College basketball preview
Returning Duke star Grayson Allen looks to lead his team to victory this season.
November 10, 2016
The college basketball season is right around the corner, leaving many teams to work out the kinks they discovered during their exhibition games the past couple weeks. As expected, the first official team rankings that came out on Oct. 31 have all the usual competitors, such as Duke, Kansas and reigning National Champions Villanova among the top five. The ACC and Big Ten each boast five teams in the top 25 preseason poll, so those will be the conferences to watch as the first games of the season begin on Friday.
Teams to watch for:
Duke unsurprisingly comes into the season claiming the #1 spot in the polls. Despite losing a fair amount of one-and-dones to the NBA every year, Coach K seems to reload his squad full of five-star recruits and McDonald’s All-Americans. Returning junior guard Grayson Allen, as well as the #1 recruiting class of 2016, led Duke to two easy victories in exhibition play, defeating Virginia State 90-59 and reigning DII National Champions, Augustana, 98-45. Duke kicks of the regular season against Marist on Friday.
After two weeks of exhibition games, perhaps the most surprising score came from the University of Kentucky, who beat in-state NAIA school Asbury by 93 points, 156 to 63. UK won their first exhibition game convincingly as well, 108-51 against Clarion. As the #2 ranked team in the country, they will be a major team to watch. Kentucky starts off their regular season against Stephen F. Austin at 7 p.m. on Friday.
Bill Self’s #3 Kansas is consistently one of the most dominant teams in the country. With 12 consecutive Big 12 conference titles, KU owns one of the longest conference title win streaks. Not many teams that come into Phog Allen Fieldhouse come out with a win. As a matter of fact, in Self’s 13 years at KU, the Jayhawks hold a win-loss record of 206-9 at home. This season viewers can expect to see Kansas competing for yet another Big 12 title with their returning players, as well as the #1 recruit in the country in Josh Jackson. Kansas will take on #11 Indiana on Friday in the Armed Forces Classic in Honolulu, HI.
Difficulty of schedule plays a big role in which teams come out on top by March. Michigan State coach Tom Izzo is known for putting his teams through a very challenging non-conference schedule, and this year is no exception. With arguably the hardest 20 days in college basketball, the #12 Spartans are starting out their season with games against #10 Arizona, #2 Kentucky and #1 Duke. With seniors Denzel Valentine, Bryn Forbes and Matt Costello signed to NBA contracts, Izzo’s young squad has a lot to prove. Led by freshman standout Miles Bridges, MSU boasts the #3 ranked recruiting class in the country. Michigan State starts the season against #10 Arizona in the Armed Forces Classic on Friday.
Villanova is the reigning National Champions, so they are a team to watch for in the 2016-17 season. Senior shooting guard Kris Jenkins will be a leader on the team, as he averaged about 14 points per game last season, and is known for making the game winning three-pointer to win Nova a National Championship over North Carolina. Coach Jay Wright and the Wildcats dominated their exhibition game, beating IUP 94 to 49, draining 16 three-pointers. If they keep up this kind of play, they can win the Big East and make a run at another National Championship. Villanova begins their season on Friday against Lafayette.
Overall, there are many exciting teams and games to look forward to this basketball season. From the looks of it, there are many talented teams that can be championship contenders, but it all comes down to how they play come Friday and not on what the rankings say.
For a full list of the AP Top 25 preseason college rankings, go to: http://collegebasketball.ap.org/poll.
