Just watching this thing on ESPNU, right now they're showing Kentucky. Are you fukkin' kidding me? Guy looks like a Preacher on a WWE set. Huge turnout, but good lord that looks ridiculous.
Everyone has already crowned this team before the majority of their team has even played a single minute of college ball. Sophomore will be as experienced as it gets.
Solid recruiting class for sure, but everyone was claiming this would be the greatest recruiting class ever if they landed Wiggins. (I was one of those guys). They failed to land Wiggins, yet the same thing is being said? Only guy that I know will be as good as advertised is Randle - guy is already old at 19 as a college freshman, is built like a man, and plays harder than everyone else. Harrisons are solid, but I am not sold. Pothyress is a solid college player. Dakari could be real good, but still has a ton to prove.
Anyway, this is going to be a good season. My boys will be rolling, and my conference will be representing. On top of that, there are a lot of traditional powers at the top, and the talent level will be so much higher than recent years. Hell, it drops off considerably with the next recruiting class.
Lot of story lines.
- Is Wiggins the next LeBron who had to go to college?
- Is UK going to live up to the hype? Is their class better than the Fab 5?
- What's the impact this new rule change will have on defenses in college? How will it effect Louisville's famous press? Does it give Syracuse's zone and even bigger advantage? For us bettors, are overs going to hit at a better than 54% rate due to higher scoring?
- All of last years final four teams are relying on new PG's, how will they mesh with the guys who have been there before? Expected to do too much?
- Best incoming recruiting class I can remember. There were guys outside of the top 10 this year that are obvious one-and-done's.
- New conferences, new rivalries in the making. When teams come into a new conference, the general thought of a "conference game" doesn't translate, especially for us gamblers. Unless these teams have a long history of playing eachother, they are far from familiar. It will be useful to start conference play to make that distinction, in my opinion.
Bottom line is that there are a lot of fans, of a lot of teams (more than usual in my opinion), who believe their team has a real legit shot at winning the title. I tend to agree. This is not a run away by anybody.
Bet against young teams early - back them later in the season.
Basketball season!