Who You Believe In?

Reading Ed’s post about the fall of UNC yesterday had an effect on me, and still does at this moment. You look around the college basketball landscape, and see plenty of teams with one or two losses, but are they teams you really expect to win the national championship? This is one of those seasons where, if you haven’t been paying close attention to college ball, you better start now. With the exception of Kansas and Kentucky, the field is wide open. Even with those teams being 1 and 2, and continuing to find ways to win, we know all it takes is an off night, and next thing you know, they'll be at the house, too.

By now, we all see how Kentucky is performing in their first year of the Calipari Era, and the reasons for their success vary. Some people look at John Wall and attribute the majority of him on his play, but others, such as thetillshow, make sure to give ample credit to DeMarcus Cousins and Patrick Patterson as well. Regardless, when is the heat gonna be turned up on Calipari to win a ‘chip? I love the guy, but isn’t the time now? Kentucky’s got everything going for them, but what happens if they fall short this year? Hopefully, The Ghost of Missed Free Throws Past won’t come back to haunt his team this year, even though the Wildcats, just like those previous Memphis Tigers teams, can’t shoot ‘em worth a damn either.

You can say similar things about Kansas, but the glaring difference is their experience. The cornerstones of their team have been around for a few years, so if they’re able to make another run, there won’t be any nervousness or fear, whatsoever. You’re gonna just have to beat them, and with a team led by Sherron “The Chitown Killa” Collins, and Cole Aldrich, they’re more than fine. Throw in the Morris twins, Morningstar, and young Xavier Henry, and you’ve got a team ready to win their second national title in three years.

After that, it gets interesting with Purdue, Syracuse, and Duke. Purdue’s been building for this moment for the past few seasons, so their run isn’t as big a shock to me, as it may be to others. Still though, when you think of Final Four, do you think of the Boilermakers? We know what Syracuse is capable of, and they’re certainly battle-tested from being in the Big East, but when you look and see that, for all the Big East’s success, they haven’t won the national championship since 2004, are they gonna be the team to bring the ‘chip back? There's no question how much I hate Duke, but they have a legit three-headed monster, with Kyle Singler, Nolan Smith, and one of the only Duke players I've ever liked in life, Jon Scheyer. What about Villanova, or Georgetown? Villanova’s got all the pieces to make the run, but let our buddy The Reverend Paul Revere tell it, they have just as many reasons they can easily disappoint as well. Georgetown’s my team, and while I like what we have, we also have only one real ballhandler, it makes my hopes of us making a run diminish. On top of that, we have our moments when we don’t show up for games we have absolutely no business losing.

So the question goes back to the title of the post; who you believe in? You only have a few weeks left to make a case for a squad; because once the Madness hits that third Thursday in March…it’s on.

Be easy.
-K. Masenda
http://www.edthesportsfan.com/