It’s just starting to get cool outside, we’re right in the meat of football season, NBA pre-season games are in full force on ESPN for NBA Fridays, and the NCAA coaches poll of Men’s Basketball rankings was released today.  Basketball season is right around the corner.  Can life get any better in college sports? 

 Next to Christmas, today is probably my favorite day of the year.  (Well, maybe today tied with the first ACC basketball match-up of the season.)  I love to see the preseason polls and tear them apart for all they are worth because they really mean nothing and definitely do not give you wins.  Three teams from the ACC made the top 25, and all three are from North Carolina.  UNC was ranked #1, Duke #11, and (I saved the best one for last) NC STATE #24.

 The best part was seeing State back in the Top 25.  I hope they will be able to maintain all season, but they are looking great.  It’s nice to see some national attention.  I am excited to see how Degand does at point, how Costner has improved and what I am looking forward to the most is seeing JJ Hickson run the court.  The 6′9″ freshman was a five star recruit from Marietta, Georgia, and his strengths include rebounding and being a well rounded athlete.  At State’s ‘Ballin at the Old Barn’ practice a few weeks ago, Hickson was jogging up to the basket and pulling off a reverse windmill dunk.  Hickson will be fun to watch.  State only lost 1 starter last year, point guard Engin Atsur, and will have a deeper bench than they had last year.

 Looking at the poll overall, I was surprised that UCLA got 12 first place votes, but ended up at #2; behind UNC who got 10 first place votes.  I think UCLA should have been #1.  I was also surprised that Tennessee was ranked so high this year.  Their senior guard, Chris Lofton, who averaged about 20ppg last season, is good but I don’t think they should be #7, I was thinking more like 10th or 11th. 

What would your top 25 look like?  Any other changes?

Check out the poll that was decided on by 31 of the Division I coaches.                           

This entry was posted on Friday, October 26th, 2007 at 8:35 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.