Big Winners: Ohio St- this team showed they are not only among the elite in the conference but are among the top 4 or 5 in the nation as well. they were very impressive yesterday.
St Mary's-They were able to beat a decent Big East team, and showed that, despite the loss of Omar Samhan, they are ready to contend for a WCC title and another trip to the Big Dance.
Louisville-This team showed they are a little bit disrespected getting picked to finish 10th in a so-so Big East. They are very talented, but also very young. They looked great last night but we must continue to follow the young team's progress to see if theyre for real.
San Diego St-You dont just waltz into the Kennel and come out with a victory these days, but that is exactly what SDSU did. They looked great on offense, solid on defense, and are as athletic as any team I have seen this year. They are dangerous
Big Losers: Butler- This team showed how much they miss Gordon Hayward. They are down now to only one true perimeter scorer in Shelvin Mack, and Matt Howard showed that he is still addicted to fouling. They have glaring issues right now.
Florida- Clearly, their guards did not mature at all between last season and now. They have bigtime issues at guard. Their posts are extremely good but with depth and IQ at guard, it wont much matter.
Gonzaga- They have bigtime issues with finding scorers. They have Stephen Gray, but outside of him, they have nobody that has proven they can consistently score the basketball. They have problems they need to solve before they can get back into the elite.
Five things we learned:
1. There are 4 really good teams, and then there is a mess after that. The top 4 teams have already proven that they are really good. However, after those 4, we really do not know who is for real and who is not. The early season tournaments the next few weeks are going to teach us a lot, and I cant wait!
2. Traditional mid-major powers have major competition this year. Gonzaga and Butler are traditionally the best mid-majors, but there are quite a few good mid-majors this year. San Diego St might be the best of all of them. St Mary's proved they should be in the conversation, and we have not even seen Wichita St yet.
3. Freshman stars abound. Jared Sullinger showed that he was possibly the best player on the court against Florida with a double-double. Perry Jones III had a double-double of his own against La Salle, and Louisville whipped Butler with a ton of freshmen. Memphis has a ton of stud freshmen who need to do a little growing up, but they are extremely talented.
4. Staying up for 38 hours is extremely difficult to do. Yes, I did it, but it was not easy. I woke up at 10 am Monday morning and did not sleep again til midnight on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning. However, despite the difficulty, I imagine I will probably do it again next year!
5. Outside of the 1 seeds, this March is going to be pure insanity. As I said, parity abounds outside the top 4, and come tournament time, it should be front and center. The tournament is a mere 4 months away, and I cant wait!
Thanks for joining me on this marathon journey! More CBB coming next week with the good early season tournaments kicking off, so look for that. Also, CFB Saturday preview coming on Thursday, cheers.
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