Kansas is going to be a beast of a team this year–we all know this. Still, my first thoughts go straight to the number two team. How does Izzo do it? You don’t really hear about these five star guys coming in each and every year, yet, there is Michigan State right at the top of the polls.. each and every year. Potentially the best overall coach of this era.
I can’t wait to see what Cal can do with Kentucky. I almost expect an early set-up as everyone gets settled. This will undoubtedly cause a major commotion, but the Wildcats will be among the best teams in the SEC. John Wall will be the best freshman in the country and maybe just the top player outright.
Back to coaches who I have the utmost respect for; ‘Nova and Jay Wright. He always has a great mix of pure talent with brilliant game-planning. You never know what could happen in a tough Big East conference. Jay Wright himself predicted some of the teams you saw at the bottom last year could easily become competitive this year.
Check out Tubby Smith doing things with those Golden Gophers. Rivals has Tubby’s incoming class as the 24th best in the nation. This class includes native Minnesotian(?) Royce White. White is a top 20 recruit who claimed offers from just about every Big 10 school as well as Miami and USC. That being said, why the heck stay in the cold!?
The conference breakdown is as follows: Big East (6), Big 10 (5), ACC (4), SEC (3), Big 12 (3), Pac-10 (2), A10 (1), Horizon (1). No big surprises here; everyone knew that the A10 would have at least one (Dayton or Xavier) and that Butler would be in from the Horizon. On that note, it’s great to see Butler getting major love, no pun intended, breaking into the top 10.At the top is predictably the Big East. After that my east coast bias would have came in as I would have expected the ACC to have 1 or 2 more than the Big 10.
Lastly, I want to mention Georgia Tech. They didn’t have a good year last season but they have a monster class coming in. They best make the most of it as their number one recruit Derek Favors is likely gone after this season.
All-in-all I am stoked. I can not believe that the season is going to tip off in under 3 weeks. Great time of the year for the true sports fan.
