Are you ready for some … basketball?
Are you ready for some … basketball?
Yeah, it hasn’t been decided who will face Ohio State for football’s national championship, and the major bowl matchups have yet to be determined.
But if you haven’t noticed, college basketball is in high gear. Gonzaga already put a hurting on North Carolina, which knocked off Ohio State. Kansas lost at home to Oral Roberts, and then the Jayhawks completed an unbeaten run through the Las Vegas Invitational by knocking off No. 1 Florida.
OK, so it’s not March Madness for another three months. But because their is a legitimate tournament at the end of the season, teams are not fearful of scheduling top opponents.
There is more to come before league schedules kick off in January. The ACC-Big Ten challenge runs this week. And how about this Saturday lineup of games — Kentucky-North Carolina, Gonzaga-Texas, Illinois-Arizona and Georgetown-Duke?
This is what is so great about college basketball. How about this December slate of games for Arizona – Illinois, Louisville, Memphis, California and Stanford? And the ‘Cats only nonleague encounter in 2007 – a meeting with North Carolina.
Lute Olson knows the only way his Wildcats will be ready for March Madness is if they are involved in tough games throughout the season. Unlike the six-week layoff Ohio State’s football team faces, the ‘Cats and other top basketball teams will play right up until tournament time.
Here are some facts and figures you might not know:
– Sixty one of 325 Division 1 men’s teams have new coaches.
– Long Beach State was the highest scoring Division 1 team last season, averaging 83.3 points; Air Force led the nation in scoring defense (54.7) for the fourth consecutive season.
– Through the first seven years of the Mountain West Conference, six different teams have won league titles. Talk about parity!
– Not only did defending national champion Florida return all five starters, they all averaged in double figures in scoring last year.
– Gonzaga entered the season with the longest active home winning streak (40), and won its first three in the McCarthey Athletic Center.
– Pittsburgh, which always seems to enter the season with a lower profile than other top-10 teams, was 76-22 in Jamie Dixon’s first three seasons coaching. That’s tied for the fourth-best coaching start in NCAA history.
– If you’ve never heard the name Blake Ahearn it’s understandable. He plays for the highest-ranked team from last year NOT invited to the NCAA Tournament. But Ahearn of Missouri State seems poised to set an NCAA record for free-throw shooting. The senior guard entered the season at 95.3 percent, well ahead of Villanova’s Gary Buchanan (91.3), the current record-holder.
The beauty of basketball is there are always Cinderella teams with big dreams come tournament time. Last year it was George Mason, Northwestern State and Bucknell.
And this year, watch out for NIT preseason winner Butler, Southern Illinois, Xavier, Marist and Loyola-Chicago. And don’t be surprised to see Nevada make a long run in the NCAA Tournament.
Contact Marc David at (408) 842-1694 or at [email protected].
