Brief thoughts on the new college basketball season
--- There are no monster freshman out there. No Durants or Odens. Harrison Barnes to me was shockingly passive for UNC against Illinois in the only game I've seen him play. This is the number one ranked high school player last year? He does not look overly athletic, sort of heavy legged running style, and floats on the perimeter jacking up threes. A complete disappointment.
--- But Duke's Kyrie Irving is by far the best frosh I've seen. The Chris Paul comp floated by the ESPN announcers last night rings true. He is slight of frame, like Paul, but penetrates at will. Looks like a one and done for Coach K and potentially the number one pick in the 2011 NBA Draft as he makes way for Austin Rivers.
--- Duke may be the best team early on, but I do not like the way Kyle Singler is playing. He seems purely a jump shooter right now, and not a really good one save for exceptional nights like the one he had against Oregon last week. He may not even wind up being picked in the first round next summer. Duke seems to be winning because they have the best backcourt in the nation and the Plumlee brothers are terrifically athletic and powerful on the break and down low. And please don't compare this year's Duke squad talent wise to the prior elite Blue Devil teams. There may only be one standout pro on this year's team (Irving).
--- Bobby Knight is simply a great listen when he's announcing. The best color man in college ball and one of the best in any sport. His analysis of Virginia Tech's failed last possession last night was outstanding and happened before, during, and after the final timeout. It's like having Vince Lombardi announce a pro football game: Knight is one of the great minds of basketball, and seems to have finally found the humility, while working with the ultimate pro Brent Musberger, to teach folks like me what he knows about the game he loves.
--- TCU coming to the Big East? What? They're in TEXAS fer crying out loud. DePaul, out in Chicago and Cincinnati were bad enough. But now Texas? I guess geography means nothing. And for what it's worth should Head Football Coach Gary Patterson move on to greener pastures, TCU will return to being a mediocre football school and the Big East will regret asking them to join. Realigning a conference simply because a school has had a good ten year run with a particular coach seems short sighted to me. But I am a hopeless sports romantic and long for the days when the ACC had only 8 teams and its tournament in March was simplicity and perfection: Quarters, Semis, Finals. It was always amazing and is now gone for good, along with my beloved Big East. Seventeen teams? Eighteen teams? What a joke. I miss the old days of conferences aligning with schools similar in geography and academics. No wonder I still love the MAC. At least when they added Temple they added a good school. Anyone know any sharp Texas Christian grads?
--- But Duke's Kyrie Irving is by far the best frosh I've seen. The Chris Paul comp floated by the ESPN announcers last night rings true. He is slight of frame, like Paul, but penetrates at will. Looks like a one and done for Coach K and potentially the number one pick in the 2011 NBA Draft as he makes way for Austin Rivers.
--- Duke may be the best team early on, but I do not like the way Kyle Singler is playing. He seems purely a jump shooter right now, and not a really good one save for exceptional nights like the one he had against Oregon last week. He may not even wind up being picked in the first round next summer. Duke seems to be winning because they have the best backcourt in the nation and the Plumlee brothers are terrifically athletic and powerful on the break and down low. And please don't compare this year's Duke squad talent wise to the prior elite Blue Devil teams. There may only be one standout pro on this year's team (Irving).
--- Bobby Knight is simply a great listen when he's announcing. The best color man in college ball and one of the best in any sport. His analysis of Virginia Tech's failed last possession last night was outstanding and happened before, during, and after the final timeout. It's like having Vince Lombardi announce a pro football game: Knight is one of the great minds of basketball, and seems to have finally found the humility, while working with the ultimate pro Brent Musberger, to teach folks like me what he knows about the game he loves.
--- TCU coming to the Big East? What? They're in TEXAS fer crying out loud. DePaul, out in Chicago and Cincinnati were bad enough. But now Texas? I guess geography means nothing. And for what it's worth should Head Football Coach Gary Patterson move on to greener pastures, TCU will return to being a mediocre football school and the Big East will regret asking them to join. Realigning a conference simply because a school has had a good ten year run with a particular coach seems short sighted to me. But I am a hopeless sports romantic and long for the days when the ACC had only 8 teams and its tournament in March was simplicity and perfection: Quarters, Semis, Finals. It was always amazing and is now gone for good, along with my beloved Big East. Seventeen teams? Eighteen teams? What a joke. I miss the old days of conferences aligning with schools similar in geography and academics. No wonder I still love the MAC. At least when they added Temple they added a good school. Anyone know any sharp Texas Christian grads?
posted by joe sweeney at 7:28 AM
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