If I had to call myself a fan of one NCAA team it would be the Villanova Wildcats. After losing in the Semis to the Champion UNC Tarheels, the Cats lost both starting big men Dante Cunningham and Shane Clark. To replace what was a superior front court, Jay Wright recruited two big men in the Top 50 ESPN recruiting class, Mouphtaou Yarou 6'9'' and Isaiah Armwood 6'8''. Along with these two will be returning players Scottie Reynolds, Corey Fisher, and Corey Stokes most likely in the starting lineup. Scottie Reynolds' ability to score, a very deep bench and the assumption that Nova's Freshman big men will mature quick has them landed #5 in the AP rankings. Last year, when Corey Fisher took a deep breath and slowed down the pace of the game Nova prospered while they lived and died on the three. If the shooters are hittin' this year the rest of the country will have to watch out.
Kentucky #4? Give me a break Associated Press. We all know that every year, unless your Greg Oden or Kevin Durant, there is some sort of period in which Freshman need to get acquainted with the NCAA. Kentucky is putting a lot of trust in Freshman John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins, and Daniel Orton among others, and that is just asking for a tough road. Other teams with top recruits at least have some older mentors to guide the youngsters as they transition from High School to College, but John Calipari is just throwing the young bucks right into the fire. Come tourney time freshman can get hot or go ice cold, and thats when Kentucky is going to want a deeper team.
There is no way to write about the NCAA and not touch on the Battle of Tobacco Road. After a blow out loss to Nova in last year's dance, Coach K has reloaded in the front court, with recruits Mason Plumlee and Ryan Kelly to join Brian Zoubek, giving them three players who are 6'10'' or bigger. With four of UNC's five starters leaving it has opened the door for bench players Deon Thompson, Ed Davis, Larry Drew, Marcus Ginyard, and Tyler Zeller to take starting roles. Along with five solid freshman recruits, Roy Williams has built his usual deep squad. While this rivalry seems to be filled with strong big men, the key this year will be the guard play. With Duke's returning experienced back court with Scheyer, Singler, and Smith, look for Duke to have the upper hand against the inexperienced back court of UNC.
Ranked #20 in the AP Poll the Georgetown Hoyas are going to creep up in the rankings as they stage the Greg Monroe show. Following a slightly disappointing Freshman season as a top recruit for the Hoyas, Monroe will break out in his sophomore and lead Georgetown to some solid results in the Big East. Hopefully I'm right.
This year's sleeper team: Mississippi State, who is coming out of a conference that doesn't seem to have a real standout team. With the top ten recruit Renardo Sydney, John Riek the 7'2'' Center from Sudan, possibly the best defensive player in College Basketball Jarvis Varnardo, and guard Barry Stewart, the Bulldogs are going to be a team to be reckoned with this year, after showing promise in the SEC last year.
This year's sleeper player, is coming from the sleeper team, and that is Center John Riek. You can teach shooting, you can teach dribbling, and you can teach passing but you can certainly not teach height, and this Freshman certainly has a lot of that. Look for Riek to pull down many boards for Mississippi St. and also be someone who will be looked to to score for the Bulldogs. Watch out recruiting class because along with his feel good success story and rare stature, John Riek could very well grab the freshman spotlight this year.
Lastly, a shout out to Andrew Jones and Jason Love two upcoming big men from my high school Abington Friends. Jason at Xavier and Andrew at Penn State will both be looked upon to take bigger roles on offense and defense for their teams who both compete in prominent college conferences. Jason who averaged 7 points and 6 boards as a Junior for Xavier last year, is the leading returning scorer and will have to take an offensive role that he has never had before, in order for the Musketeers to keep up their dominant success in the A 10. Jones who averaged 6 and 6 last year as a red-shirted Sophomore, will have to take on a bigger offensive role as well with offensive big man Jamelle Cornley leaving the Nittany Lions. Jones will be a key component if Penn State wants to repeat as NIT Champions or maybe do a little dancing this March.
The biggest question of the NCAA season is who is going to step up and take that #1 draft spot? In recent years Blake Griffin, Kevin Durant, Oden, Derrick Rose, and Michael Beasley have risen to the top in the NCAA and become top draft choices. Tuning into ESPN every morning I will definitely anticipate to see who is putting up those big numbers this season.
JD
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