COLLEGE HOOPS!!! FINALLY

My head is spinning!!! We're going through a great (and as of the past 3 weeks, profitable) NFL Season. The NHL season is up and running (but call me in the New Year, there's still a Stanley Cup hangover). And then there's the NBA lockout....or is it a strike? Doesn't matter, no one cares. That goes to show how much the NBA is a free-falling stock as the media surrounding their Plaxico Burress like mess. Whatever deal gets done, either soon or next summer, both sides have shot themselves in the foot (or thigh)! And then there's the horrible and possible sports landscape changing story over in Penn State!

So lets get right into it......COLLEGE HOOPS!!!!!

No NBA hoops? No problem...there's real basketball goin' on in campuses across the country!

There is not much of a preview this year as the keyword for this year is: TOP HEAVY!

The national rankings are top heavy with UNC at #1 and everyone waaaaaaay behind. Looking at all of the 6 major conferences, they are all top heavy.

The ACC has UNC and Duke and alot of teams with 1st/2nd year coaches, so they're in rebuilding mode. The prognosticators are trying to shove Virginia down our throats, but no....not Virginia. The one thing that scares me for UNC's run is that they will have little competition in the ACC. But watch out for Florida State to continue their defensive style run towards another Sweet 16 run.

The Big 12 has Baylor set at #1 almost by default being the only team returning any experience. KU will have something to say about that, but there's also new coaches in Texas A&M, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas Tech. Texas lost their whole roster as did K-State. Iowa State will be interesting with a surprisingly good team last year with a lot of new transfers coming in.

The Big East is the Big East and is microcosm of what these eventual super conferences will be like. They will eat up everyone in the conference from the top-down. but there is a tough UConn defending their title with Jeremy Lamb taking the reigns from Kemba. Syracuse, Louisville, Pitt and Marquette lost some bug talent, but have reloaded. Look for rising teams like St John's and Cincinnati to make some noise into the Top 8 of the 16 team conference.

The Big 10 is as top heavy as Kim Kardashian! There's Ohio State with Jared Sullinger, William Buford and Aaron Craft. Wisconsin has Jordan Taylor at PG but lost alot of big men. In a conference where Michigan was an up and comer last year sky rockets to 3rd or 4th in the pre-season previews......yeah that's a conference that's reloading as well. Never and I mean never count out the Izzo in Lansing, Michigan though!

The SEC has Kentucky reloading with a McDonald All-American freshmen crew with Terence Jones coming back to Lexington. Jones has all the potential in the world to dominate the SEC at wing, but he will be tested due to his much needed, but untested leadership required from Coach Calipari.

And the PAC-10? Get a dominant big man someone! The Pac-10 has been on a downward spiral the past couple years but they have some interesting teams with depth in California. Arizona has had 2 games already and can't take care of the ball. But their talent and depth will get into a groove. Zona Head Coach, Sean Miller will make sure of that. I'm not sold on UCLA with them losing 2 guys to the NBA draft from a season last year where they barely escaped the Izzo in the Round of 64 (1st Round) of the Madness.

So there is so much room for the obligatory mid-major conference/team to make a good run. Look for teams in the Colonial Conference with Final 4 darlings VCU and George Mason reloading. There's the Horizon Conference with the Butler.

Never forget the Atlantic 10 conference with Xavier, Temple and a slew of teams that will give many Top 25 teams fits this season pushing the conference RPI through the roof. Also the Conference-USA has more talent then just in Memphis. Marshall and Central Florida have opportunities to make some noise. If UCF does make some noise then look for the media darling stories of His Airness' son, Marcus Jordan at the helm for UCF.

This is the first of many takes to come, so lets see how tonight goes with the first round of games.

CrazyDavo out