As the New Season Dawns

Well guys, the new season starts in just one month! And talk about what an insane season this is going to be. There are more talented teams than there have been in years. Here are my top teams to watch this year, in no particular order:

Duke
UNC
Kentucky
UConn
St. John's
Kansas
Ohio State

The top 4 listed are my top 4. All 4 teams are loaded with talent. All 4 teams are contenders for the national championship. I guess we will just have to wait to see if my teams prove me right.

The ESPN top 10 preseason rankings are:

1. UNC-Not expected
2. UK- also not expected. They bring in a highly talented recruiting class. But can they win with freshmen? I guess we'll have to see.
3. Ohio State-this surprises me. I don't see Ohio State as a top contender, but I think they will do good this season.
4. Syracuse-This dumbfounds me.
5. Duke-Okay, they may be my team, but I even know that they wouldn't start out as first in the preseason rankings. They are talented, but are relying on freshmen, bringing in the #2 recruiting class.
6. Connecticut-I would have put them higher than 6. I, in fact, would have put them at 3 instead of 6. I believe them to be a better team than Ohio State. They may have lost Kemba, but Jeremy Lamb did not leave for the NBA, and he was a big part of their championship run.
7. Vanderbilt-What? Okay, that doesn't even make sense. St. John's belongs here.
8. Memphis-Granted they basically have the same team as last year, I'd still never put them in the top 10.
9. Louisville-This team should be ranked higher. They aren't a top team for me, but they are better than both Vandy and Memphis.
And last, 10. Arizona-Wait, what? Kansas isn't even in the top 10? With the departure of Williams, I am not sure they can recover and deserve a seat in the top 10.

The season begins in the second week of November. The game I am most looking forward to watching is Duke vs. Michigan State. Duke won last year, but only thanks to Kyrie Irving. With his loss, it will be interesting to see who comes out on top.


LET THE MADNESS BEGIN

Fear Butler

This is a championship game that no one saw coming. Especially me. My final four came out as Duke, Louisville, St. John's, and Syracuse. All fell by the sweet 16. Crazy. Butler beats Pitt, in a game with one of the craziest endings I have ever seen. Arizona shoots lights out to knock off Duke. VCU, the team that had to play their way into the tournament, beats #1 Kansas by 10 to get to the final four. No one saw that coming.

Then Kentucky beats Ohio State. That was insane. But I never saw Ohio State making it to the final four. You shut down Sullinger, game over. And that is what happened.

Now all #1s out of each region are gone before the final four. We all picked wrong.

Both Butler and UConn outlasted their opponents to reach the championship game.

But UConn, even with having one of the best players in the country on their team, should seriously fear Butler. The defense they are playing is the best of the entire tournament. And they want it so badly after only losing by 2 in the championship last year. They are hungry. And back for another chance.

So who will it be? Who will come out on top? It all ends tomorrow night.

Championships

Well, honestly, I am surprised Duke won by 17. It's a complete turnaround from the last month's play. But they looked like a team. A NCAA championship worthy team. Everyone contributed. Thank you UNC for awaking the Duke firepower. We're back!

Nolan Smith of course got the MVP and was 1st team all ACC for the tournament. Kyle Singler joined him.

Kyle was a beast on defense. Seriously. Best defender of the game and tournament. He finally broke his scoring slump against UNC just in time to win the ACC Championship. Way to go Kyle!

The inside guys were phenomenal! Miles, Mason, and Ryan together shot around 72% I believe. That's pretty awesome isn't it? I mean they stepped up majorly.

Andre and Seth of course sent those 3s through the nets. They were on fire and helped Duke always when UNC went on a run.

And if you didn't know, Kyrie Irving has a good chance of playing in the tournament. Everyone should just give up if Kyrie comes back. Duke is unstoppable with him.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

UConn won the Big East. They beat an outstanding Louisville team. I was highly impressed by the team effort behind Kemba Walker. If Smith doesn't get player of the year, I would want him to have it. I was so happy to see UConn pull it off in the end.

Kentucky won the SEC. Slightly surprised by that. They are good, but honestly, not better than Florida or Vanderbilt. They have a ton of talent, but won't make it far in the tournament. They crack too easily.

Kansas unfortunately won the Big 12 championship. I have no idea what happened to Texas. They looked like a different team from the one that beat Kansas at Kansas. I just shook my head when I watched that game. Texas, where'd you go?

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well, these are the championships I watched. Ohio State is going on right now. I don't really see a Penn State team beating a team like OSU, but the Big Ten has gone downhill pretty fast. There is only one good team now, being Ohio State, so they will win their championship.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Brackets come out tonight. My #1 seeds are Ohio State, Kansas, Duke, and Notre Dame. Ohio State and Kansas are obvious #1 seeds. Duke definitely got a #1 seed for me after their dominating performance against UNC in the ACC Championship game. Pitt lost their #1 seed for me after going out early in their conference tournament.

Can't wait for March Madness to start. It's what everyone waits for all season. It's finally here! Go Duke!

"It's not goodbye, just goodnight. I'll be back."

So Kyle Singler, Casey Peters, and Nolan Smith finished their careers at Cameron Indoor tonight. It's been an amazing 4 years of basketball thanks to them.

Kyle Singler had 18 points and 11 rebounds in his final game on Duke's home floor. He will finish his home season in the top 5 on Duke's all time scoring list. He could finish as high as 3rd at the end of the postseason. That's surely something special at a historic basketball school like Duke. He's been a team leader, a guy you can always rely on. I know that one day his jersey will hang high in the rafters of Cameron Indoor. He will be a part of the Crazies forever.

Nolan Smith, one of the players in the running for National Player of the Year, had 21 points and 7 assists. He, in my opinion, should be player of the year for the way he holds together the team. He's the emotional leader of the team and will be greatly missed. You always see him in videos hanging out with Kyrie, Josh, and Tyler (the trio). Hilarious. His personality is infectious to the team. His jersey will also hang high in those Duke rafters someday. He will live in the Crazies hearts for a lifetime.

And you can't forget Casey Peters. He's been a part of the team for the past 3 years as a manager. Good friends with Kyle and Nolan through the years. He's been working hard every day to get his place on the team. After all that hard work, before the season started, he got a coveted Duke jersey and got to join the team once again, not as a manager, but as a player. It had to be so special for him to get the jersey for the final senior season. He's been a vital part of the team.

Duke finishes another undefeated season at home. They once again get to cut down the nets at Cameron Indoor. They are the defenders of their home floor and have only 2 losses at home with Singler and Smith as a part of the team.

Duke, should they beat UNC on Saturday at Chapel Hill, will win the regular season championship and move to #3 due to BYU's loss. They will get a #1 seed in the tournament and will make a run for the national title once more.

It's been an amazing season to watch. Fewer losses than last year, scoring better, and shooting the 3s about the same. If Duke lights the fire against UNC, they might just be unstoppable for the rest of the postseason.

Duke basketball is what basketball should be about. The love for the game and the drive to win. They don't run around getting mad at every call that didn't go their way. They always feel like they can win. They are humble guys at their core and take nothing for granted. Plus they have the best coach in men's basketball. Coach K has helped the seniors get to where they are today. It must be a blessing to play for a legendary coach.

All us Crazies love the seniors. The heart and soul of Duke. It doesn't matter if Duke gets another championship this April. We love our team and will be there with them through thick and thin. Don't forget that a national championship banner already hangs in the rafters due to them. Never ever forget that.

You are already champions in our heart!!


As Nolan Smith says...."It's not goodbye, just goodnight. I'll be back."

WHAT???

So this is going to be short....I don't have much to say. I am just...stunned.

First, #1 Kansas loses to KSU. More like gets demolished. KSU played like the top ranked KSU from the beginning of the season.

Second, #2 Texas falls to Nebraska. WHAT? How in the world did that happen? I am not exactly sure. It seems some of Texas's weaknesses were put on display.

Third, #3 Ohio State loses to Purdue. At Ohio State, Purdue got beaten so badly it was ridiculous. Especially since they are ranked. But thankfully, they played defense this time. And it got them the win!

Fourth, #4 Pitt loses to St. John's, a team that should already be ranked in the top 20. It was an insane game. But St. John's stepped it up in the end and won on a shot that went in with under 2 seconds left. Crazy right?


-The only team in the top 5 to NOT lose this week was Duke.


I am not sure how the rankings will fall tomorrow, but Duke should regain their #1 ranking from the beginning of the season. It's like March Madness has begun already with all these top teams falling.

1 month til March Madness!

As We Get Closer to March Madness

So....Let's see what has gone on in the last week and a half of basketball. There have been huge upsets and some amazing games.

My #1 game: Duke vs. UNC. This isn't because I'm a Duke fan, but because it was an epic game. The first half was UNC domination. They were outplaying Duke and every ball was going their way. Duke was down 14 at the end of the first half. Second half was the complete opposite. Duke came out on fire. Nolan Smith and Seth Curry stepped it up. They could do no wrong. It was Duke's biggest halftime comeback since 1959. That game was just incredible. To see a team as good as UNC lose their lead says a lot about Duke. They are resilient and don't give up. They are slowly but surely improving...

My #2 game: Ohio State vs. Wisconsin. Whether the experts think it was an upset doesn't matter. Ohio State may not have been my #1 team, but they were playing pretty well, no matter if they were barely escaping losses. This was an upset to me. I wasn't sure if anyone in the Big Ten could beat them, even though I knew teams outside of the Big Ten could. This was definitely an upset to me.

My #3 game: Kansas vs. Kansas State: HUGE upset! Kansas had just become #1. How in the world Kansas State managed to outplay is beyond belief. I was pretty sure that Kansas State was on the way to the NIT with the way they'd been playing. They really needed a win like this to keep their hopes up of making it the NCAA tournament. Kansas still wouldn't be my #1. I don't think I have one at the moment....Congrats KSU. It's about time you showed up.

My #4 game: Kentucky vs. Vanderbilt. This was an amazing game. Close the entire way. But the BETTER team came out on top. I am tired of Kentucky being overrated honestly. They are super inconsistent, hence 7 losses. There are a few teams that are in the top 25 that don't belong. I'm not sure Vandy belongs either. But it was a hard fought SEC game. Congrats to Vandy.

My #5 and last amazing game: Texas vs. Baylor. Great, great game. Honestly, Baylor should have won. Don't get me wrong, Texas, as of late, is playing better than most teams out there. Let's just say, at Texas, the refs always do a great job of taking momentum out of the game. And they sure did against Baylor. I honestly can't congratulate Texas on this win. They a) didn't deserve it and b) someone definitely paid the refs. Sorry. But that was one of the worst called Texas games I've seen in a while.

And as for the rankings: I would NEVER have put Kansas as #1. Personally, it's not always about your record. I believe a team in the Big East that is in the top 10 deserves to be #1, like Pitt for instance. They are a very strong team in the BEST conference in the country. Neither Texas nor Ohio State are in a strong enough conference to be #1. I may love Duke, but I don't think they deserve the #1 spot either. I go, like I said, with Pitt or ND. However, they still aren't dominant teams, so I have a few teams that I think are equal. Here they are:

Pitt, Duke, ND, Georgetown, UConn, and probably Texas. All ranked in the top 15.

Here are a few teams that need to be kicked out of the top 10: BYU and SDSU. They are in a crappy conference and their only competition is each other. Ridiculous.

Now, who should be kicked out of the top 15? Florida, Arizona, and Purdue.

And last a few teams who should be kicked out of the top 25? Mizzou, Kentucky, Vandy, Utah State, Xavier, and Temple.

So who should be let in? Florida State, Baylor, Kansas State, St. John's, and West Virginia.

Well that's all for now. Countdown to March Madness is on!

Upsets? Yes

Well, as another week and a half of basketball has gone by, I still see no clear favorite to win. There's been a ton of upsets lately.

-UConn losing to Syracuse. Okay, this may not sound like much of an upset to you, but UConn had been on fire. Walker was on his way to most likely being player of the year. But UConn may not be able to win without him. He has to score double digits for UConn to win. Not really surprising though.

-Kentucky losing again to another unranked SEC team. Nothing else really needs to be said does it? They have talent, but have now lost 5 games. They have so many pieces but fail to put them together. Sounds vaguely like this year's and last year's UNC doesn't it? We'll see if they decide to show up in the end.

-Duke losing to St. John's. It is clear that they have 2 very consistent players in Singler and Smith. But the fact that their supporting cast has not shown up consistenly is causing them to not play up to their potential. But that loss a year ago on the same day sparked the run to the championship title. It is just up to the supporting cast to show up. Otherwise, they don't stand a chance. They need a team effort, not just a Singler and Smith effort.

-Notre Dame losing to Marquette and St. John's. Well I don't really know what to say. It's like Syracuse. Going from playing great one game to awful the next. I had put Notre Dame in my top 5, but they are undeserving of it as of late. Notre Dame is another team that needs to play together. Let's see if that's what they decide to do.

-Pitt losing to Notre Dame. Okay, this really isn't an upset to me. 2 teams of equal talent, yes I said equal, battling against each other. But in the rankings it is an upset. Pitt just doesn't seem to play with the same intensity that Notre Dame plays with. Pitt is good, but it is up the players if they want to become great.

-SDSU losing to BYU. Also not what most people would call an upset. But SDSU hadn't lost a game until them. I am slightly surprised that they lost though, because I don't see BYU as a super strong team. One player can't create a team. SDSU plays a team game, which is the opposite of BYU. So, I guess we can just pass off one game as a fluke.

-Purdue losing to Wisconsin. Very very surprising. Purdue is a really good team with very talented players. Wisconsin is a so so team that really shouldn't be ranked. The one thing that seems to be laking with Purdue is defense. It seems that they have lost the true meaning of defense. If they want to be a contender for the title, they have to play lock down defense.

Well, those are the biggest ones of the week for me. Every team is consistently NOT consistent. It seems that this season will be one that is tight til the very end. Whoever emerges on top might not be necessarily the best team, but one that plays the hardest and plays together. Isn't that what championship team should be? March Madness is a month and a half away. May the best TEAM win. The countdown is on!