Category: College Basketball

Hey guys!Welcome back.Note:I’m just talking about one Duke prospect because that may bore you.

R.J. Barrett, SF/SG – Duke- Barrett is the most obvious nominee as he may not even be Duke’s leading scorer as the former number one player in the 2018 class after his reclassification from 2019.Barrett is a long wing with six-sven size and the ability to defend the one through the four.

Nassir Little, SF, North Carolina- Ten miles away from Durham, the extremely athletic and willing defender that is Nassir Little will be UNC’s best player (Luke Maye may have something to say about that).Little brings versatility but may not be able to defend any other position,other than the small forward.Little may have the best chances as Duke has many ball dominant player.

Bol Bol, C, Oregon- The seven plus foot center, and the son of former NBA giant Manute Bol, needs to gain more for his size of two hundred twenty-five pounds.Bol provides a reliable scoring option and is a great rim protector due to his height.Bol should be Oregon’s next star but may be the longest shot out of these four prospects.

Romeo Langford, SG, Indiana- Langford ,and Cam Reddish, may be the best two scorers in the class.Langford is nice and tall for a two-guard,so maybe he will turn into as mush of a defensive threat as he is on the offensive side.Langford is a good ball handler,and should have many instances doing that in the Hoosier’s offense.

Others who could: Zion Williamson, PF, Duke, Cam Reddish,SG/SF, Duke, Keldon Johnson, SF, Kentucky

What an NCAA Tournament so far! Two of the four one seeds are out. Two of the four two seeds have been eliminated.

What has made this NCAA Tournament CRAZY?

Cinderella of the Tournament? Maybe Not

Loyola Chicago has been this years’ cinderella story by beating Miami and then beating Tennessee .Loyola beat those two teams by a combined two points. When you really think about it though,Loyal Chicago is not a cinderella story-really-they went to Gainesville and knocked of Florida ,and are a great team on both sides of the ball.They will meet Nevada after Nevada came from behind twenty-two points to upset two-seed Cincinnati.

Two Seeds Out
As I just mentioned, seven-seeded Nevada came back from twenty-two points to beat two seed Cincinnati. Another seven seed,Texas A&M, cruised to a victory over veteran-led and two-seeded North Carolina, 86-65. Duke and Purdue, the other two,two seeds are still in.

Wait a minute…There are one seed(s) out too?
Yes. The biggest upset of all-time happened in the Round of sixty-four this past Friday night when sixteen-seed UMBC defeated number one overall seed Virginia seventy-four to fifty-four. UMBC did not just beat Virginia-they crushed them. UMBC (University of Maryland Baltimore County) became the first sixteen seed to beat a one seed in the round of sixty-four, just to lose a fifty to forty-three score game to undermanned and nine-seeded Kansas State.Xavier lost in the round of thirty-two when nine-seeded Florida State made a mini comeback to defeat Xavier 75-70.Kansas and Villanova,the other two one seeds are still in,though.

Here’s how the bracket looks right now
South Region:5.Kentucky vs. 9.Kansas State, 7.Nevada vs. 11.Loyola-Chicago
East Region:1.Villanova vs. 5.West Virginia, 2.Purdue vs. 3.Texas Tech
West Region:4.Gonzaga vs. 9.Florida State, 3.Michigan vs. 7.Texas A&M
Midwest Region:1.Kansas vs. 5.Clemson, 2.Duke vs. 11.Syracuse

Now that number one overall seed Virginia got upset by UMBC. This is the first time ever a sixteen seed has beaten a number one seed. So here are a couple teams who could win it all:

(These teams are in no order)

1.(1 Seed) Villanova Wildcats
Villanova won the Big East Tournament and is now in the Sweet Sixteen,as right now they lead Alabama 81-58, so I think they are safely in. They’ve got two stars in Jalen Brunson and Mikal Bridges and they play well on both sides of the ball as a one seed.

2.(1 Seed) Kansas Jayhawks
Two Senior Guards lead the team, and one of them is star Devonte Graham who has played great this season. They play great defensively, and have one of the best coaches in Bill Self.

3.(1 Seed) Xavier Musketeers
They are the last one seed left and are called “The weakest number one seed” but they’ve got a star in Trevon Bluiett who can flat out play. They were the Big East regular season champs and will most likley make it to the West regional final.

4.(2 Seed) North Carolina Tar Heels
A two seed with ten losses, blew out fifteen seed Lipscomb yesterday. They’ve got expierenced talent like guards Joel Berry and Cameron Johnson and forwards Theo Pinson and Luke Maye. If the Heels make it to Final Four it will be a record twenty-one times and counting and if they make the championship it will be three times in a row.

5.(2 Seed) Duke Blue Devils
Led by senior guard Grayson Allen and freshman sensation Marvin Bagley, this team will probably make a deep run in the tourney. Coach K and the Blue Devils will win their first championship since 2015 if they make it that far.

Other favorites: Michigan State (3), Cincinnati (2), Tennessee (3), Purdue (2), Michigan (3)

Champ week is this week…Duke-Carolina number three in the ACC Tournament Semifinals, no that is not what I’m talking about today. Why didn’t Arkansas big man Daniel Gafford not win co-SEC Freshman of the year along with Alabama Guard Collin Sexton and Kentucky Forward Kevin Knox?

No, I’m not being biased, this guy shot up the draft boards as Arkansas has won seven out of their last nine games and Gafford is a main reason for it (And Macon, and Barford both All-SEC First Teamers).P lus Sexton and Knox are both great players. The hogs started 2-4 in SEC play and went 8-4 to close it (Thanks SEC Country for that stat). Gafford was once somebody nobody even thought of to be a first round pick and then shot up draft boards. The best game of his career was just a week ago Tuesday, as Gafford put up twenty-one points and added ten rebounds and added seven blocks, maybe Gaffords biggest trademark. Gafford averages two and a half blocks per game, above six rebounds and twelve points and he is almost a lottery pick like Sexton and Knox may not even be a lottery pick.He has insane stats so why wasn’t Gafford recognized? We will never know but Daniel Gafford is definitley a great player no matter what.

Nope not Duke, not North Carolina, not Kansas, not Villanova. Nope. My early pick to win the NCAA Men’s College Basketball National Championship is Virginia.

The Cavaliers have one of the best defenses any of us have ever seen and dominated the ACC during the regular season,aside from one defeat at the hands of Virginia Tech in stunning fashion. Because of their good… sorry great defense means that they only have to put up sixty-five points per game. They should get to the Final Four in easy fashion and they’ve got some good offensive players even if their defense is the best in years. If they dominate in the ACC Tournament and ride it in to the NCAAs, there is almost no reason why the Virginia Cavaliers should not win the whole thing in early April.

I know… I should be studying right now but I decided to make a quick preview of North Carolina and Duke number two.

The Tar Heels and the Blue Devils will meet for the second time this season on Saturday night, live from Cameron Indoor Stadium in Durham, North Carolina. North Carolina ha won seven out of their last eight games after a three point loss to Miami on Tuesday night. That snapped the Tar Heels’ seven game winning streak, but the Tar Heels still sit pretty at number nine in the country and a 22-8 overall record and 11-6 in the ACC .Duke has also just lost a game, a loss in stunning fashion to Virginia Tech on Monday night.They did get their superstar back, Freshman big man Marvin Bagley the third, but he still wasn’t enough to lead the Blue Devils past the Hokies. Duke Guard Grayson Allen had starred in Bagley’s absence but went back to subpar play in the loss. If the Tar Heels beat Duke, meaning a sweep of the season series, then they will get the two seed in the ACC Tournament next week but if Duke wins, they get the nod to play as the number two seed.Remember the Tar Heels beat the Blue Devils, 82-78, in Chapel Hill back in early February. So the stage is set for the best rivalry in college basketball, no. 9 UNC at. no. 5 Duke.

Sorry I missed a college basketball Saturday review. It is life. I had to take one off. To make up for it,I will do a college basketball news post with the conference tournament week less than a week away.

Shaquille O’Neal’s son and five-star recruit Shareef O’Neal has verbally committed to UCLA after decommiting from Arizona after the scandal involving heead coach Sean Miller.

A couple of weeks ago, Villanova snagged five-star Point Guard Jahvon Quinerly. Quinerly decommitted from Arizona a couple of months ago.

The top player in Georgia, Ashton Hagans has decommitted from Georgia, his AAU coach said Monday. Hagans is also reclassifying to 2018 class from the 2019 class.

The best rivalry in colleg basketball is back on Saturday as 5.Duke was upset by Virginia Tech last night but that doesn’t take away from their rivalry rematch with the number nine-ranked North Carolina Tar Heels who the Blue Devils will look to get revenge on Saturday. The Tar Heels beat 82-78,the when they played back in February.

Kansas, 24-6 (13-4), in the Big 12 has now clinched their fourteenth straight regular season Big 12 Championship. Kansas was trailing Texas Tech last week but then got a game ahead of the Red Raiders and then beat those Red Raiders last Saturday. Kansas locked up the regular season trophy after a win over Texas on Monday night.

Conference Tournament Week is less than a week away and all of these conference tournaments will give each team its NCAA Tournament fate meaning its seed line or if the team will be in the tourney or not.