College Hoops- Preview

In my opinion, there is absolutely NOTHING as exciting in sports as march madness. It's hard to imagine that college sports are about to be in full swing. College football (conference championships, bowl games, etc.) and college basketball combine to make an thrilling time of the year for sports junkies like me. College basketball can also help get your mind off other sports (cough,cough....ole miss....Mississippi State...). So let's start this preview. Here's this year's preseason top 25. (Note the margin between the number of first place votes between UNC and Kentucky)

ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll
RK	TEAM	RECORD	PTS
1	North Carolina (30)	0-0	774
2	Kentucky (1)	0-0	721
3	Ohio State	0-0	702
4	Connecticut	0-0	655
5	Syracuse	0-0	649
6	Duke	0-0	635
7	Vanderbilt	0-0	567
8	Louisville	0-0	514
9	Memphis	0-0	482
10	Florida	0-0	474
11	Pittsburgh	0-0	471
12	Baylor	0-0	358
13	Kansas	0-0	331
14	Wisconsin	0-0	313
15	Xavier	0-0	277
16	Arizona	0-0	269
17	Alabama	0-0	194
18	Michigan	0-0	187
19	Texas A&M	0-0	161
20	UCLA	0-0	147
21	Marquette	0-0	145
22	Cincinnati	0-0	141
23	Gonzaga	0-0	125
24	California	0-0	111
25	Missouri	0-0	110

• Others receiving votes: Florida State 108, Texas 107, Michigan State 73, Temple 59, Washington 29, Butler 25, New Mexico 22, Creighton 19, Villanova 18, Purdue 17, UNLV 16, West Virginia 13, George Mason 12, Mississippi State 11, St. John's 11, Saint Mary's 5, Virginia 5, Virginia Commonwealth 4, Drexel 2, Kansas State 2, Long Beach State 2, Notre Dame 1, Brigham Young 1

The Power Conferences

1. Big  East

This comes as no surprise to anyone, but the Big East is poised to be the conference to beat this year.  With 10 teams receiving votes in the above poll, the Big East is looking strong this year.

    2.ACC

The ACC should probably be renamed to the ABC (Atlantic Basketball Conference). This conference LIVES for basketball. With some of the most talented teams in college basketball (UNC, Duke, WV), this is the conference that is most likely going to beat the Big East this year.

Sleeper Conferences

1. SEC

With 2 teams in the preseason top 10 this year and teams loaded with raw talent (Alabama, Mississippi State, and Ole Miss), look for the SEC to get hot this year around March Madness.

    2. Big 12 (10 or 9.... I forget.)

With teams like Texas and Kansas, all 9 or 10 teams in the Big 12 will be pushed to be better better this season. Look at K-State or Texas A&M as specific sleepers this year to win this conference.

The Best of the Rest

1. Xavier
2. Temple
3. Butler
4. George Mason
5. Saint Mary's
6. Murrah State
7. Virginia Commonwealth
8. Belmont
9. Harvard
10. Cornell

With ALL of that said, I'm really hoping for some crazy good basketball this winter.