They have argueably the best backcourt in the nation as well. Watch out for Wake my friends.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting MavsJ33:</div><div class="quote_post">I see Demarcus Nelson in and changing Duke's whole dinamic. He is as big as a triple double threat as there will be this year. He might be one of the most under rated incoming freshman this year. He averaged 30.3 points per game, to go along with 10. 9 rebounds, and 5.8 assists per game. As a junior he averaged 35 points per game, and 13 rebounds and 9 assists. He will be able to dominate the ACC as a freshman. As much as I don't like Duke no matter who they lose the reload, and become a power.</div> I think you are overrating Demarcus Nelson quite a bit. He is a good player and I think he will be a key componet of the Duke team this year however I have to disagree that he will dominate the ACC this year as a freshman. He is not a Shaun Livingston type of player who could have single handedly changed the entire Duke offense and made them an automatic contender for the NCAA Title. Lets remember this entire Duke team was built for Shaun Livingston to come in after Duhon left. The ACC is guard heavy meaning Nelson will have to play against Chris Paul(Wake Forest), Raymond Felton(North Carolina), and Jarret Jack(Georgia Tech). Granted Duke still has Ewing, Randolph, Williams, and Ewing however they don't have that key componet that they would have had if they would have gotten Livingston. How Nelson and Dockery play will be crucial to Duke's success or failure. In the ACC I have them preseason ranked 4th behind Wake Forest, UNC and Georgia Tech, respectively.
Iowa all the way....actually, not really. I'm a huge Hawkeye fan, granted I do live in Iowa...they have no chance though. I'm going with UNC. They have possibly the best starting 5 in the nation this year, they might have more depth than last year, granted it's hard to have less than what they had. Plus, they have one of the best head coaches in all of college basketball with Roy Williams. I think they currenlty have the best chance out of any team in the nation, especially if that bench is a little deeper this year. Aside from them, you have to throw Duke in the picture. There hasn't been a year in my recent memory where they weren't a top 5 team, so they're always in the picture. I think Kansas with Wayne Simien and company have to be mentioned, along with Syracuse, who in my opinion, have the best player in the nation with Hakim Warrick.
I think he will be able to dominate since he doesn't mind playing defense unlike half of the other SG's in the ACC. He also just has this fire about him, and the wantingness to win. Well maybe he won't dominate but I think he will win ACC Freshman of the Year. He reminds me of a Gilbert Arenas' type player. But Duke might be left hanging next year, considering he might enter the draft.
Duke they are returning jj reddick, daniel ewing , and sheldon williams with the sleeper shavlick randolph there team can always compete also rememebr dockey can come off the bench and can arguably shut down any point guard in the ACC. Duke is also getting Demarcus Nelson who is a exceptional talent who i personally feel can fill Duhons spot physically but may not be the kind of general duhon was. Also rememebr last yr. duke arguably should have been playing in the national title game after that questionable foul when jj pentrated inside the lane and had no foul called
I think that UNC will win the national title because they have one of the best gaurd combos with mccants and felton. But a team that will surprise everyone will be Michigan State because they have 3 great seniors and and a couple of good juniors and sophomores in Shannon Brown and ager and they also had a good recruiting year.
