Ben Ball Roundup: News & Notes
Bruins Nation —
... Now that June 16th has come and gone articles are popping up with pre-season rankings. Andy Katz from ESPN has UCLA at number 3:
3. UCLA Don't cry for UCLA because it lost Kevin Love and Russell Westbrook to the NBA draft. Getting back Darren Collison at the point, Josh Shipp on the wing and the No. 1 recruiting class with a little bit of everything -- scoring, floor leadership and rebounding -- make a fourth straight Final Four a legitimate goal.
That's a 14 spot jump for UCLA from Katz's ...
The Donte Effect
Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician —
While losing a player of Greene's ability cannot be overlooked, I'm one of the many who feel that the SU basketball team will be just fine without him. We still have plenty of weapons, we've got plenty of shooters and the Flynn-Harris connection is set to flourish (imo). If Donte truly was worried about getting his shots and keeping a high profile for his draft status, all parties really are better off. That said, it may take a while to convince the world at-large that this is the case. ESPN's Andy Katz has just posted his 2nd preseason poll and Syracuse isn't on it. That's curious because, as ...
Pre-Preseason College Hoops Top 10
Vegas Watch —
There is a lot of information to go through here, so I thought I'd try to compile some of it, as well as add my own opinions. Among the various resources used for this were Katz's top 25, Lunardi's Bracketology, Pomeroy's site, Rivals' Prospect Rankings, and Wikipedia (always). The futures lines were gathered from Bodog, BetUS, Carib, and Sportsbook. 1. North Carolina (4.5-1, BetUS) Katz #1, Lunardi #1 seed Last year: 36-3 (14-2), Pomeroy #4. Lost to Kansas in the national semifinal. Sophomore forward Alex Stepheson is transferring, to some school out ...
Montana basketball team will play Duke and Washington
The Grizzoulian —
The complete 2008-2009 Montana men's basketball schedule has yet to be released but we may already have our two marquee games. Last year, it was Gonzaga and Washington State. This season, the Montana Grizzlies will face off against the Duke Blue Devils and the Washington Huskies.
It's been rumored for a few weeks that the Griz would travel to Cameron Indoor but an abcmontana interview with Wayne Tinkle makes it official. The game is set for November 23rd. "It's not like we were trying to send a statement," Tinkle said in the interview. "As a student-athlete, you want to play teams that you kind of ...
Football Is On, But I’m Still Thinking About Mississippi State Basketball
Bulldog Maroon & White —
About three weeks back, I had a post covering a couple MSU basketball predictions: collegehoopsnet ranking the Bulldogs #96 and Dick Vitale putting MSU at #36 in his preseason top 40.
Well, I failed to mention that ESPN’s Joe Lunardi still has the Bulldogs predicted to make the Big Dance (his Bracketology was last ...
Analyzing The Mississippi State Bulldogs Basketball Schedule
Bulldog Maroon & White —
At the very close of business on Friday, September 19th, the Mississippi State Bulldogs finally posted their basketball schedule to mstateathletics.com. The SEC slate has been out for some time now. I analyzed the 16 conference games and predicted a record of 9-7. Now, I’ll take a look at the non-conference schedule. Has Rick Stansbury ...
