Basketball University presents Roster Magazine and predicts the national champion
Welcome to Basketball University’s inaugural March Madness coverage for Roster Magazine! Over the next several weeks, we look forward to preparing you for the NCAA tournament road to the Final Four. For hoops fans, it doesn’t get any better than this.
Of course, there’s only one team who comes out on top. Everyone else has to settle for moral victories and relish in the drama of the action. There are tremendous highs and tremendous lows, but who will outlast the competition? Our panel of experts chimed in as to who is going to win it all.
(UCLA - 2 votes)
From Basketball University’s Jon Burkett:
My pick is UCLA. Darren Collison is the best point guard in the country, Kevin Love is NBA bound, and Josh Shipp has ice in his veins. I also happen to think that Ben Howland is the best coach in the game today. It won’t be easy, but playing in the underrated Pac-10 will help prepare them for the title run. Watch out for Russell Westbrook too. This team might not have the depth of the other squads, but they are experienced and Love is willing.
From Spokane Clan’s Patrick Sellars:
I will stick with my pre-season pick and go with UCLA, even though they lost to Washington on Sunday (February 10th). Playing in the Pac-10 will work to their advantage because they are playing tournament caliber teams on every night, also Kevin Love is close to unstoppable. When this team clicks on all cylinders they won’t lose.
(UNC - 4 votes)
From Basketball University’s AEM:
Not to be repetitive, I won’t say UCLA. So, who will I go with…hmmmm…UNC?
I think that with Lawson back, with Hansbrough (this year’s POY) getting double-doubles all the way to San Antonio and with Ellington and Green about to step up after sub-par performances, North Carolina will cruise to the 2nd match up with Duke. I believe Duke will have at least a loss by then. With UNC winning the rematch in Durham and then having a run at the ACC Tournament, they will have the number one seed in the East. This means they will NOT leave the state of North Carolina until it is time for the Final Four.
To win it all you have to have a good point guard, a dominant inside player and some decent shooters. UNC has all of that, so why not the Heels lifting the trophy at the end of it all? I say UNC!
From Basketball University’s Sam Panayotovich:
Wow. It doesn’t get any tougher than this. There are five teams I can actually see hoisting the trophy in April. It really is incredible. While I’d love to see Ben Howland win a national title, it’s impossible for me to go against North Carolina. The Tar Heels are as deep as I’ve ever seen and they can hurt you in every aspect of the game. All-American and POY candidate Tyler Hansbrough is the best big man in the country and would run circles around Kevin Love. Sharpshooters Wayne Ellington and Danny Green override Josh Shipp and a healthy Ty Lawson is just as good as any other point guard in college hoops. Look at UNC’s two losses — Pitt and Duke — both games in which Lawson did not suit up. His value is completely underrated and the kid knows how to win. He always seems to have the Tar Heels on top by the time the final buzzer sounds. Oh. And that Roy Williams guy isn’t bad either. North Carolina is more talented, more athletic and much deeper than the Bruins. I’m completely anti-UNC, but as much as it pains me to say it — the Tar Heels are my team to beat come March Madness.
From rivals.com’s Jeff Gentil:
Despite losing to Duke on February 6th, I still feel with a healthy Ty Lawson, the Heels are the best-equipped team in America to make the six-game dash to the title. They have a dominating inside game with Tyler Hansbrough, and more-than-adequate help with Alex Stephenson and Dion Thompson getting better as they go. Add in a very dangerous backcourt of Lawson and Wayne Ellington, and you have a formidable team. On top of that, you have key role players in Danny Green, Marcus Ginyard, Quentin Thomas and William Graves.
Roy Williams’ team will run you out of the gym if you turn the ball over and can’t get back on defense. But, they can also win a slower style by throwing it in to Hansbrough, who will either score or get fouled nearly every time. If teams are doubling Hansbrough, Ellington can burn you from the outside. And, if he has to, Lawson can take you off the dribble and get to the rack, or he has the ability to hit a jumper in your face.
Many teams have the capability to win it all, but none have the inside-outside combination the Tar Heels have. They’ll be cutting down the nets in April.
From Commonwealth to Rupp’s Andrew Kappes:
When healthy, North Carolina is the best team in college basketball. They are well coached by Roy Williams, and are led by Tyler Hansbrough. He is one of the best interior players in the game. Compliment that with the perimeter play of Ty Lawson and Wayne Ellington - you have the perfect ingredients for a national championship formula.
(Kansas - 1 vote)
From Jayhawk Advance’s Joel Austin:
My pick to win it all right now is Kansas, and this is not because I am being biased. They have the most depth and great guard play every single night because of it. They have big men and depth with them, which should eliminate foul trouble problems. Also, they are the best defensive team I have seen as of yet, and I watch a lot of basketball. However, do not sleep on Pittsburgh.
(Duke - 1 vote)
From Swarming the Ball’s James Rees:
I think Duke is the team to beat this year. They’ve got two outstanding wings in Nelson and Henderson, an emerging playmaker at the point with Paulus and a talented freshman class led by Singler and Nolan Smith. Impeccable coaching and a team first attitude will win the Dukies a national championship.
Did you notice that no one selected Conference USA cupcake Memphis, the last remaining undefeated team in Division I? With half of the votes going to North Carolina, the Tar Heels look to be the favorite going in. If they can secure home court throughout the tournament, they are going to be the team to beat in March.
BONUS: Five players you may or may not heard of, via Spokane Clan’s Patrick Sellars.
This entry was posted
on Tuesday, February 12th, 2008 at 5:53 pm and is filed under Quentin Thomas, Rivals.com, Ben Howland, Greg Paulus, Russell Westbrook, Final Four, Josh Shipp, Marcus Ginyard, Danny Green, Gonzaga, Darren Collison, Spokane Clan, Patrick Sellars, Jayhawk Advance, From Commonwealth to Rupp, Joel Austin, Gerald Henderson Jr., Nolan Smith, Andrew Kappes, William Graves, Tar Heels, Alex Stephenson, Dion Thompson, Jeff Gentil, Ty Lawson, Wayne Ellington, Jon Burkett, Duke, Kyle Singler, DeMarcus Nelson, Kansas, Big East, Pitt, March Madness, Roster, NCAA tournament, UCLA, Kevin Love, Roy Williams, Pac-10, UNC, Swarming the Ball, Tyler Hansborough, A.E.M., Conference USA, ACC, Big 12, Memphis, Cincinnati, Basketball University, New Orleans Hornets.
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11 Responses to “Basketball University presents Roster Magazine and predicts the national champion”
February 12th, 2008 at 6:19 pm
The Kansas writer picks Kansas. Big shock.
Boasting one of the worst strength of schedules in the country, the Jayhawks are prone to the big upset. In the past three tournaments, it’s happened against Bucknell and Bradley. If they went down early this year, it wouldn’t surprise me one bit. So far this season, they’ve played three games against the Top 25 — two of them losses.
This team doesn’t scare me one bit in the tournament. All the talent is there, but they haven’t proved to me that they can win big games. They rely far too much on perimeter performance and guard play, a factor that doesn’t ensure a championship.
February 12th, 2008 at 6:53 pm
The Illinois student would’ve taken the Illini if they were any good.
Zing!
By the way — wouldn’t AEM be a homer, too, for taking UNC? Or doesn’t that count?
February 12th, 2008 at 7:01 pm
Easy Cory. Sam did agree with AEM on the Tar Heels. As much as it pained him to say it!
I found it interesting that nobody took Memphis, which was my closing argument. They did play some teams out of conference, but it’s hard to consider them legit if they don’t have to face a tough conference schedule.
Georgetown is another team I can see making some noise in San Antonio. They are not my Big East team of choice though. However, as far as the championship is concerned, the Big East got shut out here.
February 12th, 2008 at 7:13 pm
Georgetown? If they did not have the refs with them they would have four more losses than they do. Hibbert is good, but not a lock to dominate down low. G`Town does not play full blast basketball, they play in spurts.
Memphis? Hmmmm what leagues they in? Would they win 25 games (let alone maybe go undefeated) in any of the “real conferences”? I would love to see Memphis play Duke/UNC back to back or G`Town/Notre Dame/L`ville in a span of two weeks.
The only thing that Memphis has going for them is that they might be the most fresh team amongst the contenders.
However, in a close game want to put Memphis up on the line? I do not!
I have no problem with a Kansas writer picking his team, it is a contender after all. What I find weird is that no one (besides me of course) did not think Duke has a shot.
Anyways, great work from all of you, including the writer from Division III UCI!
AEM
February 12th, 2008 at 8:27 pm
Not sure what a “real conference” is unless it is one of the stereotypes that get picked automatically as being the toughest and deepest in the land. For that reason alone, I would like to see Memphis win it all. Sports is too full of the herd mentality. Need new models.
February 12th, 2008 at 8:56 pm
Charlie — I’d love to see Memphis win it all. The problem is, it’s just not going to happen. Remember the undefeated St. Joe’s team with Jameer Nelson and Delonte West? Yeah. Them. They lost in the Sweet 16 because their regular season schedule was incredibly weak and they didn’t know what it was like to play from behind. I wish the Tigers the best and I hope they can prove me wrong, but that’s a tall, tall task.
On a side note, Mazzolini is an idiot.
February 12th, 2008 at 9:28 pm
yo Sam, didn’t that Hawks team lose in the elite 8?
I’m not surprised nobody picked Georgetown because they’ve had some close calls against weaker competition lately (ex: nova, wvu). I don’t expect the Big East to get shut out, however. They’ll be bringing 8 teams and at least 4 of them will have a legit shot at the elite 8. Even though they’ve struggled lately, Georgetown can beat anyone and can’t be ruled out. Louisville is playing great ball right now w/ Padgett back and could make a strong run. UConn has also been playing some great basketball are capable of beating anybody. Then Pitt is getting Levance Fields back and he could be the difference maker that sparks their tournament run.
As for Memphis, they make up for the weak conference schedule w/ a strong non-conference schedule. The only problem I see w/ the conference schedule is that they may not be fully prepared for the stiffer competition after feasting on cupcakes. I’m sure they scheduled the late season game with Tennessee just for that reason.
February 12th, 2008 at 9:32 pm
hmm.
I’ll wait until Memphis plays Tennessee to hand in my final four winner choice.
UNC seems like a good choice, but I look for teams that play extremely well defense and UNC isn’t really the case. Remember, Florida won two straight championships mainly of Corey Brewer, Joakim Noah, and Al Horford’s defensive ability.
UCLA might seem like the popular vote but it seems like the most reasonable. Ben Howland has those guys playing lockdown D, especially Darren Collison and Russell Westbrook holding the opposing guards down.
February 13th, 2008 at 11:15 am
Mike — Good call on the Hawks. They lost in the Elite Eight, not the Sweet 16. Still my point stands true, St. Joe’s couldn’t hang with the nation’s elite.
As for Memphis, to call their non-conference schedule strong is a bit of a stretch. I wrote an article about two weeks profiling Memphis and their lack of quality road games. All their big non-conference were played either at home — where they have a 45 game winnings streak — or at neutral sites. I understand that the NCAA tournament games take place at neutral sites for the most part, but Memphis has NEVER trailed the second half. They don’t know what it’s like to taste defeat or retaliate with adversity.
I’m a strong advocate that teams should experience defeat during the regular season in order to improve on their weaknesses come tournament time.
As dumb as that sounds — look at the 2005 Illinois sqaud. They lost their final game of the regular season on a buzzer beater three against Ohio State. It sucked at the time and I was irate. Flash forward to their contest against Arizona when the ‘Cats had a chance to win it at the buzzer. Because the Illini had been beaten in that situation, they knew how to guard the play. Hassan Adams was mobbed by two defenders and he got an awful shot off, thus Illinois was victorious. Every little detail matters in March Madness. One call. One whistle. One basket. I just really feel that if Memphis rolls into the tourney unscathed, it will come back to bite them in the end.
February 13th, 2008 at 10:38 pm
I agree that teams should experience defeat to improve their game, and I think Memphis may get that defeat when they host Tennessee. Of course, the point of scheduling that game was to make sure they didn’t become overconfident heading into the tournament after their cupcake feast. However, I’m not sure what losing to Tennessee will do for them. Losing a Conference USA game may be more beneficial. I’ll use my Connecticut Huskies as an example. They lost a few games to strong teams that there’s really no shame in losing to. They include Memphis, Gonzaga, Notre Dame, and Georgetown. The game that really turned the team around and got them playing up to their potential, however, was the bad home loss to Providence. The bad loss really seemed to get the message through that it’s time to step up and they haven’t lost since. I think maybe losing in the C-USA title game would be the best thing for Memphis since they don’t need the automatic bid and it would motivate them going into the NCAA Tournament. The only things I’m worried about with Memphis are overconfidence and lack of motivation. They clearly have enough talent to beat anybody.
February 17th, 2008 at 12:34 pm
one more thing Sam, you were wrong in saying that Memphis has never trailed in the 2nd half. Back in their 4th game of the season, they trailed UConn in the 2nd half (and now their last 2 games but you posted that before them).
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