College basketball, the only sport that matters anymore, is back. Unfortunately it is crippled after all the departures last offseason. I don't hear anyone talking about the weak state of college basketball, but that is probably because it is in most commentators' interest to hide the ugliness.
Take a look at the conferences. The SEC sucks, but that is nothing new. Of course, any year it is good is reason enough for the NCAA to open an investigation (Georgia is the most recent example). The Pac Ten becomes pathetic when Arizona has a down year, and a 2-3 start qualifies as a down year. One of those two wins hardly counts, as it was against Kansas in a game in which the victor shot 29 percent. 29 percent!!!
The ACC lost several players to the NBA, and I'm still scratching my head about Shelden Williams staying around at Duke another year. It's not like they'll get to the final four---their depth is highly suspect. They're the default number one right now, but look for them to be crushed by Texas this weekend.
Which brings me to the Big 12, which has two good teams in the aforementioned Texas and Oklahoma, but the rest of the teams would have trouble competing in the Missouri Valley. Oklahoma State just lost at home to Norwestern State! Then there is Kansas, which continues to attract high profile recruits, even though "Bucknell" Bill Self's coaching ability is very much in question. It reminds me of what happened a few years ago, when some high profile Illinois talent similarly spurned UofI for Depaul. We all know how that turned out.
The BIG East has a lot of teams. Hmmmm. This conference has a lot of teams. Villanova might be good.
The Big Ten is a mystery. Michigan State has looked terrible. What is the deal with their non-conference ineptitude? They beat Boston College tonight, otherwise it would really look bad for the Big Ten with Iowa just losing to Northern Iowa and Indiana losing to Indiana State. The Illini have been surprising. Most surprising is Dee Brown's pathetic shooting. If his shooting touch ever comes around, they might be a legitimate top ten team. And if Jamar Smith continues to light it up like he did last night, they might be a legitimate Final Four contender. I know it's too early to be this optimistic, but this is one of those teams that I expected to be much better in the second half of the season due to the player turnover. If that improvement happens, look out. Of course, all these rosy expectations are based on my belief that college basketball is lacking dominant teams this year. We shall see.
