Lame Sports

NCAA Basketball 2007

By Nick Hulstine

With the new NCAA basketball polls out, people all over the country are getting ready for the BCS to be over and the nation wide College Basketball gambling to begin! Okay so it’s close to 5 months away, and it’s not real gambling, but the fact remains that true fans of March Madness are ready for a real post season to start rather than an idiotic system of rankings and bowl games that decide the championship game by use of a formula rather than an actual game.

Don’t get me wrong, I love football and it’s how I spend my autumn weekends, in front of the TV, computer in my lap watching scores and fantasy games. But nothing will compare to the 3 and a half weeks or so of bracket busting, pool making, under dog team winning, 65 teams 6 rounds of legitimate athleticism that everyone can participate in. I mean come on! When an unknown team like George Mason can make it the final four and I thought George Mason was a brand of Canadian beer, that’s a post season people!

Alright…North Carolina is good, yippee who really cares. I hope they’re not on top very long. The tar heels most likely will go far this year and I wouldn’t be surprised if they make it to the big dance, but they do have a little habit of choking during big games, so let’s hope they stand up in the middle of a restaurant clutching their throats and no one stands up to give the Heimlich.

The top four might be the most solid top four in years. I would have to say though that Kansas in my opinion looks to be the best (Only because I’m from there). They have four of five starters coming back and ended up not losing Brandon Rush to the NBA after he tore his ACL in a pick up game in May. So thank you Brandon for being a complete idiot and playing street ball in the off season where you are almost certain to get hurt because you are a star collegiate basketball player who street thug hoopsters are likely to target with hard hip checks and sharp elbows to the face. Kansas looks tip top, they are sure to take the Big 12 championship and hopefully this year not suck a big dick in the sweet sixteen…or the elite eight…actually any of the rounds for that matter. My prediction is they will make it to the Final Four, now if they can get past it, that’s a whole different story.

Memphis now there’s a team. Actually considered a mid-major as far as conferences go, but they don’t show it. They have a great coach in John Calipari and a great returning line-up that will for sure be vying for a final four spot. You are going to want to follow this years Memphis team.

UCLA sucks…they don’t but I wish they did. I actually think they’re rank is appropriate. It boils down to I just don’t like anything about Los Angeles. They lost only one really good player and gained a high school all-star in Kevin Love who apparently is the best center to play for the Bruins since Bill Walton. I know that they’ll probably be good, but let me be stubborn and say they are overrated and aren’t going to go that far. Maybe they burned in the wildfires…sorry that was kind of tasteless and macabre.

My sympathies this season lie with the Longhorns of Texas. It’s sad but their team last year relied solely on Kevin Durant to do almost everything and even though they have a middle of the road ranking at 16, I don’t really think they’ll be on the top 25 very long. They have nobody to step up and lead. What did you expect Coach when every time the team came to the bench for a play and it was just “Give the ball to Kevin…anywhere”

You have to love the independent schools lost in Division I limbo. Teams that can’t find a home and barely win games, and when they do make it to the tourney they end up the whipping boy of top-seeds in the early rounds. One thing that these small teams can do is rally fair-weather fans around the country if they make it past the second round, hell even if they make it past the first round. Indie-teams to watch this season: Utah Valley State and North Dakota State. Will you actually watch these teams? No, because they’re never on T.V. If you do find one on late night ESPN, it looks like a high school J.V. game due to the lack of fans in the stands, but its fun to pick a small team and cheer for them. I pick a new one every year, this year it’s Presbyterian College, because I didn’t know it was a college.

Other teams to watch this season include Southern Illinois, Gonzaga, Arizona, Tennessee, Marquette, and Oregon.

Now for my top 10 Mid-Major preseason poll, teams that hopefully will be underdog stories come March.

1. Butler

2. Nevada

3. Southern Illinois

4. Drexel

5. Davidson

6. Bucknell

7. Winthrop

8. Xavier

9. Wichita State

10. Valparaiso

So gear up college basketball fans, this year’s sure to be a doozy. My advice to you is to watch closely this year; they’re will be lots of upsets. Don’t under estimate the lower half of the top 25, they look solid and are going to give the top teams a run for their money come March. Conferences to watch: Big East, Big 12, and the Missouri Valley. The Big 10 can get bent, and the ACC and SEC are overrated.

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