SelectionSunday Column: The Road to Selection Sunday: Let the Journey Begin

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Not that there's ever a bad time to look forward to a college basketball season, but with the Gopher football season already in salvage mode in early October, now's a great time to forge ahead and anticipate the 2011-12 Gopher/college hoops campaign. The general sense I get from talking to avid Gopher basketball followers is there's no way this year can be as bad, disappointing, snake-bitten (or whatever you want to call it) as last season, and I tend to agree. Who's with me?

http://www.forums.gopherhole.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1502
 

Fantastic stuff Hodger. Awesome read. I will be curious to see how your mid-October picks for the NCAA Tournament stack up come March. Have you projected this far out in prior years? If so, how do you usually do?

Your projections made it all the way to the Syracuse board pretty quickly:

http://syracusefan.com/threads/gopher-hole-has-su-7.4161/

Go Gophers!!
 

Thanks Bleed, though my proofreading/editing (forgot to write "Sunday" in my title before : Let the Journey Begin") has slipped greatly since leaving the newspaper business many years ago.

I think last year I got 42 of the 68 in my preseason projection. There was someone else on GH -- can't remember his moniker -- who did the same thing last season and beat me by 1.

I see the New Yorkers are already picking me apart, but they should at least be pleased I have the Orangemen in the Final 4!
 

Nice read SS. I too am bullish on Iowa St. Booker, Babbs, White, Allen, Ejim, and Christopherson is alot of talent. This isn't like the potentially talented St John's team that has a ton of incoming freshman and JUCO transfers. Iowa St's team has played with each other in practice for a year. I'm betting they easily make the tourney.

One other scheduling piece of info, and for those that don't know I'm also a big Duke fan, but Coach K currently sits at 900 career wins, 2 short of Bobby Knight. Assuming Duke beats Belmont(won't be a gimmee) and Presbyterian, he'll be going for the record against Michigan State on 11/15. If he loses one of those first 3 games, the record will likely be broken against Davidson on 11/18.

Also, I'd like to make mention that must see TV during Turkey Week has to be the Maui Invitational. That tourney usually has very strong fields but I doubt any can top this year's field. Besides Duke, Kansas, UCLA, Memphis, Michigan, Georgetown, Tennessee, and Chaminade make up the field. The first 5 listed are all top 25 teams. You don't find too many instances where an opening round game in a preseason tourney pits two top 25 teams, and that'll likely happen this year when Memphis and Michigan square off. My entire family is making the trip to Maui again to watch Duke play but because I couldn't keep my hands to myself back in February, I'll be watching state-side with my wife's and my first born child (due Nov 10th). If Duke and Kansas can make it to the final, that would be one raucus High School size gym given how many fans each program will bring to the island. That's the game I'm most anticipating to watch this preseason. The Duke v Marquette game in '07 in Maui was an insane atmosphere. Can't imagine Duke vs KU.
 

Great job SS. I am so glad for all the love that you are giving Belmont. I remember the days that I was able to watch great basketball games at Belmont for only $3. They have always been good.

Go Gophers
 


Kansas in your Final Four, I'm a little surprised. They lost a ton of talent didn't they, like the Morris twins, Selby, Reid, Morningstar. A lot of turnover, not sure if they're gonna have the experience and depth needed to make a deep run. But it is Kansas, so they do have talent, definitely.
 

In SelectionSunday I Trust.

Go Gophers!!!
 

I saw Kansas in San Antonio (vs. VCU) in March, and I was really impressed with Robinson. I think he's going to be a beast, better than both of the Morris twins, and that's saying something.

However, I was not impressed with KU's guards, Reed, Selby & Morningstar most specifically. They were exposed by VCU. I don't think losing those guys is that big of a deal, despite their playing experience. By all accounts Selby was a headcase.

Tyshawn Taylor, who is back this year, was clearly KU's best guard. I'm confident Self will find the right pieces to put around Robinson and Taylor, + KU is one of those programs that doesn't rebuild, it reloads. But you make a good point. ... I'm out on a limb a little bit with Kansas. The other 3 are all pretty safe Final 4 picks.
 

I agree, their guard play was definitely not a strength last year, not many creators. They'll definitely have to lean heavily on Robinson and Taylor. I was just surprised to see them in your Final 4. I like Kansas, hope you're right haha
 



Nice writeup. I'm happy to see this is already getting a lot of attention and not just on here.

I think you've slightly overrated the BT though. Wisc at 13?? I know, I know, their roster never seems that great but they always do better than expected. I just don't understand who is going to pickup the slack for Leuer. ESPN talked about firecrotch being their next star. If he's truly their 2nd best player, I don't think they'll be sniffing 13. The kid hit a few big open shots against OSU when they were #1 and ESPN decided to pimp him out because of that. Let's not forget that he's not a good defender and scored under 5 ppg last year.

19 also seems high for Michigan. I think the loss of Morris is going to be huge for them.

I'm also a bit hesitant on Iowa State, but they're a tough call for me.
 


Agree, I could have Bucky a little high at #13. That ranking is based more on my respect for Bo than it is the returning players (other than Taylor). The fact that I have the Badgers 2nd in the B1G tells me how down the conference might be this season. They were the safest pick, I guess, based on recent B1G history. One betting against Bo's teams performing well in the B1G should do so at their own peril.
 

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