Category: College Basketball

by Trevor Freeman

I have but one piece of advice to pass along to all of you……..  

Beware the Bay Area natives in your NCAA Tournament pool this season.  For they are the ones that have been reading College Basketball preview magazines since mid-October and are already prepared for March Madness.  An October stumble in baseball and two NFL teams that have yet to leave the gate have reduced us already to March planning……..and plan I already have.  

It took some careful film study and consultation with my crack research staff but we are ready to unleash our preseason Top 25.  Words can’t describe the anticipation with which I am looking forward to the upcoming season of college hoops.  You know why NFL football and NCAA basketball are my two favorite sports to follow?  It is because both sports do it right in terms of how a season should be structured.  Both sports begin with drinks and light hors d’oeuvres (preseason NFL games and preseason tournaments).  Those are followed by a solid main course (regular seasons) which is then capped off with a sumptuous dessert and after dinner Scotch (NFL playoffs and NCAA Tournament).  With that let me order my first cocktail and begin our list with………..            

They say death smiles on us all; all we can do is smile back.

We all missed the greatest storyline of 2006.

Well how about that? Time-stamped photographs and DNA evidence have apparently gotten the Duke Lacrosse players off the hook.

Got tired of Mike Davis’ run at IU?  Me, too.  Miffed at UAB’s decision to hire him?  Read on.

Joakim Noah, Corey Brewer, and Al Horford announced that they would be returning for their junior season on Friday night in front of a group of students and fans in Gainsville.  Billy Donovan confirmed this statement afterwards, saying he had talked to the students earlier and they told him they wanted to win a second straight national championship… and if other teams in Division 1 can’t hold on to their prime time players, the Gators might just do so.

It’s been the trend over the past few years for players to leave college early or come straight out of high school to go to the NBA.  College players who dominate at that level for more than one year without entering the draft have become a dying breed.  While there’s always a chance Joakim Noah is going to be the new trend setter, it’s highly unlikely that many more will follow in his footsteps.

Gators Chomp UCLA 73 – 57

Cutting down the nets after winning the NCAA National Championship game is a dream come true for just about every young boy in America (except for those named Lebron and Kobe).  That dream became a reality for the players of the 2006 NCAA National Champion University of Florida Gators.  The Gators chomped their way into the history books by defeating the UCLA Bruins 73 – 57.  Florida, a three point favorite coming into Monday’s championship game, placed their championship stamp on college basketball history for the first time, winning their first basketball title in school and state history.  The Oakland region representative UCLA Bruins succumbed to the style of aggressive play that they had thrived on throughout the regular season and the tournament.  The Gators played a patient yet attacking style of game and literally pummeled the Bruins for the entire 40 minutes.

Bruins Bully Bayou Bengals 59 – 45

The NCAA Men’s basketball Final Four has produced some of the most magical and memorable games in basketball history.  That was definitely not the case in Saturday’s UCLA – LSU regional semifinal game in Indianapolis.  The Oakland region representative, number two ranked UCLA Bruins seemingly channeled the mojo of John Wooden, Lew Alcindor, Bill Walton, and Reggie Miller while pounding the LSU Tigers for 40 straight minutes.  A game what many said to be an instant classic was quickly turned into non-competitive rout with UCLA defeating LSU 59 to 45.  The UCLA Bruins, who even went under my radar this season, came out and overmatched and outplayed a widely heralded Tigers team.  LSU, sporting two future NBA lottery picks in Glen “Big Baby” Davis and Tyrus Thomas, looked fatigued and bamboozled against the Bruin defensive tenacity.