AJC > Sports > Columnists > Archives > 2006 > January > 19
Thursday, January 19, 2006
No NCAA dance card for Jackets, and other hoops musings
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mark Bradley
With Selection Sunday just 51 days away, it’s time to get serious about this college basketball business. Pretty much everything you’ll need to know will be revealed in the next few paragraphs. And if I happen to get any of these true-false propositions wrong, I will of course take my lead from Paul Hewitt and blame it on the refs.
• 1. Duke will go undefeated.
False. The ACC is softer than usual, but it’s not so soft that the Devils are going to win ‘em all on the road. Their first loss should come either Feb. 7 at North Carolina or Feb. 11 at Maryland. But Duke won’t lose more than a couple of games, and it will win the national championship.
• 2. The 2006 Final Four will be a convocation of glamour boys.
True. The nation’s three best programs — Duke, Connecticut and Michigan State — will be represented in Indianapolis. The fourth qualifier will be the fastest-rising operation in the land — Ohio State.
• 3. Georgia Tech will make the field of 65.
False. The Jackets already have six losses, which is a lot, and their RPI is hovering near 100, which is low. They’ll need to win at least two ACC road games to have a realistic chance, and that will be a stretch given that their road record is 1-5.
• 4. The most stunning halftime score of the season was UConn 45, Syracuse 25. In the Carrier Dome.
False. The most stunning halftime score was Tennessee 48, Texas 28. In Austin.
• 5. The SEC is down yet again.
True. Is this conference ever going to send another team to another Final Four? (The last SEC entrant to qualify was Florida in 2000.) Somehow the Gators have risen to No. 2 in the rankings, but that’s a mirage. They’ll lose within the next week at either Tennessee or South Carolina, if not both places. Alabama was sliding even before it lost Chuck Davis, and Georgia is still a year away from making a big push. And as much regard as I have for Tubby Smith, I must concede that there’s no reason for Kentucky to have lost six times already.
• 6. Gonzaga is for real this time.
False. The Zags occupy a curious position — too well-known to be a sleeper ever again but not quite good enough to make a Final Four run. And the lack of competition in the Big West means Gonzaga will enter the NCAA highly seeded yet again but having not played a significant game in two months.
• 7. The Big Ten is the nation’s best conference.
False. The Big Ten is second-best. The elephantine Big East is loaded. Put it this way: Louisville looked like a really fine team until it started playing games in its new conference; now the Cardinals need to upset UConn on Saturday to keep from falling from the Top 25.
• 8. J.J. Redick is the nation’s best player.
True. Gonzaga’s Adam Morrison wouldn’t put up the same numbers against ACC defenses, and Redick’s teammate Shelden Williams is a tad overrated. (If the Landlord is such a great defender, how did Indiana’s Marco Killingsworth and N.C. State’s Cedric Simmons have career nights against him?) Every opponent knows what Redick is going to do, and he does it anyway. Yes, he gets a ton of publicity, but he — like Christian Laettner and Shane Battier, unlike Danny Ferry and Steve Wojciechowski — is a Dukie who deserves it.
• 9. There’s something amiss with Texas.
True. This is at worst the nation’s third-most-talented team (behind Duke and UConn), but something tells me the Longhorns will disappoint again. Perhaps you’ve noticed that Daniel Gibson, advertised as the consummate point guard, isn’t even the best distributor on his team. (Kenton Paulino has just as many assists and 16 fewer turnovers.)
• 10. It’s possible to be an unbeaten Big East team and still be underrated.
True. Pittsburgh is 14-0 and ranked No. 9, three spots behind thrice-beaten Gonzaga. And somehow Carl Krauser, the toughest player in the country the last three seasons, still never gets mentioned when the topic is the nation’s best point guard. Except in this space. I love the guy.
Permalink | Comments (24) | Categories: Mark Bradley, Tech / ACC, UGA / SEC
I think…
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mark Bradley
Yes, it’s another of those “I think” things, and not exactly by popular demand. But what the heck.
I think the Broncos and Panthers will win Sunday.
I think Florida will lose one of its next two games — on the road against Tennessee and South Carolina — if not both.
I think Georgia Tech looks exactly like the Tech team of 2002-3, the one with Chris Bosh and Ed Nelson and most all the guys who wound up playing for the 2004 NCAA title, the one that couldn’t win on the road and thereby missed the 2003 NCAA tournament despite a vast amount of talent.
I think the Hawks have again statistically positioned themselves to win the lottery, and if they get lucky this time I think they’ll take Rudy Gay of UConn, who is — yes! — another of those 6-foot-8 guys Billy Knight loves.
I think there’s only one reason for a player ever to go into the stands, and Antonio Davis found it. Or, more precisely, it found him.
I think the Braves have already found a closer. Trouble is, Roger McDowell has been retired for almost a decade.
I think Duke and Connecticut will play for the (men’s) NCAA title.
I think Duke will win.
I think anybody who hasn’t tried satellite radio probably should.
I (still) think Mark Richt needs an offensive coordinator.
I think I’d hire Jim Murphy (Davidson AD, formerly Homer Rice’s assistant at Georgia Tech) to succeed Dave Braine if I were Wayne Clough.
I think I’m as apt to become president of a college as Peyton Manning is to win Teammate of the Year.
Permalink | Comments (66) | Categories: Mark Bradley, Quick Hit
