2008-2009 College Basketball Thread......
 

It's that time of the year again. First official practices commence this Friday evening, October 17th. No polls out just yet, but here's a pretty good site that previews many of the major and mid-major conference teams for those that are interested if you want to get a feel for each team.

2008 College Basketball Preview: 2008-2009 NCAA College Basketball Previews

Very excited about our young team this year. Returning almost nobody of note, all new team, very young. Major ups and downs, but a lot of talent and a fun system to play in. Really looking forward to seeing Rotnei Clarke and Courtney Fortson play. Should have outstanding guard play at some point this season, if not right off the bat.

Saw a pretty good article with a lot of Pelphrey comments the other day. He admits that they're facing a rebuilding year, but hopes to still perform well......

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/new...g-at-arkansas/

Here's a Top 25 ranking from Andy Katz......

ESPN - Tar Heels on top as season sets to begin - Men's College Basketball

Sounds like North Carolina and Texas are working out a deal to play a game at the new Cowboys stadium in Arlington:

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcont...10cf9e370.html

I'm excited for year two under Bieline. He has some recruits that fit his system, plus Laval Lucas-Perry, who transfered from Arizona, is eligible in December, giving us a lot more depth then we had last year.

I think we'll get back to the NIT this year, and then next year finally make a move to the tournament.

West Virginia got a huge commitment today in 6'9" Turkish PF Deniz Kilicli. He had offers from UCLA, UConn, Kentucky and others. Rivals only has him as a 3 star for now, but a UCLA assistant called him "more skilled than Kevin Love" so I expect him to go up. I believe he's just arrived in the states and is playing at Mountain State Academy in Beckley, WV this year.

As far as this season, WVU could be really good, but we'll be depending on 3 freshman for a lot of minutes. We're lacking a true center, and we'll miss Joe Alexander. I still think we'll make the tournament.

No assistant really said that, it was more of a paraphrased off the mark comment by an assistant. Otherwise UCLA would be in hot water! But I doubt he's really as skilled as Kevin Love since Love was a once in a generation college player :)

UCLA is looking to make their fourth straight final four with more success this year then in years past. The PAC-10 looks to be really weak

I am still not over last season and probably never will be.

From a newspaper article 3 or 4 weeks ago:

When trying to find out exactly what kind of player Mountain State Academy’s Deniz Kilicli was, a UCLA assistant coach told the tale of the talent from Turkey.

“He is more skilled than Kevin Love,” the Bruins assistant said Friday after MSU’s practice at Van Meter Gymnasium. “They’re different type players, but he is more skilled than Kevin.”

The Register-Herald, Beckley, West Virginia - ‘More skilled than Kevin Love’

Texas gets a huge commitment from Jordan Hamilton, out of Compton, CA. Rivals has him #5 and Scout has him #13. The Horns have been working on landing him for the last two seasons, and were in a fierce battle with USC.

That Texas fanbase has to be one of the most puzzling situations I've ever seen. All Rick Barnes does is bring in star recruits, finish in the top 2 in conference, and make the NCAA tourney just about every year. Despite all of that, the arena is rarely full except for the biggest games of the year. If they dropped that kind of talent in Columbia, MO, there wouldn't be a seat in the house all year long.

Even so, they still had the 22nd best home attendance figure out of all 300+ Division 1 teams, averaging 12,700 with a capacity of 16,700. (2006-2007 figures). There are a LOT of bad seats at Erwin Center, and that plays pretty heavily into it.

2006-2007 Men’s College Basketball Top 25 Attendance « BrandDunk

Really looking forward to the Miners season. Senior SG Stephon Jackson should become the Miners all time leading scorer, and the first Miner to ever score over 2000 points. He'll be leading a young team, but most of the youngsters got valuable playing time as freshmen last year. Memphis transfer Kareem Cooper has apparently been VERY impressive in practice and looks to be a monster in the paint.

We're hoping for a top two or three finish in CUSA and hopefully an NCAA bid...

Fitting to see this thread today.

The Coach turned a spry and chipper 98 today. Here's to another 98, Coach Wooden.

Looking forward to seeing how Aussies Patty Mills (St. Mary's) and Ater Majok (UConn - Aussie by way of Africa, at least) do this year. I'm predicting a big year from Mills in particular given his performance at the Olympics.

MJ4H are you going to the Red/White game?

Pretty sure I have to be at a high school football game that night. If not, I will definitely try.

Matt - been meaning to ask you.

Any opinions/thoughts on Sean McCurdy? He starts this year for my W&M Tribe after sitting out his transfer year last year.

Oh cool. Forgot about him. He is a good kid but not quite the level of talent we needed at the time. There were a few that thought he was the future at guard and we weren't developing him by giving him enough PT, but I think most of us realized he didn't have what it takes at the SEC level. That said, he was pretty good at distributing while he was here, just turnover prone. No idea what his upside is, but he could definitely be a nice addition for your team.

I could be more vague if you'd like. :)

Dayton Flyers, baby! Coming back with the most talented player in the A-10, Chris Wright, and one of the best recruiting classes UD has had in years. Looking forward to a fun year in the Atlantic Ten... because the OOC schedule is complete shit, frankly.

I mean really, if there were even a few people that thought he could be the future at Guard at an SEC school that's good news for us. We are a team that has consistently fell in the bottom 1/3 of a league that is a 1 bid, sometimes 2 bid, league. Yeah, we've had some high profile teams with upsets (with George Mason of course being the poster child), but again - bottom 1/3.

We had a breakout year last year (went to the conference final) and only lost one major contributor. What was one of our biggest problems? No true PG. If McCurdy could step into our offense and distribute, that is pretty huge for us. Frees up our best shooter from having to be the distributor.


Anyway - for me.

I'm very excited about the CAA season this year. There's a lot of young talent and some traditional doormats (like W&M) are trying to make a move this year. It's always a fun league to follow imo as the talent is quite good, even though not Major level. You can always get a good seat and we have 4 schools in VA so going to away games is very manageable. I generally go to all W&M home games and 3 or 4 away games a year - and then spend the entire weekend in Richmond, VA for the conference tournament.

It is very possible that you will be pleased with McCurdy. Hopefully he does well with his chance.

UNC has been preseason #1 before, but I don't think my personal expectations have ever been higher than they are for this team.

Forget baseball season already? Be aware...

I know the article, but he wasn't quoted. It's been debated at length on a few boards to see if UCLA actually created a violation

He's an interesting kid, but UCLA told him no thanks :) I'm not sure if he's even qualified yet?

Rutgers has a pair of nice recruits coming in in the form of SG Mike Rosario (Rutgers' 1st Men's McDonalds All-American) and C Greg Echenique. There's a good chance both guys start from day 1, especially with the suspension of Forward JR Inman to start the season.

I think Rutgers could be over .500 this year.

As much as it pains me to deal with UNC as they are this year, they are the team to beat. This also is a great chance for Roy to cement his legacy and actually one-up Dean a bit. Dean had many teams that rated #1 in preseason, but they rarely followed through with an NCAA championship, leaving a somewhat dim assessment of Dean's legacy to me. Yes, he won a freightload of games and was consistently a great coach with a great team, but the NCAAs were always a problem with him. Given his relatively consistent level of top ACC finishes, he should have won more than two national championships.

Roy, on the other hand, hasn't really had a team like this since he came to UNC. He's had the burden when at Kansas a couple of times, but never like this at UNC. Dean struggled to win it all with this kind of talent. Can Roy do better?

Midnight madness practices are tonight! Exciting stuff.

Thought I'd pass on some pretty funny stuff from the kickoff luncheon for the Coaches vs. Cancer project that was held in KC last week. Coaches Norm Stewart, Mike Anderson, Bill Self, and Frank Martin were all in attendance.

Manny Harris is the best player in the Big 10, and is going to average 19 ppg, and UM will beat MSU at least once this year.

I said it.

Sounds like Lute Olson is stepping down for good this time:

ESPN - Source: Lute Olson to step down as Universtity of Arizona coach

Arizona is denying it but it sounds pretty certain he is done.

Not gonna be a good season for me, as I have lower expectations for my two favorite teams. First, I expected Memphis to win the national championship last year, and they nearly did it, of course. They'll still be very good, I'm sure, but I think asking for another title game appearance is a bit much.

As for my alma mater, New Orleans probably doesn't stand a chance of competing for the Sun Belt title. Bo McCalebb, the best player in recent school history, exhausted his eligibility and is now playing in Turkey. I like the guys who are returning, but they'll never replace Bo. Seriously, Bo was such a great college player, and it's a shame that very few people got to watch him play. He had the ability to take over a game and win it for the Privateers all by himself. That's a lot to ask from anyone else on that team.

Maybe I should start following Division II basketball. Go Seton Hill, I guess?

I was going to post this earlier, but forgot to do so. Yahoo Sports is doing an insider series about the Memphis Tigers as they prepare for the upcoming season. The first set of videos was just posted. 10 episodes in all will be produced. The video about their backup center and his contract with Coach Cal to lose 70 lbs is pretty good stuff............

College Basketball on Rivals.com – Full Court Press

I'm interested in seeing how Coach Purnell can handle the our team this year without Mays.

I will be very disappointed if we finish out of the top 25 though

It will be interesting to see how this plays out. Hopefully this is not a health issue. IIRC Kevin O'Neil was designated as Lute's successor last year but got the boot when Olson said he was coming back and he did not want O'Neil around. Now they don't have Olson OR O'Neil.

True, we won't win a title, but I also think UNO will out-perform the last place finish being predicted in every publication/poll I've seen so far. Big emotional lift this year with our return to Lakefront Arena. You just have no idea. I swore I would never set foot in the Chamber of Horrors again after last season (I broke my promise to see roller derby a couple weeks ago, but still...).

Think the Saints' return to the Superdome on a much lesser scale. I like UNO to be semi-respectable this year, although I am not looking forward to re-opening the Arena with NC State, with 11 new players, with the Pack wanting revenge for last season, and ZERO exhibition games to prepare... even Sidney Lowe shouldn't be able to screw this one up.

I'm not sure whether to be upset at this or not. :D

O'Neill was a disaster. Half the players were either going to go pro or transfer if he stayed on.

As to Lute, he had missed three events for "health reasons" earlier in the week (Ast coach Reggie Geary had filled in for him). I have a feeling there's some health-related issues at play here.

AZ football coach Mike Stoops said this tonight: ""I just hope and pray he's in good health and happy with his decision. "

All signs point to a health issue and that would be real unfortunate. Lute put Arizona on the map and has been a gentleman his entire career. Back when I covered the team for the school paper, he would stay after press conferences to do one-on-ones with us all the time - something no other major coach would do in any sport.

I'm 100% sure that this is true, you being the most reasonable, non-homer on Earth.

I think MBBF is going to pop in next to tell us that Sony said no thanks to Halo.

Just curious, though, did UCLA tell him no thanks before he fell in love with Texas as a sophomore, or after?

Hey, Jessica Alba! No thanks! That sure showed her.

I'm interested in seeing Ohio State's newest big guy, BJ Mullens. He's got an Oden body but has offensive skills, not as dominate defensively though.

It should be interesting to see how things go without Butler running the point too.

So, I just want to make sure I have this right. You, of all people, are accusing MrBug of homerism? You. I mean, it's really you, right? Not some normal, reasonable non-super-Hookemhorns-homer who managed to find your account login, but you as we have known you, bleeding orange and one of the biggest homers around ever. That's you, isn't it?

Okay, got it.

I think Memphis will be better than what the expectations are, but I am a homer in every since of the word. I bleed reflex blue and medium gray, so take my opinion with a big grain of salt please.

Dude, how about Lot's wife. :D

I think Memphis is going to be fine. Calipari always brings in top recruits, and they are still the class of Conference USA.

Vitale mentioned health issues every time I heard him yesterday.

Not every A-10 game should be fun.

So, after ESPN and most major news outlets ripped Lute for retiring (even though many knew there were health reasons), we now know that he had a stroke and that's why he's retiring:

ESPN - Doctor: Former Arizona Wildcats coach Lute Olson had stroke within last year

ESPN - North Carolina Tarheels star Tyler Hansbrough sidelined with shin injury


Oh dear.

UCLA is only practicing 8 players right now :)

The lineup is Aboya, Keefe, Shipp, Holiday, and Collison.