College Basketball Season Begins

With the 24-hours hoops marathon come and gone, and most early season tournaments beginning to take place, the college basketball season is officially becoming a large part of the sports landscape.  With no clear cut favorite to win the championship (sorry Hoosier fans), the race to Atlanta is on.  Here are my favorites:

1. Indiana Hoosiers: Everyone is picking the Hoosiers to advance to Atlanta and seriously compete for their sixth national championship.  I believe that they have a very real shot with Cody Zeller down low and Jordan Hulls and Sheeladipo (Will Sheehey and Victor Oladipo) up top.  Freshman Yogi Ferrell will also play a prominent role on the team especially on the defensive side of the ball.  Coach Tom Crean has turned around one of the most storied programs in college basketball and they are looking for some more history this season.

2. Duke Blue Devils: I watched the entire Duke-Kentucky basketball game on Tuesday night and I was thoroughly impressed with the all out hustle and tenacity of the Blue Devil team.  They were fired up all night and they came away with an impressive victory in Atlanta.  If Mason Plumlee can stay out of foul trouble and Seth Curry can stay healthy, this team could really make an impact come March.  Freshman Rasheed Sulaimon really impressed in the game against Kentucky and he could progress to the point where he makes this team a very tough competitor for opponents.  In addition, you never want to bet against a Coach K coached team.

3. Louisville Cardinals: I am not very high on the Cardinals at the moment, but it might be because I haven't seen much of them this year.  Peyton Siva, Russ Smith and Chane Behanan, should be very solid players this year and I wouldn't be surprised at all if this team comes away with a huge year. Gorgui Dieng and transfer, Luke Hancock, will also figure to play key roles after the year ending injury to Mike Marra.  Watch out for these Cardinals.

4. Florida Gators: Although they have only played two games this year, the Florida Gators have really impressed me thus far.  They started off the year with a cancellation after one half against Georgetown on the USS Bataan in Jacksonville.  They then went on to defeat Alabama State and #22 Wisconsin in decisive fashion.  Erik Murphy made all ten of his shots against Wisconsin and with Kenny Boynton, Mike Rosario, and Patric Young also on this squad, they look tough.  Gator Nation will be chomping all season long at the rate this team is playing.

5. Murray State Racers: I had to go with a dark horse so I chose Murray State.  They are led by the best point guard in the country (in my opinion) and one of the best players in the country overall.  He goes by the name, Isaiah Canaan.  With Ed Daniel battling down low and Canaan firing from the top of the key, this team could really surprise some high quality ball clubs.

These are just very rough approximations of what I believe will happen later this year and I am definitely no bracketologist.  I will be posting later on updated teams going strong on their journey to Atlanta.