Congratulations to Villanova, the 2016 champions, in an exciting finish.
On to the next season, your pre-season AP/Coaches polls came out last week.
Duke is your pre-season favorite, with a mix of Kansas, Kentucky, Villanova, and Oregon in the top 5, and all receiving at least 1 first place vote.
Just wanted to kick off this thread before the season starts. Most teams played an exhibition game this week and real games are starting up next weekend.
ESPN's 24 hour tip-off is coming up Mon Nov 14.
And a quick shout out to Notre Dame women, who are #1 in the AP poll on that side. Maybe this is the year UConn's dominance breaks. Could certainly get more people interested in that tournament with a little more parity.
SB Nation has an expansive college basketball primer coming next week. And a few others are out. I'll add some links as I find them.
Flipping through TiVo looking for games to record, and I already found Kansas games with Duke and Indiana. Always a fun pre conference season for Kansas.
I'm hoping SDSU has a great season.
Wooo! We are 21st.
He we are a football school (usually). I'll take it!
Wooo! We are 21st.
He we are a football school (usually). I'll take it!
Same, with us just above you at 22. Last year was great progress for us, and a lot of our best guys came back - but we may be thin at point guard, which is not a great position to be in.
We won our game tonight.
#3 Kansas lost 103-99 in OT to #11 Indiana. Honestly, it was a fantastic game that both teams deserved to win. Disappointed they lost, but I'm totally excited to watch this team grow and gel this season.
Indiana can hit those threes! I think both teams are going to do some damage this year.
So that was a nice warm-up for #1 Duke on Tuesday.
#3 Kansas lost 103-99 in OT to #11 Indiana. Honestly, it was a fantastic game that both teams deserved to win. Disappointed they lost, but I'm totally excited to watch this team grow and gel this season.
Indiana can hit those threes! I think both teams are going to do some damage this year.
So that was a nice warm-up for #1 Duke on Tuesday.
With the Cubs making the run they did this year I forgot that it's basketball season! I caught the end of the Kansas game and I hardly recognize the team. All the players who caused me heartache have moved on, but I'm sure Graham will fill the void soon. From the looks of it, the streak should grow to 13 this year.
Duke-Kansas was another fantastic game. Unlike the Indiana game, where Kansas dominated, but Indiana suck around and goth the game to OT, in this one Duke dominated the first half, but Kansas was able to keep the score close enough, being down just 5 at half.
But then Josh Jackson took over. He is going to another Andrew Wiggins, but maybe even significantly better. The kid can flat out play. Early in the second half, he went on a run and Kansas saw its 5 point deficit turn into a 10 point lead they held most of the 2nd half. But Duke closed late, and tied the game with 8 seconds left, giving Frank Mason the chance to win it at the buzzer.
The main problem with the game was the fouls. I mean lots of fouls. Both teams had two or three guys with 3 fouls in the first half, and there were five guys with 4 fouls with 13 minutes to play. At one point the crowd was booing, and I don't think it was because they thought Kansas got screwed, but were just sick of the constant stoppage of play. In the end, Kansas had Jackson foul out and another four players with four fouls each. Duke lost two player to fouls, and had another three with four fouls each.
Here are the Josh Jackson highlights:
UNC capped a successful run in the Maui invitational tournament with a victory over a talented and methodical Wisconsin team last night. Both teams were cold to start, but the Tar heels started forcing the ball down inside, and took advantage of their sizeable frontcourt depth.
It's strange to say it, but they seem to be more focused and stronger than last year's team that lost in the NCAA tournament championship game. I figured losing a floor presence like Marcus Paige and a scoring/rebounding threat like Brice Johnson would have put us in a serious re-learning mode for the early season. Instead, the experienced members and the newcomers have really meshed early.
I don't know if they will win it all this time (UK, Ka
nsas, Villanova, Duke, etc), but they are already making a lot of progress on a tournament resume. Still, the real challenges are coming. Indiana and UK are no joke.
God I love this time of year.
Ags are playing VA Tech right now on ESPNU.
Kentucky @ Louisville, tonight at 7pm, ESPN. Top 10 matchup. Should be fun.
I'm finding this year's Kentucky team to be particularly entertaining to watch. High-scoring with the usual great crop of freshman.
My Georgetown Hoyas have been incredibly inconsistent all season but beating Syracuse last week at least gives me solace that the season won't be a total loss.
Kentucky @ Louisville, tonight at 7pm, ESPN. Top 10 matchup. Should be fun.
Go Kentucky!
The Ags are playing tonight as well. Point guard play continues to be our weakest spot, but hopefully we can get back to the tournament again this year.
Cal is looking to extend its 27-game home winning streak against top-15 Virginia tonight.
GO BEARS!
FSU had a good game against UVA today. Hopefully this will continue, but our schedule is brutal over the next couple of weeks.
Ags at Kentucky in just under an hour!
...our guard play may not allow us a chance here.
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