14 Nov10 - Mega-Morphosis (PRESEASON)

Volume XIX, No. 1 - 14 Nov10: PRESEASON - [] Top 25 Ballot

Mega-Morphosis

Hey, all. I most likely won't be able to keep the HLS website up to date in a timely fashion during the month of November, (but I'll do my best). Things hould be back to normal in December, though. (The Pigskin Pool should be unaffected.) Bear with me in the meantime. -- Ron

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Last year, Kentucky's overstuffed roster of SuperFrosh started the season proclaiming its intention to post an undefeated 40-0 season. Reality set in, however, as it turned out to be harder than the young Wildcats realized to turn a group individual talents into a championship team as they watched a veteran Florida squad go undefeated in SEC conference play (TiTo) instead. Moreover, it was a Mid-Major, um, make that 1BC/Anti-Spoiler team, Wichita State, which actually did post an undefeated season, entering the NCAA tournament without a loss. It wound up being the UK All-Stars who finally ended the WheatShockers' perfect run in one of the all-time great games in NCAA tournament history. The Wildcats went on to join their conferencemate Gators in the Final Four along with a Wisconsin team whose offensive prowess matched its perennially stingy defense.

    
Individually, Creighton's xDoug McDermott was the Consensus Player Of The Year, capping a 3000-point career with his team's third-straight 32-Splash finish in the NCAAs; but it was The Salutatorian, Connecticut's bShabazz Napier, who nearly single-handedly won many a big game for the Huskies during the regular season, that ended up leading UConn to its (and his) second national championship in four years.

The advent of the new College Football Playoff system (culminating in a Committee-picked Final Four playing for the National Championship) marks the official end
of the previous Bowl Championship Series (BCS) system. In basketball, Louisville's move from the one-year-old AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE to the ATLANTIC COAST counts as the final postscript to the end of the multi-year Great Conference Migration; it also completes the formation of the Mega-ACC. While the depth of quality teams isn't there immediately for it to challenge the Mega-BIG EAST at its height (11 NCAA bids and 7 32-Splash teams in 2011), it is the first conference that can boast of having 4 programs headed by Hall of Fame coaches (Duke/Mike Krzyzewski, North Carolina/Roy Williams, Louisville/Rick Pitino and Syracuse/Jim Boeheim), each with at least one National Championship under his belt, including the two winningest coaches of all-time (Krzyzewski and Boeheim). All except for the SU Orange have serious designs on this year's national title; Virginia has a TiTo champ squad fully capable of repeating while the veteran UL Cardinals are looking to go TiTo themselves in their third conference in three years (after being BIG EAST '13 tri-champs and AMERICAN '14 co-champs).

    
Losing Lville has downgraded the AMERICAN, but it's the addition of Maryland(ACC) and Rutgers(AMERICAN) that has diluted the BIG 10. For overall depth of quality teams, both the BIG 12 and PACIFIC-12 look to be headed for power-packed seasons both inside and outside of conference play. (In particular, retooling Kansas figures to be pushed hard by Texas' returning five in pursuit to add to its streak of TEN-STRAIGHT TITLES in the BIG 12.

With three starters back from last year's National Runner-Up (and yet another injection of can't-miss freshmen), it's actually this year's Kentucky team that has a more legitimate shot at attaining The U-Word. Veteran Wisconsin (led by Player Of The Year candidate xFrank Kaminsky) is the only other team from last year's Final Four that can pick up right where it left off in April. Wichita State still has three (backcourt) starters from last year's perfectionists; Arizona may have enough incoming talent to compensate for its losses without missing a beat; Texas has everybody back plus its own SuperFrosh; elsewhere, the likes of North Carolina, Duke, Kansas, Ohio State and UCLA are expecting incoming players to be the headliners of what they hope will be elite seasons.

    
Gonzaga has made itself the standard for Mid-Major excellence ... at least in the regular season where the Bulldogs have now won THIRTEEN OF THE LAST FOURTEEN TITLES (including 10 TiTo crowns); but in the postseason, it's a different story -- the 'Zags have now posted five-straight 32-Splash finishes (including in 2013, when they were a No.1 seed) and just two Sweet 16 finishes in the past thirteen years (after debuting on the national scene with three-straight Sweet 16's, beginning with an Elite 8 introduction). Meanwhile, first Butler (with two-straight National Runner-Up finishes in 2010-11) and now Wichita State (with a Final Four finish in 2013 and a perfect regular season in 2014) have both shone brighter (if more briefly) than GU in the NCAA tourney. Gonz and WichSt both figure to be major powers this season; Harvard seems a lock add its streak of FOUR-STRAIGHT TITLES in the IVY league (unless a strong returning five at Yale can make enough noise in the preseason or else Crash the Party with the regular season title and turn the IVIES into a two-bid league). Now that "Elvis has left the building" at Creighton, the mini-BIG EAST may well drop from Mid-Major down to just a 1BC/Anti-Spoiler league if no one besides Villanova emerges as an NCAA-worthy squad.

    
For Splashworthy 1BCs, look no further than veteran Green Bay(gKeifer Sykes)/HORIZON, retooling Georgia State(tR.J. Hunter and pRyan Harrow)/SUN BELT, New Mexico State(gDaniel Mullings)/WAC, veteran CIT champ Murray State(cJarvis Williams)/OHIO VALLEY and CBI champ Siena/MAAC's returning five. (Conference USA has pared down slighty from last year's 16-team monstrosity, but unless Louisiana Tech or maybe UTEP can do something special, it figures to be irrelevant once again.)

    
Some key conference membership changes have created power vacuums in leagues without their traditional flagship programs. Davidson doesn't appear to be ready to contend in the ATLANTIC 10 right away; but can newcomer Mercer take over in the Southern Conference in the Wildcats' place? And does Florida Gulf Coast now have free reign to dominate the ATLANTIC SUN with its nemesis Bears no longer around?

Former disgraced coaches Kelvin Sampson(Houston) and Bruce Pearl(Auburn) have returned from banishment Veteran coach Mike Montgomery retired at California, replaced by Cuonzo Martin (who left Tennessee). Danny Manning(Wake Forest) left Tulsa, replaced by Frank Haith (who left Missouri); Buzz Williams left Marquette (and the BIG EAST) for Virginia Tech (and the ACC), replaced by (former Duke star) Steve Wojciechowski. Other notables who are out: Steve Donahue(Boston College), Mike Jarvis(Florida Atlantic), Stan Heath(South Florida), Craig Robinson(Oregon State); notables who are in: Ernie Kent(Washington State) and (former Kentucky star) Scott Padgett(Samford).

The inside-outside capability that Wisconsin cFrank Kaminsky displayed on the way to the Badgers' Final Four finish makes him the preseason favorite for Player Of The Year; Iowa State's fGeorges Niang has great versatility as well; Louisville's fMontrezl Harrell is an unstoppable brute force in the paint; BYU's gTyler Haws shoots and scores with abandon; North Carolina's pMarcus Paige should have scorers to pass to this season.

    
Among the SuperFrosh, Texas' 6-11 cMyles Turner (who joins an intact starting five) joins the best veteran cast; Arizona's 6-6 tStanley Johnson should flourish joining a solid nucleus; 6-10 cKarl-Anthony Towns' talent will be needed right away at Kentucky as will both 6-8 fCliff Alexander's and 6-6 fKelly Oubre's at Kansas along with both 6-7 tJustin Jackson and 6-5 tTheo Pinson at North Carolina; 6-10 cJahlil Okafor must be Duke's centerpiece from the start as must 6-8 fKevon Looney at UCLA and 6-5 tD'Angelo Russell at Ohio State.

It's Rick Pitino (Sr.) vs Richard Pitino (Jr.) on the sidelines at the ARMED FORCES CLASSIC (Saturday) when Louisville meets Minnesota on the Coast Guard Air Ship BORINQUEN in Aguadilla, PUERTO RICO.

    
(Don't forget ESPN's 24-hour(+) TIP-OFF MARATHON at the beginning of next week: Monday overnight/all-day Tuesday, concluding with the latest installment of the CHAMPIONS CLASSIC double-header series featuring Kentucky-Kansas, Duke-Michigan State.)

This year, we're on the road to INDIANAPOLIS!!!

-- Ron

Key games this week:

Friday:

@WichitaSt-NewMexicoSt, @Harvard-{MIT}(BostonMA), @UtahSt-WeberSt(UT),

(7P):@GeorgiaTech-Georgia(GA),

ARMED FORCES CLASSIC 1Off @ AguadillaPR/CGAS BORINQUEN/

-(Louisville-Minnesota),

VETERAN'S DAY CLASSIC DblHdr @ AnnapolisMD/Navy/

-(VCU-Tennessee, @Navy-MichiganSt),

CONNECTICUT SIX CLASSIC TrplHdr @ HamdenCT/Quinnipiac/

-(@Quinnipiac-@Yale[CT][CT6], @Fairfield-@CConnecticutSt[CT][CT6], @Hartford-@SacredHeart[CT][CT6]),

ELGIN BAYLOR CLASSIC-(@Seattle-TexasSt),

Friday-Saturday:

LION CLASSIC Semis @ LosAngelesCA/LoyolaMarymount/

-(BoiseSt-@SanDiego, @LoyolaMarymount-SEMissouriSt),

ALL-MILITARY CLASSIC Semis @ WestPointNY/Army/

-(@Army-AirForce[MIL], VMI-TheCitadel[MIL]),

Friday-Saturday, Monday week:

RAINBOW CLASSIC RndRob3 @ HonoluluHI/Hawaii/

-(@Hawaii, CalStBakersfield, HighPt, ARPineBluff),

Friday-Saturday week:

2KS CLASSIC 2x4 RndRob2 on-campus; Cons 3rd/Semis @ FargoND/NDState/; 3rd/Semis @ NewYorkNY/MSG/

-(A: Texas, Iowa, @NDState, KennesawSt;

   B: @Syracuse, California, Hampton, AlcornSt,

Friday-Sunday week:

CVC CLASSIC 3x4 WarmUp2 on-campus; Cons 2nd/RndRob3 @ RustonLA/LouisianaTech/, BridgeportCT/Fairfield/; 3rd/Semis @ BrooklynNY/BARCLAYS/

-(Semis: Duke-Temple, Stanford-UNLV;

   ConsA: @LouisianaTech, American, MoreheadSt, Presbyterian;

   ConsB: SDakota, SamHoustonSt, @Fairfield, Wofford),

Friday-Wed 26 Nov:

MAUI INVITATIONAL 8Bracket WarmUp1 on-campus; Cons 3rd/Semis @ LittleRockAR/ARLittleRock/; 2nd/Qtrs @ LahainaHI/{Chaminade}/

-(Arizona-Missouri, KansasSt-Purdue, BYU-SanDiegoSt, Pittsburgh-@{Chaminade}),

(new)LAS VEGAS-MAIN EVENT 2x4 RndRob2 on-campus; 3rd/Semis @ LasVegasNV/MGM/

-(A: Tulsa, Auburn, Milwaukee;

   B: OklahomaSt, OregonSt, OralRoberts, Louisiana),

HALL OF FAME TIP-OFF 2x4 RndRob2 on-campus; Semis @ UncasvilleCT/MOHEGAN/

-(A: FloridaSt, Providence, Navy, Northeastern;

   B: NotreDame, Massachusetts, Manhattan, SUNYB),

Friday-Fri 28 Nov:

(new)CAWOOD LEDFORD CLASSIC RndRob4 on-campus

-(@Kentucky, Buffalo, TXArlington, {GrandCanyon}, MontanaSt),

GS-A SHOWCASE RndRob4 on-campus

-(@Louisville, Marshall, ClevelandSt, JacksonvilleSt, SavannahSt),

CBE CLASSIC 3x4 WarmUp2 on-campus; Cons 2nd/RndRob3 @ RochesterMI/Oakland/, WestLongBranchNJ/Monmouth/; 3rd/Semis @ KansasCityMO

-(Semis: IowaSt-Alabama, Maryland-ArizonaSt;

   ConsA: @Oakland, WeCarolina, GeorgiaSt, ChicagoSt;

   ConsB: Towson, @Monmouth, BethuneCookman, CConnecticutSt),

HOOSIERS SHOWCASE RndRob4 on-campus

-(SMU, @Indiana, Lamar, EaWashington, TexasSo),

Saturday:

MAYOR'S CUP 1Off @ TulsaOK

-(@OralRoberts-Tulsa[TulsaOK]),

Sunday:

@Arkansas-AlabamaSt,

CVC-BOSTON CLASSIC TrplHdr @ BostonMA/GARDEN/

-(@Harvard-@HolyCross[MA], @BostonCol-@Massachusetts[MA], @Northeastern-@BostonU[BostonMA]),

Sunday, Wed-Fri 26-28 Nov:

BATTLE 4 ATLANTIS 8Bracket WarmUp1 on-campus; 2nd/Qtrs @ ParadiseIslandBAHAMAS

-(Wisconsin-UAB, Florida-Georgetown, NCarolina-Butler, Oklahoma-UCLA),

Sunday-Sat 29 Nov:

BROOKLYN-THANKSGIVING CLASSIC 2x4 RndRob2 on-campus; Cons 3rd/Semis @ JerseyCityNJ/StPeters/, 3rd/Semis @ BrooklynNY/BARCLAYS/

-(Semis: Virginia-LaSalle, Rutgers-Vanderbilt;

   Cons Semis: @StPeters-TennesseeSt, NorfolkSt-StFrancisNY),

- - - - - -

Monday week:

@Florida-MiamiFL(FL), @Gonzaga-SMU, @Colorado-Auburn, @Drexel-StJosephs[PhiladelphiaPA], @StMarys-NewMexicoSt, @MorganSt-Towson[BaltimoreMD]),

BATTLE OF THE BOULEVARD - I-(@Lipscomb-Belmont[NashvilleTN]),

Monday-Tuesday week:

(TIP-OFF MARATHON)

• Monday
  
• (7Pet): @ {wKentucky} v {wBaylor}
  
• (7Pet): @ Florida v Miami-FL (FL)
  
• (9Pet): @ {wStanford} v {wConnecticut}
  
• (11Pet): @ Gonzaga v SMU
  
• (11Pet): @ Oregon v Detroit (LEGENDS CLASSIC)
  
• Tuesday
  
• (1Aet): @ Colorado v Auburn
  
• (3Aet): @ St Mary's v New Mexico St
  
• (5Aet): @ Hawaii v High Pt (RAINBOW CLASSIC @ Honolulu, HI /Hawaii/)
  
• (7Aet): @ Wofford v Iona
  
• (9Aet): @ Stephen F Austin v No Iowa
  
• (11Aet): @ Massachusetts v Manhattan
  
• (12Net): @ Baylor v S Carolina
  
• (2Pet): Wichita St v Memphis (??? @ Sioux Falls, SD /PENTAGON/)
  
• (4Pet): @ San Diego St v Utah
  
• (6Pet): @ VCU v Toledo (LEGENDS CLASSIC)
  
• (7Pet): @Duke v @Michigan St (CHAMPIONS CLASSIC @ Indianapolis, IN)
  
• (7.30Pet): @ Ohio St v Marquette
  
• (9Pet): @Kentucky v @Kansas (CHAMPIONS CLASSIC @ Indianapolis, IN)
  
• (9.30Pet): @ LSU v Texas Tech
  

Monday week-Tue 25 Nov:

LEGENDS CLASSIC 2x4 RndRob2 on-campus; Cons 3rd/Semis @ ToledoOH/Toledo/, 3rd/Semis @ BrooklynNY/BARCLAYS/

-(Semis: Villanova-VCU, Michigan-Oregon;

   Cons Semis: @Toledo-Bucknell, Detroit-MDEaShore),

Monday week-Sat 29 Nov:

NIT SEASON TIP-OFF 2x4 RndRob2 on-campus; Semis @ NewYorkNY/MSG/

-(Semis: Gonzaga-Georgia, Minnesota-@StJohns;

   Cons: StJosephs, WeKentucky, @StonyBrook, @LongIsland, {FranklinPierce}, {StThomasAquinas}),

Tuesday week:

@OhioSt-Marquette, @SanDiegoSt-Utah, @SCarolina-Baylor, @LSU-TexasTech, @GeorgiaTech-AlabamaA&M, @Georgetown-TexasA&MCC, @Massachusetts-Manhattan, @StephenFAustin-NoIowa, @Wofford-Iona,

CHAMPIONS CLASSIC DblHdr @ IndianapolisIN

-(@Kentucky-@Kansas, @Duke-@MichiganSt),

??? 1Off @ SiouxFallsSD/PENTAGON/

-(WichitaSt-Memphis),

Tuesday week-Sun 30 Nov:

WOODEN LEGACY/ANAHEIM CLASSIC 8Bracket WarmUp1 on-campus; 2nd/Qtrs @ FullertonCA/CalStFullerton/,AnaheimCA

-(Washington-@SanJoseSt, WeMichigan-@LongBeachSt, Xavier-@SanDiego,
Princeton-UTEP).