College Basketball 2005-2006 Preview (Men's and Women's)

I don't follow college basketball as much as I do college football, but after one year and playing "NCAA March Madness 2005," college basketball is quite exciting. The only question I have is, is basketball more accessible to people than football? Is college basketball program cheaper than a college football program? Regardless, while you'll notice something of 120 Div. 1-A football schools and 79 Div. 1-AA football schools. When playing in Division 1 college basketball, you'll see as many as 320 schools. So there will be many schools you may have never heard of if you follow college football. Usual Division 1-A football fans may have not heard of the St. John's Red Storm, the San Francisco Dons, the Gonzaga Bulldogs, the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers, the Maryland-Eastern Shore Hawks, the University of the Pacific Tigers, the Oakland (Michigan) Golden Grizzlies, or even the University of Texas-San Antonio Roadrunners. Having said this, this thread is open to college basketball fans of all divisions and all teams.

If you're new to college hoops, let me warn you of something I kind of learned the hard way. The best teams in college football usually aren't the best in college basketball (examples- USC, Georgia, Oklahoma, Kansas State). The worst teams in college football are probably better in college basketball (examples- Connecticut, North Carolina, Duke, Ohio State, Kansas). The thing usually most loved about college basketball is the fact that there is a tournament instead of a BCS-style system. Unlike college football, college basketball almost completely takes over March. If you want to preview the upcoming season, here is the thread you need to be in.

My past season review is in the next reply, so stay tuned.

2004-2005 Year in Review

* Last season, the story of the season was the Illinois Fighting Illini, a team who just do NOT know how to lose. They were likely to be the second-coming of the 1976 Indiana Hoosiers- that is, an undefeated team. But in their final game of the regular season, they lost to Ohio State (?). As Ohio State was ineligible for the tournament, at least they sent a shockwave to the Fighting Illini. They'd then lose to North Carolina in the national title game. * Boston College won a handful of games, notching up about a 20+ game winning streak before eventually losing. * Thirty-something. Why did I mention this? That's the margin one of the toughest teams to beat, as the #2 Kansas Jayhawks went to Pennsylvania to face the Villanova Wildcats. They'd also take a big loss to Texas. * Liked that upset? Here's a big one among two big teams- Maryland and Duke. Maryland whipped the #2 Duke Blue Devils by 9 points.

Now, the defending champions as they stand:
Men's National Champions: North Carolina
Women's National Champions: Baylor

Now let's preview the new season of college hoops. If you care to get started, let's do that.

People, to add a little information to this thread, in trying to talk college basketball, some of you may know that Bob Huggins is in some trouble right now as University of Cincinatti is going to compete in the Big East. College basketball anylyst and expert Dick Vitale, offered his opinion on this big blow for the Bearcats. He doesn't use any of his taglines (most notably, "...baby!') in this one. Check this out:

"My gut feeling is, the president, [Nancy L.] Zimpher, arrived with a perception that was negative of Bobbie Huggins when she stepped on that campus. And certainly some of the things that happened off the court, because in his goodness, and giving people chances, giving them an oppurtunity, certainly they backfired. But let me tell you this. Everybody talks about academics. Well, he graduated 11 of his last 17 players. He was 'Mr. Popularity' in Cincinatti. All the talk shows, listen to him. They love the guy. Why? Because he represents the old American way. Work ethic. Have pride. Yes, he made a mistake in his life with the DUI. But, he really did a great job of doing everything they ask. Why now? The timing is HORRENDOUS for firing a coach in August!" -Dick Vitale to ESPNEWS in response of Bob Huggins being out of the Univ. of Cincinatti, Tuesday 8/22/2005

What do you make of the Bearcats' chances of doing well in their upcoming 30 games and their postseason aspirations? I mean, look at what Cincinatti will have to go through in the Big East. Correct me if I missed a team or put in one of the wrong teams, but the Big East in college basketball consists of Louisville, Pittsburgh, West Virginia, Rutgers, Connecticut, Syracuse, South Florida, St. John's, Georgetown, Seton Hall, Providence, and Villanova. Some of the key teams to look out for are Connecticut, Louisville, and especially Syracuse. Cincinatti would likely spank Syracuse on the gridiron, but I don't know about on the hard wood. Big blow for the Cincinatti Bearcats?

By the way, he must either resign from the basketball program to remain with Cincinatti by 2 PM EDT, or be fired. He'll get a compensation package of about $3,000,000 should he choose to resign as head coach of the Cincinatti basketball team.

JohnBM01

The worst teams in college football are probably better in college basketball (examples- Connecticut, North Carolina, Duke, Ohio State, Kansas).

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So is Kentucky just off your radar? I know UK is horrid at football and I can understand not ever mentioning them in the football thread, especially since they haven't had TV coverage since the Florida game, but come on. Where is the basketball note? Top ten preseason ranked while probably having the worst football team of all above mentioned schools.

Just to get this out and help you understand why I am so adamant about UK, other than being a big fan and alum, I will give some facts.

46 NCAA Tournament Appearances (#1)
137 Tournament Games (#1)
96 Tournament Wins (#1)
13 Final Four Appearances (#3)
17 Final Four Game Wins (#2)
7 NCAA Championships (#2)
1,904 Overall Wins (#1)
76.5% Overall Win percentage (#1)

And don't forget Teyshaun Prince is a UK graduate with both NCAA and NBA rings as well as a $50 million contract.

The Wildcats are a force to be recognized, just so you know.

Never forget, in Kentucky basketball is religion.

One of the big problems this year is that some say the Big East has too many teams. I don't know if this is a desperate attempt at the Big East winning a championship over the defending champions, North Carolina of the ACC (go Tar Heels, right?). Here is the list of teams competing this year in the Big East. Now, if you're new to college basketball, but follow football, the teams with asterisks (*) do not have a football team, so they will be new to you. Anyhow, here's the Big East lineup:

Villanova {Wildcats; Philadelphia, PA}
Connecticut {Huskies; Storrs, CT}
Louisville {Cardinals; Louisville, KY}
Cincinatti {Bearcats; Cincinatti, OH}
Syracuse {Orange; Syracuse, NY}
West Virginia {Mountaineers; Morgantown, WV}
Georgetown {Hoyas; Washington, D.C.}
Pittsburgh {Panthers; Pittsburgh, PA}
Notre Dame {Fighting Irish; South Bend, IN}
DePaul* {Blue Demons; Chicago, IL}
St. John's* {Red Storm; Jamaica, NY (in the New York City area)}
Rutgers {Scarlet Knights; Piscataway, NJ}
Marquette* {Golden Eagles; Milwaukee, WI}
Providence* {Friars; Providence, RI}
Seton Hall* {Pirates; South Orange, NJ}
South Florida {Bulls; Tampa Bay, FL}

That's 16 teams in one conference! Now, the order I put them in is according to Athlon Sports' 2005-2006 college basketball preview magazine. To know who moved from what conference, let me diagram it out for you. Louisville, Cincinatti, DePaul, Providence, and South Florida all defected from Conference USA. Too many teams, or too good competition for the Big East?

JohnBM01

That's 16 teams in one conference! Now, the order I put them in is according to Athlon Sports' 2005-2006 college basketball preview magazine. To know who moved from what conference, let me diagram it out for you. Louisville, Cincinatti, DePaul, Providence, and South Florida all defected from Conference USA. Too many teams, or too good competition for the Big East?

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Working and living in the vicinity of Louisville I can tell you that these are all respectable teams wanting more respect. No matter how well they do they get criticized for a weak schedule and conference. Some of this is also a case of inflated egos, particularly in Louisville's case, but I will discuss them later. The hope of these teams is that by moving they will gain more respect, higher rankings, and more TV time. Some of them may find out that they aren't teh big dogs they think they are. The football season taught a few of them this lesson already.

On to Louisville, since I know their issues specifically. For basketball they think they are national champions in waiting, and it is possible, especially with Pitino. But this gets back to my inflated egos point. Because they made it to the Final Four last year they think they will be even better positioned after battling a tougher conference this year. The fans have even given Pitino the "what have you done lately" routine with complaints of not winning the championship.

This attitude caught them off guard in football this year. Last year they were only beat by Miami, and that was close. Had a call gone differently or a ball bounced differently or one guy not slipped or yadda, yadda, yadda. They believed they should have been entitled to a BCS Bowl game. They thought this new conference would be their way to a 1st or 2nd place ranking and a shot at the national championship. They forgot that they were suddenly playing a large number of tough teams. They have lost two games this year and neither of those were supposed to even be close.

I hope the fans will keep this example in mind in basketball this year. I am a Kentucky fan and I see this happen almost every year at Kentucky. The moment the presason rankings come out the fans and school administration start in with how we should be ranked higher, everyone picks on Kentucky, everybody has a lovefest with Duke, etc. It turns ugly in no time and at the end of the season those 3 or 4 losses are unacceptable and we shoudl consider firing the coach, the fact that he got us a title seven years ago is too long.

This is the future of Louisville basketball. Fans are already angry about last year and they think they have the championship this year already in their hands. They are prepared to run over the Big East like it was nothing. I warn my UL fan friends that the football season should be a warning to them. They wanted the bigger dogs and now they have them. This won't be as easy as it has been.

There are probably 10-20 teams that all have the talent to win the championship and their fans know it. When you play more of those teams than you did before you will not come off looking as good. I hope Pitino is ready for a fan backlash if he doesn't go all the way. At UK he got grief every time they lost a game, but at UL he just switched conferences, which means he risks coming out looking worse than he did last year and getting an even worse backlash.

As I said, there is a case of over-inflated egos and I think UL basketball will feel the same burn they felt in football.

Do you maybe see this as Louisville biting off more than they can chew? * And with Bob Huggins (former Cincinatti head coach) in trouble in August, can the Bearcats get it together for the new season? * Will there be a team other than an ACC or a Big East team who could be a Final Four contender... then a National Champion? Or are the ACC and Big East the kings of college basketball?

JohnBM01

Do you maybe see this as Louisville biting off more than they can chew? * And with Bob Huggins (former Cincinatti head coach) in trouble in August, can the Bearcats get it together for the new season? * Will there be a team other than an ACC or a Big East team who could be a Final Four contender... then a National Champion? Or are the ACC and Big East the kings of college basketball?

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I am not sure if Louisville is biting off more than they can chew, but they are definitely going to play more teams that are able to step up to their challenge. Their schedule now has too many tough teams for them to be able to easily recover if they have a bad half because someone got hurt or whatever else could take their heads out of the game. They have less room for error and they won't be enjoying a season full of double digit wins. It is hard to get a true feel for the team with Pitino downplaying their talent in the media, as he always does. Last year was supposed to be the worst team he had ever coached.

Cincinnatti will probably be okay with the interim coach because it is Huggins' assistant. The first year undera permanent coach will be when they struggle some because players have to adjust and learn respect for the new coach. Huggins left long enough before the season for the players to adjust to the interim.

UK is always a possible final four and championship contender in my book, but I am a fanboy. When I take the fan blinders off I would have to say that any of the teams in the top ten are definite contenders. They are all teams that make me nervous when they show up on the UK schedule. I can't pick individual teams because I don't watch much outside the locals until the season actually starts. Ask me again in a month and I might be able to pick a few.

The ACC and the Big East are currently on top but that can change in a few seasons. I keep hoping to see the SEC come back as a powerhouse. They've had a lot of coaching changes to the degree that Tubby Smith is now the veteran of the bunch. Given a few years I think they will be back as their coaches get things worked out and the ACC and Big East face coaching issues such as retirement or just getting too old to be good anymore.

You also can't forget that one Cinderella team that always takes a shot at the Final Four (and causes the office pool money to go to the ditzy blonde!).

The Athlon Sports' College Basketball Preview has a bunch of teams as front runners. The way I'll describe conference winners will be in the format of First Best, vs. Second Best. As an example, let's use the Big East. I'll display the best team and the second best team like this (just an example):

Georgetown vs. Providence

In this format, I'll display it like a race for who will be best in conference. Having said that, we have a BUNCH of conferences in Division 1, so bear with me. And remember, this is Division 1, so there's no such thing as 1-A and 1-AA like in football. Let's do this!

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LEGEND
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* = Will Advance to First Round of NCAA Tournament
** = Will Advance to Second Round of NCAA Tournament
^ = Sweet Sixteen Contenders
### = Elite Eight Contenders
$$$ = Final Four Contenders
^!!!^ = Your National Championship Game!
*+x+* = National Champion! (according to Athlon Sports' Projection)
-NIT- = Will Compete in NIT (South Carolina, defending NIT champs)
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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE
*+X+* Duke vs. ^ Boston College

AMERICA EAST
Albany vs. Binghampton

ATLANTIC 10
* George Washington vs. * Dayton

ATLANTIC SUN
Belmont vs. Gardner-Webb

BIG TEN
$$$ Michigan State vs. ** Illinois

BIG XII
^!!!^Texas vs. ### Oklahoma

BIG EAST
## Villanova vs. ### Connecticut

BIG SKY
Montana State vs. Montana

BIG SOUTH
Winthrop vs. Coastal Carolina

BIG WEST
California State-Fullerton vs. Pacific

COLONIAL
Old Dominion vs. Hofstra

CONFERENCE USA
^ Memphis vs. -NIT- Texas-El Paso (UTEP)

HORIZON LEAGUE
Wisconsin-Milwaukee vs. Detroit

INDEPENDENTS
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi vs. Texas-Pan American

IVY LEAUGE
Pennsylvania vs. Harvard

METRO-ATLANTIC ATHLETIC CONFERENCE
Iona vs. Manhattan

MID-AMERICAN CONFERENCE
EAST DIVISION
____* Ohio vs. Akron
WEST DIVISION
____Ball State vs. Western Michigan

MID-EAST AMERICAN CONFERENCE
South Carolina State vs. Hampton

MID-CONTINENT
Oral Roberts vs. Valparaiso

MISSOURI VALLEY
^ Nothern Iowa vs. * Creighton

MOUNTAIN WEST CONFERENCE
* Air Force vs. * Nevada-Las Vegas

NORTHEAST CONFERENCE
Fairlrigh Dickinson vs. Monmouth

OHIO VALLEY CONFERENCE
Murray State vs. Eastern Kentucky

PACIFIC 10
$$$ Stanford vs. ### Arizona

PATRIOT LEAGUE
Bucknell vs. Holy Cross

SOUTHEAST CONFERENCE
EAST DIVISION
____^ Kentucky vs. ** Vanderbilt
WEST DIVISION
____** Louisiana State (LSU) vs. ** Alabama

SOUTHERN
Chattanooga vs. Appalachian State

SOUTHLAND
Northwestern State vs. Southeastern Louisiana

SUN BELT
EAST DIVISION
____Western Kentucky vs. Florida International
WEST DIVISION
____Denver vs. New Orleans

SOUTHWESTERN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE
Alabama A&M vs. Alabama State

WESTERN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE
** Nevada vs. Utah State

WEST COAST CONFERENCE
^ Gonzaga vs. Saint Mary's College

So, this is your list of Division 1 conference matchups, according to Athlon Sports' college basketball preview. In a future post, I will list what they selected as NCAA and NIT tournament selections. Any names surprise you? How about how far AS projects them to be? Are some ranked too high? too low? Reply on as this preview continues.

Hmmm, you picked Texas to be in the championship game. Is that based on analysis or some fanboyism on your part?

Duke to win seems to easy. I get tired of this attitude and with Coack K splitting his time with them and USA basketball they might not be quite the same.

We may have a crappy football team, but we have an awsome basketball team! Go Fighting Illini! I hope for 3 things this season:
1) Chief Illiniwek DOESN'T get banned
2) Illini Advance to Final Four or better (hopefully better)
3) I actually get to GO to one of the games.

No. This is all based on what Athlon Sports reported in their College Basketball preview. I see Texas advancing to the NCAA, but I don't know about matching up with the likes of Duke, North Carolina, Connecticut, or anybody like that. I'm already respecting the Longhorns in football, plus, I have a former high school classmate of mine who is a Longhorn.

Last season, Boston College had a nice run. Remember in college basketball that there are two Bostons. That's why you see "Boston College" instead of just "Boston." Boston College is home to the BC Eagles, a talented football team, and an equally-talented basketball team. The other Boston is Boston University, home to the BU Terriers in the America East. BU isn't likely to be a contender for the Final Four, but maybe Boston College may make it, if not the NIT.

Here locally, the University of Houston had done pretty well, except for losing to Wichita State in the first round of the NIT. Houston has about 5 Final Four appearances, and seeing six would mean some miracles have to happen. On top of that, a National Championship would really send the Hoffheinz Pavillion insane. Phi Slamma Jamma, baby! If you've played "NCAA March Madness 2005," one of the Pontiac Classics was the University of Houston vs. North Carolina State back in 1983, I believe. They had a 26-game winning streak, and sadly for us Houstonians... you had to BEAT Houston.

Other than that, North Carolina are defending Men's Champions, Baylor are defending Women's Champions, and South Carolina are the defending NIT Champs. And as far as Illinois goes, they did pretty damn well, but it was all about North Carolina as they beat Illinois in the National Title game. I think Illinois will return, hopefully as a Sweet 16er. One last note- imagine if North Carolina won... then their rivals, Duke, won the title from their grasp and become the 2005-2006 champions. North Carolina is already a basketball state, so this would mean a swap of titles by two bitter rivals!

Event

We may have a crappy football team, but we have an awsome basketball team!

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Welcome to my life.

3) I actually get to GO to one of the games.

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Look for the "neutral" site games that are only an hours drive away. That's how I got my UK vs Iona at Freedom Hall in Louisville tickets (fifth row). There are no student tickets or season ticket holder tickets so getting a ticket is easy. I just get online 15 minutes before the tickets go on sale and then hit refresh until it lets me buy tickets.

This sounds extreme but when you consider that UK set a record for practice audience this year at Big Blue Madness (First Practice Celebration) and they sold 20,000 tickets in 35 minutes it is a necessary extreme.

JohnBM01

Other than that, North Carolina are defending Men's Champions

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They aren't even ranked this year are they? UK not in the Top Ten in the CBS Poll has the CBS Sportsline message board all lit up.



And as I was saying about Louisville earlier: They almost lost it to Bellarmine, a local Catholic college, this week. And that was with Dean scoring half the points (28). If they don't do better than that they are in for a world of hurt this season. You can't hope to win with one great player and the rest not pulling their weight.

Event

We may have a crappy football team, but we have an awsome basketball team!

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Welcome to my life, too (on opposite day).

Finally, college basketball. I wait all year for this. FEAR THE TURTLE!

Zrow

Finally, college basketball. I wait all year for this. FEAR THE TURTLE!

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You know the football team is bad when you get excited about practices and the exhibition games. <-- That would be me.

Regular season for us starts Sunday (11/13) and I am probably a little too excited. My wife and I are going out of town this weekend and she keeps asking when I want to leave for home on Sunday. I just keep telling her it doesn't matter as long as I am in front of my TV by 8:00.

We were thiking about taking the wife's car but I am starting to think we should take the UK Mobile so that I can get the karma flowing.

^Is this sad or just being a true fan?