My 2010 College Hoops Futures

Willie Bee · 11-09-09, 04:42 PM

Kansas Jayhawks get a slice of my college hoops futures

Bill Self and the Kansas Jayhawks are big favorites to win the NCAA, and I was more than happy to fork over some of my hard-earned money to see them do it.

My poor wife. There are a lot of reasons to pity Queen Bee, starting with the mere fact she has put up with me for a lot of years dating back to when we were teens and Richard Nixon occupied the White House.

But at least in the 'good old days,' she would get a decent break between the end of the baseball season and the start of college basketball. That's no longer the case with the MLB playoffs dragging into early November this season and giving her less than a week without seeing me plop my old, fat butt on the couch with remote in hand to watch the hardwood action.

As the old saying goes, "Love is blind," a good thing for big uglies like me. In our house, love is often deaf as well, another good thing since my far better half has the ability to tune out my yelling at the refs while she's camped in the room with me, a new novel in one hand and a glass of Pinot Grigio in the other.

This season I divvied up my college hoops bankroll with a little less than 20% of the total going into 11 futures plays. The bigger plays were on the Jayhawks to cut down the final nets, Texas to win the Big 12 and West Virginia to take the Big East.

Kansas (+300 to win NCAA)
Laying down money on the Jayhawks to win the college basketball title this season isn't exactly going out on a limb. Bill Self's crew is the consensus No. 1 squad going into the season with their top Nine scorers back from a team that lost to Michigan State in the Midwest semis last March.

The returning players are led by senior guard Sherron Collins who topped the Jayhawks last season in points (18.9) and assists (5.0), plus their big man in the middle Cole Aldrich who chipped in just under 15 per game while leading Kansas with 11.1 boards and 2.7 blocks per contest.

The three sophomores that are being counted on heavily to push this team over the top are Tyshawn Taylor and the Morris Brothers, Marcus and Markieff. The two freshman to watch develop as the season goes on are guard Xavier Henry, a consensus Top 10 talent from the Class of 2009, and forward Thomas Robinson.

Kentucky (+500 to win NCAA)
This was my smallest play among the futures bet, and made partly because John Calipari always seems to mess with me and partly because I thought it was worth an investment to try and jinx SBR poster onthewhat's favorite team.

If the ‘Cats are going to hang an eighth NCAA banner at Rupp Arena, they are going to need Calipari’s freshmen to shoulder a huge load. That means John Wall, ranked at the top of more than one chart out of Raleigh, NC, will have to step in from the start and pick up the slack for the departed Jodie Meeks.

Louisville (+1200 to win NCAA)
With his two leading scorers from a year ago (Earl Clark and Terrence Williams) gone, Rick Pitino will need some time in the early going to figure out the right rotation. Sophomore Samardo Samuels will be counted on heavily, plus guard play from Jerry Smith and Edgar Sosa will be crucial as well.

The three freshmen to watch on this team are Rakeem Buckles, Stephan Van Treese and Mike Marra.

Michigan State (+1200 to win NCAA)
I like Tom Izzo to start with, and having an experienced squad back that includes leading scorer Kalin Lucas doesn’t hurt at all.

Texas (+1400 NCAA, +250 to win Big 12)
Assuming all goes according to plan, Texas should be right there with Kansas in the Big 12 all season. A.J. Abrams is gone, but between Justin Mason and freshmen Avery Bradley and J’Covan Brown, this will be a strong, quick, defensive backcourt.

West Virginia (+1800 NCAA, +350 to win Big East)
Replacing Alex Ruoff will be Bob Huggins’ biggest challenge, and I do like this team a lot for the Big East title. The extra play for the NCAA Championship was simply an impulse buy because I just didn’t like anyone else from the conference.

Georgia Tech (+550 to win ACC)
I just couldn’t bring myself to wager on either UNC or Duke, and despite thinking this should be more in the +650 to +700 range, I bet the Wreck anyway. Not much experience among the few big men they have, but it will be an interesting team to watch nonetheless with incoming freshman Glen Rice Jr.

Purdue (+200 to win Big Ten)
Matt Painter has his four leading scorers back and what I feel is an underrated freshman class. This might fit more in the hedge category in case Izzo’s Spartans stumble, but I truly like what Painter has done and with the Final Four in Indy, the Boilermakers have something to shoot for.

Arizona (+600 to win Pac-10)
Sean Miller has his work cut out for him in his first season at Arizona, but the Pac-10 should be up for grabs. This is a very, very inexperienced team with just 10 total letter years returning, and three of those belong to the eldest Wise Brother, Nic. I look for this squad to come together once conference play starts, and keep your eyes on freshmen Kevin Parrom, Solomon Hill, Lamont Jones and Derrick Williams.

onthewhat · 11-09-09, 04:53 PM

Congrats on your Kentucky winner.

JBNYC24 · 11-09-09, 06:14 PM

I like the West Virginia pick, I think they are a legit sleeper team this year. Huggins gets the most out of his teams, and the Big East is much weaker then years past.

DacBietViet · 11-09-09, 06:19 PM

You have GT to win the ACC? Wow

onthewhat · 11-09-09, 06:28 PM

I don't really like any team at +350 to win the Big East. The conference is too deep with so many good teams. One injury and a team is done in terms of winning the league.

Georgia Tech struggled in an exhibition game the other night, but they have talented players. Not sure they will be able to get the whistles to beat Duke or UNC head to head, so it will be tough for any team other than the 2 I just mentioned to win the league IMO.

JoshW · 11-09-09, 06:44 PM

Hope you are right on KU.

I am trying to remember the biggest fav in terms of odds that a favorite has been going into the NCAA tournament? What was North Carolina last year? Anyone ever been +100 going into the tournament?

Willie Bee · 11-09-09, 06:57 PM

I think UNC opened in the +250 to +300 range, believe UCLA/Duke had the second most chalk around +750 and then a lot of the Big East (Pitt/Louisville at least).