Sports InsideOut

The Big 10 has a lot of talent at the top, and also a lot bad teams at the bottom.  You have ranked teams like Iowa, Michigan State, Maryland, Purdue and Indiana, as well as good teams like Michigan and Ohio State.  However, at the bottom, Rutgers, Minnesota, Illinois, Penn State and Nebraska are as bad as the bottom feeders of any conference. I think Maryland is the best team in the conference when they are on, but can be inconsistent, and Iowa has been better as of late, so I'm going to give them the nod at #1.  Iowa's first win over Michigan State was impressive, but MSU had no Valentine, and it was at Iowa.  I definitely didn't expect the second victory though, as Michigan St had Valentine back and played on their home court, yet still got handled by the Hawkeyes.  Iowa has also beaten Purdue on the road, which is a very nice win.  It's very curious to me that the Hawkeyes started off the year so poorly, as they lost a preseason game to a ...

The Big East is an underrated conference this year, led by a really good team in Villanova.  They have two top 6 teams in both the AP and coaches poll (Oklahoma and Xavier).  Right now on kenpom.com, Villanova is the number one team in the country (they are #4 in the AP poll).  I think I agree with AP poll ranking more than the kenpom.com ranking, as the kenpom ranking may favor early season cupcakes too much.  Oklahoma beat Villanova by 23 points, so in my opinion there is no way they are behind the Wildcats.  I do think Villanova is really good though, just like they were last year before they fell in the NCAA tournament to NC State.  Villanova beat Xavier by an astonishing 31 points, which is Xavier's only loss on the year.  Xavier is pretty good as well, with plenty of good wins.  The Musketeers have beaten Alabama, USC (who should be ranked this week), Michigan, Cincinnati, Dayton, Wake Forest, Butler and Ma...

I was originally going to move to the Big East, but I had to give a Big 12 preview, just because of how incredible of a game the Oklahoma-Kansas game was.  It was the ultimate matchup, number 1 KU vs. number 2 Oklahoma ( in the AP poll), and the opposite in the coaches poll!  Both teams played very well all the way up to the end, with Kansas coming through in the end on a controversial steal by Frank Mason.  Mason stood way too close to Buddy Hield inbounding the ball and ended up getting the steal to seal the game.  Although in my opinion the refs clearly missed the call, good coaching by Bill Self to tell his guys to move close to the inbounder with so little space between the out of bounds line and the stands in Allen Fieldhouse.  Buddy Hield played an absolutely incredible game, scoring 46 points.  Oklahoma doesn't have much depth as they have a weak bench, but Buddy Hield is playing like the best player in the country, Jordan Woodard ha...

The college basketball season has been going on for a while, but in my opinion, that was all just preseason, and the real season starts when almost every game is a test, when good teams actually have to play on the road (crazy I know!), and when the marquee rivalries begin.  I am going to do a little preview on each of the conferences in separate posts. ACC The ACC was supposed to be the dominant league this season, and while they are still a really good league, led by a few top tier teams, overall they have been a disappointment.  Right now, Virginia looks like the team to beat.  Their only loss comes against a pretty good George Washington team on the road, and they have big wins over West Virginia and Villanova, as well as wins over California, and Ohio State (on the road).  Malcom Brogdon gets much more publicity for the Cavaliers, but in my opinion, Anthony Gill is their best player.  Gill has a huge motor, plays great defense, and is a bi...

Top 10 10. Jack Gibbs, Davidson How many guys can say they play on a 7-1 team who's only loss is on the road against North Carolina, while averaging over 25 PPG, almost 5 RPG, and over 4 APG, and shooting 54 percent from the field, 37.5 percent from three and 83 percent from the line?  If you guessed Jack Gibbs, you are correct.  Gibbs may not be the most well known college basketball player in the world, but he is one of the best players in the country. 9. Kyle Wiltjer, Gonzaga Wiltjer has had a down year so far percentage wise, as his three point and field goal percentages are down by a good bit.  This may be due to the loss of his three talented guards, or due to taking more shots, but I think he is just going through a slump and will turn it around quickly.  Wiltjer is taking a lot of shots this year, as the least he has taken in a game all year is 12, but I think he should be a little more selective, especially when Prezemek Karnowski comes back. 8. Georg...

There have been many storylines in the past week, including the #1 team in the country going down.  Here is my take: Unranked (and 3 loss!) UCLA upsets #1 Kentucky This is a real shocker, and in no way did I (or anyone) see this coming.  One thing I learned is that this year's UK team is nowhere near last year's UK team.  Last year's team blew out a better UCLA team, giving up single digit points in the first half.  I'm not sure what the problem was for the Wildcats, as it didn't look like the same team that beat Duke easily.  Star guards Jamal Murray and Tyler Ulis were a combined 7-28 from the field.  Ulis played injured, and Kentucky sorely missed Marcus Lee, who played just 4 minutes due to an injury early in the game.  UCLA showed massive potential with this win, although we all knew they had the talent to be a really good team.  For the Bruins, it's just a matter of putting up consistent results.  Overall, this is a big wakeup call f...

Three of the four Final Four teams from last year played in a two game showcase in Chicago last night. AP Top 5 teams Duke and Kentucky (#6 and #2 in my preseason ranking, respectively) faced off and a defending Final Four team in Michigan State faced AP top 5 Kansas (#13 and #5 in my poll, respectively) faced off in Chicago in the Champions Classic.  Kentucky beat Duke fairly handily, winning 74-63, and Michigan State surprisingly pulled it out against Kansas 79-73. On the UK-Duke Game This was supposed to be a matchup between star players #2 recruit Skal Labissiere from Kentucky, star recruit Brandon Ingram from Duke, and Grayson Allen, who came in averaging 27 PPG for Duke.  Instead, all three players played pretty terrible, as Ingram and Labissiere barely played due to foul trouble, poor defense and rebounding, and lack of effectiveness on offense.  Grayson Allen played major minutes, but had an off night, missing his first 9 shots.  Despite these things, it w...