I asked this in the random thread but I'll try again.

I'm really into my college basketball at the moment. I need recommendations for players to watch and any freshman centre's I should look out for.

Enjoying Michigan (burke, morgan), Syracuse and St Johns.

Centers? Gorgul Dieng, Louisville. Cody Zeller of Indiana. Jeff Withy, Kansas. I guess Plumlee, Duke is technically a forward, but he's interesting to watch/

I think Arizona has a great team this year, is fun to watch. I think they are a sleeper to win it all this year... and Duke loses to NC State as I write this.

My team UCLA has 3 freshmen who will play in the NBA next year, including Shabazz Muhammed who will be an NBA all star by the time he's done, with a poisonous, dysfunctional coach.. talent enough to be the nation;s best team,,, may not make the sweet 16.

Sorry I just re-read and saw you are asking for Freshmen centers...Noel at Kentucky.

Just watch Gonzaga. Kevin Pangos.

Doug McDermott of Creighton, he's not a freshman, but he might be the best basketball player in the country.
Nate Wolters of South Dakota State can shoot the rock too, but he plays for a team that should still be playing Division II basketball.

Baylor's Isaiah Austin will be something, some day.

Yeah, I watched him monday night against Kansas, he had a good battle with Withy.

Thanks for the other tips, I really want to see Noel at Kentucky, in fact judging by the recruitment for next year I will be following Kentucky (Dakari Johnson/Marcus Lee) very closely.

Not to be a homer, but its the only team I've paid attention to...Wisconsin has a nice freshman, Sam Dekker. UW continues to be overlooked in the Big ten...I'm not saying this is their best team or that they will be there at the end of the year, but they have a nice squad.

I am amazed that they currently lead the Big Ten standings after the abomination that was played here in Lincoln ten days ago.
Wisconsin beat the Huskers 47-41 in what might have been the most offensively inept Big Ten basketball game ever played.
Nebraska stinks, but they have been playing competitive on the road against some of the ranked Big Ten teams, which is pretty amazing due to their lack of scholarship players and recent injuries.
I hope Wisconsin and the rest of the Big Ten powerhouses continue to dominate down the stretch, since it would look pretty bad for Nebraska to go winless in a conference that shit the bed in the NCAA tournament.

Alex Len - Center for Maryland. Tommy is not a fan right at this moment

He's a sophomore, and if he stays in school for another year he will be something. But he'll most likely bolt to the NBA this year and never be heard from again like ever other decent Terp prospective big man in recent history

Haha, just saw this and no, I was not a fan of Len that night. Good player though a bit inconsistent. No doubt he has the talent to go to the NBA.

One name I'll add to the discussion is Victor Oladipo from Indiana. I only catch Indiana games every once in a while, but from what I've seen the dude's a monster.

Heed.

I thought this thread was about UGA basketball. *rimshot*

A few current thoughts as things stand today:

Anyone shocked to hear the ACC is looking at courting storming after the UVA win last night after Coach K cried about "safety" in the post game presser?? Fuck off and die Mike.

I just can't shake that this Indiana team is smoke and mirrors. Not title worthy......yet.

Florida, as much as it pains me to say this, is a Final Four level team........AGAIN.

UK is the biggest fail of the year. FAIL.

Miami will lose in the Sweet 16.....but beat Duke tomorrow.

Gonzaga is REALLY good this year but won't make the Final Four.

Don't look now but UNC is getting hot at the right time. Still a year away though.

Spoilers: Oregon, Ole Miss, NC State, OSU, Butler, Marquette, Alabama

Also:

The VCU cheer is "you don't wanna start a war...with the RAMS...DON'T START NO SHIT WON'T BE NO SHIT" but espn keeps dropping out the house audio on the second part.

Seriously, I thought the same thing. From what I've read, safety wasn't an issue until the Duke players forced their way through the security lined up to protect them. I didn't read too much into it but sounds like there could be conflicting accounts between K's crying and what may have actually happened.


I predicted this earlier in the year when I realized they are relying on two NC State castoffs - Mays and Harrow.


As for NC State, they can definitely get hot like they did last year but I think it will ultimately come down to their defensive and rebounding effort (or lack thereof). They are a very good offensive team but will need to get stops when it counts. Also, CJ Leslie will have to be locked in like he was at the end of last year. He has been pretty inconsistent this year.

So I missed this one. That said, Miami is still a better team. They beat Duke by 30 on their home court, and it took Ryan Kelly having not only the game of his life but maybe the game of any Duke player this year to beat them (7 for 9 from 3?!?!). Not to mention it was AT Cameron. Sorry....not impressed.

On a neutral court, Miami wins that game.

Great game though.

'Zags are #1 for the first time ever. Wow.

The Zags coming out, I was a college first year... 1999, had picked Minnesota thru to the round of sixteen (at least), then the enforcement hammer came down, Gophers lost to Bulldogs, Monson ended up at UM, & Few took the reigns (Protestant preacher's son at a Jesuit school; those Christmas dinners must be rough, with plenty of "stop supporting Popery" to go around)... Rest is history.

Clem Haskins is why basketball in the Northwest is such a large deal. Clem Snide prolly has an ironic song about it.

I like the Gophers as a surprise Sweet 16 candidate this year.

Jed Heathcote and Dan Fitzgerald may be better reasons....and Hoopfest.

I haven't watched nearly enough matches due to the time difference but I'm so excited for the next few weeks. It seems so open this year, is this usual or do we just not have any excellent teams this year?

Anyway I fancy a really aggressive defence team, either Louisville or Georgetown to go all the way, or my outside bet of somebody really deep, go PITT!

Yeah, this year has been pretty wide open, no one team has stood out the way Kentucky did last year. It is somewhat unusual, but may be becoming more the norm.

In a way I think the tourney will be wide open, but I still see two or three #1 seeds in the finals. However I wouldn't be surprised to see a long shot in the mix in the final four though, like a george mason or a vcu.

The FT curse strikes fasts.
The Huskers edged the Gophers on Wednesday night in a low scoring affair and the last Husker Basketball game at Bob Devaney Sport Center, then the Gophers got beat pretty handily by Purdue on Saturday.

Yeah, I realized the extremely tenuous bubble position they were in almost immediately after I posted that. Tubby, we hardly knew ye...

It's VERY open this year and no, it's not usual in my opinion. I'd say in any given year, there are about 6 to 8 teams that could legitimately win it all. This year, I'd say it's double that.

Last year, Kentucky had the top 2 picks in the NBA draft. 2 more that went in the first round and 2 MORE that went in the 2nd round. Crazy. There is no team with that depth of talent this year.

I think there are some after effects of the One and Done rule at play as well. You're starting to see teams with experienced upperclassmen do really well and be more well balanced (despite some bad offensive basketball at times).