College Basketball is finally back

I have really been slacking on my blog as of late, but that is due to me being ridiculously busy the last month or so...but no worries, I have seen a ton of college basketball games and I will share with everyone my thoughts after the first few weeks of the season.

North Carolina is by far and away the best team in college basketball and they might not lose a single game this year, but I don't think they should be allowed to with all the talent they have coming back.  Still, the last image I have in my head from last year was seeing them losing 40-12 to Kansas and wondering how the hell they could let that happen, but we'll see if this year is any different.  They have the most talent in the nation by a longshot, but who knows what team will show up in March...i'd bet um to win it all though as Vegas has them at 2/1 (the fewest odds ever given to a team entering the year).

The Big e\East is looking strong as ever.  They are the best conference yet again and I hope all the ACC homers will not be idiots and try to argue with that.  

Wake forest is this year's Purdue of 07-8.  Very young, very tough and very talented.  I think they can make a 2nd weekend run at the NCAA tournament, but ultimately they won't have enough experience to take the next step.

Conference USA is going to be stronger.  UAB and UTEP are both playing really well early.  I just watched UTEP go toe to toe with Wake Forest and the Miners could be a scary team come late February.  UAB has played some tough competition early as well as they beat Arizona and Old Dominion, two very good wins to start the year.  They also went basket for basket with Oklahoma who Fran Frischilla just called the best team in the nation.  

The Pac 10 is going to be mediocre top to bottom.  UCLA is not what they have been the last 3 years and Arizona, Washington, Washington State, Oregon and Stanford are all going to slightly above average.  I like ASU to win the Pac 10 and get a pretty high seed for the tournament.

Duke is going to get over the hump this season.  They have the talent, depth and leadership they have been lacking the past few seasons and I am excited for Elliot Williams to shine as a dukie.

Memphis is not going to be able to win games and not make free throws like last year.  They had the talent to win games even if they were horrible from the line, but we don't have the offensive fire power we had last season.  It could be a year of high's and low's but I still think this team has sweet sixteen, elite eight potential.  It doesn't even matter because if Memphis brings in John Wall to go with Xavier Henry, Nolan Dennis, Darnell Dodson and Will Coleman, it'll be the best freshman class since CDR and co in 2005-2006.  

My sleepers for this seasons are Wake Forest, Michigan and Oklahoma State.  Those are three teams who I think are undervalued and will be a very tough team to beat come the end of conference season.

My All America team is as follows:

-Tyler Hansbrough, UNC

-Blake Griffin, Oklahoma

-Stephen Curry, Davidson

-Luke Harangody, Notre Dame

-Ty Rice, Boston College

My All Defensive Team:

-Antonio Anderson, Memphis

-Darren Collison, UCLA

-Jon Brockman, Washington

-Jordan Hill, Arizona

-Marcus Ginyard, UNC

All Freshman Team:

-Willie Warren, Oklahoma

-Samardo Samuels, Louisville

-Greg Monroe, Georgetown

-Tyreke Evans, Memphis

-Jrue Holliday, UCLA

All Underrated Team:

-Stefon Jackson, UTEP

-Alfred Aboya, UCLA

-Jeremy Hazell, Seton Hall

-Jack McClinton, Miami

-A.J. Abrams

Top 5 Impact Transfers:

-Kareem Cooper, Memphis to UTEP

-Trevon Willis, Memphis to UNLV

-Alex Legion, Kentucky to Illinois

-Chamberlin Oguchi, Oregon to Illinois State

-Reginald Delk, Mississippi State to Louisville

That's all for now, check for more updates in the coming weeks. 

Life

This will probably come as a shock to most who know me best, but sports are not the only thing in life worth writing/talking about, although this will probably be the last non-sports post I make.  My grandfather recently died and he was my first close family member to pass away and I wasn't sure how I was going to take it.  It's definitely one of the saddest things in the world to see your family in tears over someone that everyone was so close with and especially someone who was such a great man like my grandfather was.

He hasn't been the same since about the late 90's, but if there was one thing I can take from him it is this: he always made sure I knew life is not long at all and you shouldn't waste a day of it.  He wanted us, his family, to know that he wouldn't be around forever and life will still go on.  It just may have hit me at age 23, that maybe I have been taking some things for granted.  You should wake up everyday with a smile on your face for the simple fact that you get to live to see another day.  I definitely have not held up my end of the bargain with that one, but it is quickly going to change.  

You never know what you might discover, who you could meet, what you could see in one of the thousands of days that you will spend on earth. My grandpa lived just shy of 30,000 days and if there was one person who didn't waste a day on this planet, it was him.  He was a teacher, an author, a minor league pitcher, an historian, a WWII veteran, a father, a husband and most importantly one of the kindest individuals you will ever meet.  So, for those of you who took the time to read this post, please remember that living is an incredible gift in and of itself.