xubrew
11-09-2012, 12:42 PM
Rochester, Ill and Eastern Michigan tipped about forty minutes ago, so it is now officially the regular season.
A few things to watch for that are probably under the radar....
-It is rare that you see a Sweet Sixteen team return all of their starters and not receive a single vote in the preseason, but that's the case with Ohio U this year. Granted, they lost their coach, but they're a very good team. It's hard to believe they're not getting any love at all.
-Lehigh returns all their starters, and is at Baylor today. If they could swing a win, it would catapult them into the spotlight. Even though it is November, wins like that matter come March if they fail to win the conference tournament.
-Bucknell finished ahead of Lehigh in the conference standings, and has all their starters back as well. They are at Purdue today. Same story. Only one of those teams can win the automatic, but if one or both can rack up some big wins early, they can get themselves in the at-large discussion.
-South Dakota State returns nearly all thier contributing players from last year, and opens at Alabama today. I don't know how good Bama will ultimately end up being, but it is still a nice win for the profile. With Oral Roberts out of the way, SDSU should be able to win the Summit Tournament seeing as how it is in their home state.
That's what I love about college basketball. It's the first day of the season, yet there are still high stakes games, especially for teams outside the major conferences that are trying to make a case for themselves. March really does start in November.
A few things to watch for that are probably under the radar....
-It is rare that you see a Sweet Sixteen team return all of their starters and not receive a single vote in the preseason, but that's the case with Ohio U this year. Granted, they lost their coach, but they're a very good team. It's hard to believe they're not getting any love at all.
-Lehigh returns all their starters, and is at Baylor today. If they could swing a win, it would catapult them into the spotlight. Even though it is November, wins like that matter come March if they fail to win the conference tournament.
-Bucknell finished ahead of Lehigh in the conference standings, and has all their starters back as well. They are at Purdue today. Same story. Only one of those teams can win the automatic, but if one or both can rack up some big wins early, they can get themselves in the at-large discussion.
-South Dakota State returns nearly all thier contributing players from last year, and opens at Alabama today. I don't know how good Bama will ultimately end up being, but it is still a nice win for the profile. With Oral Roberts out of the way, SDSU should be able to win the Summit Tournament seeing as how it is in their home state.
That's what I love about college basketball. It's the first day of the season, yet there are still high stakes games, especially for teams outside the major conferences that are trying to make a case for themselves. March really does start in November.