For the first time in more than a decade, a college basketball season begins with two teams for whom perfection is a realistic possibility.

Forget last season's parity party that left a Syracuse squad, unranked in the preseason, holding the title trophy. This year's hoops' landscape is dominated by the two towers

:stupid:

I have a better chance of hitting the lottery. :stupid:

Would someone please explain why a sweet 16 team which lost their leading scorer is the number 2 team in the country?

It doesnt make any sense to me.

Because they are loaded at the "3"! dook is gonna take their fair share of losses this year. I look forward to it. Look at what they are basing their hopes upon. A rook. A doper, a choke artist at point, a unproven(in basketball terms) steroid user and a kid at center who is the only real option, which in this case spells trouble for k. Wonder how his back is.....

Terpy Wrote:Would someone please explain why a sweet 16 team which lost their leading scorer is the number 2 team in the country?

It doesnt make any sense to me.

Because everyone else did much worse than that... Duke also got by far the best college bound prospect... getting rid of Dahntay will hurt... but not as much as you might expect... and the fact that ALL Duke lost was Dahntay is why they are #2... I believe that right now Duke is #1... The fact that UConn struggled with YALE AT HOME last night is pretty pathetic.

36-0 is a very large strech. 30 wins is possible, and 25 is a safe bet. Losing DJ is a definite blow because of his ability to take it to the rim strong, but if Deng lives up to the hype (seems to be doing well in preseason) then the loss won't be that bad. We also have one of the best, if not the best backcourt in the country with Duhon, Redick, Ewing, and Dockery.

Quote:Duke is going 36-0!

Not if the Seminoles have anything to say about it.



BTW, this paragraph is a frickin' joke...

Quote:In terms of conference competition, both the Big East and ACC should be somewhat down this season. Duke's schedule is brutal as always. An early-season date at No. 3 Michigan State (Dec. 3), but typically daunting trips to Maryland and North Carolina should be somewhat softened by the former's rebuilding and the latter's lack of depth. Duke has clearly forged several steps ahead of the Terps and Heels.

Carolina? Ok, I can see that, but several steps ahead of Maryland? Since when?

Quote:The fact that UConn struggled with YALE AT HOME last night is pretty pathetic.

Yeah, I guess Dook won't struggle in one game. They'll be up by 10 or more at half right? And the Blue Devils are going undefeated right? :rolleyes: It was their first game and they had some turnovers and missed some easy shots EARLY. They obviously got that settled at half time and pulled away.

Personally, I think Michigan State is a better team than Duke. Duke has more talent, but Michigan State has the experience, excellent rebounding, and excellent depth. Don't knock UConn for last night. It was the first game of the season.

nate jonesacc Wrote:

Terpy Wrote:Would someone please explain why a sweet 16 team which lost their leading scorer is the number 2 team in the country?

It doesnt make any sense to me.

Because everyone else did much worse than that... Duke also got by far the best college bound prospect... getting rid of Dahntay will hurt... but not as much as you might expect... and the fact that ALL Duke lost was Dahntay is why they are #2... I believe that right now Duke is #1... The fact that UConn struggled with YALE AT HOME last night is pretty pathetic.

Of the sweet 16 teams from last year...

Kentucky lost 3 impact players and are ranked 9 this season*

Wisconsin lost 1 impact player and are ranked 14

Marquette lost 2 impact players and are ranked 23*

Pittsburgh lost 3 impact players and are ranked 22

Arizona lost 3 impact players and are ranked 4*

Notre Dame lost 2 impact players and are ranked 19

Duke lost 2 impact players and are ranked 2

Kansas lost 2 impact players and are ranked 5*

Texas lost 1 impact player and are ranked 11*

UConn lost 1 impact player are ranked 1

Maryland lost 4 impact players and are ranked 25

Michigan St. lost 2 impact players and are ranked 3*

Oklahoma lost 3 impact players and are ranked 15*

Butler lost 4 impact players and are not ranked

Syracuse lost 2 impact players and are ranked 7*

Auburn lost 2 impact players and are not ranked



The teams with the asterick advanced to the next round (ie further than Duke).

Of the sweet 16 teams 10 lost the same number of "impact players" as Duke.

Only one of these teams is ranked ahead of Duke, UConn (also predicted to go undefeated this year :rolleyes: ) The difference is the Huskies did not lose their leading scorer from last season.

Now there are another few teams I would like to point out who are in a very similar situation as the Dukies...

Wisconsin much like Duke lost their best player from the previous season, they also got a very heralded recruit in Brian Butch. Now, before you *****, I know that Brian Butch is no where near as good as Deng is supposed to be but Wisconsin returns all but one player from a team which accomplshed the exact same thing as Duke did last season.

The next team would be Michigan St., they actually went further in the tournament than Duke did last season, and return a lot of very talented players. Michigan St. also landed a heralded recruit in Shannon Brown.

I see no reason why Duke should be ranked ahead of Michigan State. Michigan State has just as much talent than Duke at every position other than point guard and maybe the 3 depending on how good Deng turns out to be.

There is no doubt that Deng is a good player but is he really good enough to turn a sweet 16 team into an undefeated National Champion?

I think not.

Other than Carmello I cannot think of a single player in recent memor who has been able to have that much of an impact on a team all by himself.

If Deng is really as good as Carmello he would be in the NBA right now.

Terpy...

If Deng blah blah blah... Look, Carmelo didn't go pro out of HS... Deng is just as talented as Carmelo was last year. Will he have as much of an impact? No. Will he be the best freshman in the nation? Yes. He also values his education more than Carmelo (Deng's goal in life beyond basketball is to go back to the Sudan and become a political leader).

Of all the teams you mentioned, they either lost much more than 1 senior, or they lost someone better than Dahntay (i.e. TJ Ford). Further, none of them are getting anyone close to Luol Deng.

And when you categorize Duke as "a sweet 16" you neglect other accomplishments... You could turn it and say "ACC champion Duke..."

cbfranchise3 Wrote:Personally, I think Michigan State is a better team than Duke. Duke has more talent, but Michigan State has the experience, excellent rebounding, and excellent depth. Don't knock UConn for last night. It was the first game of the season.

I think MSU and Duke are about even... I think Duke has a slight edge due to coaching... and the preseason poll should have been Duke #1, MSU #2, UConn #3.

techfan4 Wrote:

Quote:The fact that UConn struggled with YALE AT HOME last night is pretty pathetic.

Yeah, I guess Dook won't struggle in one game. They'll be up by 10 or more at half right? And the Blue Devils are going undefeated right? :rolleyes: It was their first game and they had some turnovers and missed some easy shots EARLY. They obviously got that settled at half time and pulled away.

Of course Duke will struggle... and at that point, their rating should drop... No one is denying that.

I garauntee you that if Duke played Yale at home last night they would be up by more than 10 at half.

No, Duke is not going undefeated... That's ridiculous.

It was Yale's first game too... :rolleyes:

They missed some shots... had some bad turnovers... evidence of an overrated team.

Remember... YALE HAS NO SCHOLARSHIP PLAYERS...

Duke is loaded with talent. They are going to be mad good, let's face it. But they will not go undefeated. An off the wall prediction is that they will probably lose 5-8 games.

And UConn never "pulled away"... They won by 10 and that doesn't show how close the entire game was.

My prediction: 32-4

Terpy Wrote:

nate jonesacc Wrote:

Terpy Wrote:Would someone please explain why a sweet 16 team which lost their leading scorer is the number 2 team in the country?

It doesnt make any sense to me.

Because everyone else did much worse than that... Duke also got by far the best college bound prospect... getting rid of Dahntay will hurt... but not as much as you might expect... and the fact that ALL Duke lost was Dahntay is why they are #2... I believe that right now Duke is #1... The fact that UConn struggled with YALE AT HOME last night is pretty pathetic.

Of the sweet 16 teams from last year...

Kentucky lost 3 impact players and are ranked 9 this season*

Wisconsin lost 1 impact player and are ranked 14

Marquette lost 2 impact players and are ranked 23*

Pittsburgh lost 3 impact players and are ranked 22

Arizona lost 3 impact players and are ranked 4*

Notre Dame lost 2 impact players and are ranked 19

Duke lost 2 impact players and are ranked 2

Kansas lost 2 impact players and are ranked 5*

Texas lost 1 impact player and are ranked 11*

UConn lost 1 impact player are ranked 1

Maryland lost 4 impact players and are ranked 25

Michigan St. lost 2 impact players and are ranked 3*

Oklahoma lost 3 impact players and are ranked 15*

Butler lost 4 impact players and are not ranked

Syracuse lost 2 impact players and are ranked 7*

Auburn lost 2 impact players and are not ranked



The teams with the asterick advanced to the next round (ie further than Duke).

Of the sweet 16 teams 10 lost the same number of "impact players" as Duke.

Only one of these teams is ranked ahead of Duke, UConn (also predicted to go undefeated this year :rolleyes: ) The difference is the Huskies did not lose their leading scorer from last season.

Now there are another few teams I would like to point out who are in a very similar situation as the Dukies...

Wisconsin much like Duke lost their best player from the previous season, they also got a very heralded recruit in Brian Butch. Now, before you *****, I know that Brian Butch is no where near as good as Deng is supposed to be but Wisconsin returns all but one player from a team which accomplshed the exact same thing as Duke did last season.

The next team would be Michigan St., they actually went further in the tournament than Duke did last season, and return a lot of very talented players. Michigan St. also landed a heralded recruit in Shannon Brown.

I see no reason why Duke should be ranked ahead of Michigan State. Michigan State has just as much talent than Duke at every position other than point guard and maybe the 3 depending on how good Deng turns out to be.

There is no doubt that Deng is a good player but is he really good enough to turn a sweet 16 team into an undefeated National Champion?

I think not.

Other than Carmello I cannot think of a single player in recent memor who has been able to have that much of an impact on a team all by himself.

If Deng is really as good as Carmello he would be in the NBA right now.

BTW... Brian Butch is redshirting this season...

And if you look at MSU's starting five vs. Duke's... it's about even... If you want me to go in detail, I will...

IIRC UConn was up about 20 at one point before Yale attempted a comeback.

nate jonesacc Wrote:. He also values his education more than Carmelo (Deng's goal in life beyond basketball is to go back to the Sudan and become a political leader).

bull**** you know as well as anyone that he is gone after this season unless he gets hurt or if it turns out he isnt as good as everyone says he is. If you discount the fact that Duke is a better school than Syracuse he wont accomplish any more than Carmello has educationally.

Ambitions to be a political leader in Sudan is about the same as wanting to be the next CEO of Enron. :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: