NCAA Basketball season may be one of the best ever.

[Mumbai1986]

Yes, that title is out there, but the amount of really good teams is astonishing.

North Carolina - Harrison Barnes, Tyler Zeller, John Henson, Kendall Marshall, James Mcadoo,
Kentucky - Anthony Davis, Michael Gilchrist, Terrance Jones, Marquis Teague, Doron Lamb
Ohio State - Jared Sullinger, Aaron Craft, William Buford, Deshaun Thomas
Connecticut - Andre Drummond, Jeremy Lamb, Alex Oriakhi, Shabazz Napier, Rosecoe Smith,
Syracuse - Fab Melo, Scoop Jardine, Brandon Triche, Kris Joseph, Reakeem Christmas
Duke- Austin Rivers - consensus number #1 recruit for 2011, Seth Curry, All the Plumlee Brothers, Ryan Kelly
Florida - Erving Walker, Kenny Boynton, Mike Rosario, Patric Young
Memphis- Will Barton, Joe Jackson, Taric Black, Adonis Thomas
Louisville - Peyton Siva, Kyle Kuric, Gorgui Dieng. Will Blackshear would make this team crazy good but he tore his labrum and is out for the season.

That is just the Top Ten in the ESPN Preseason Rankings! You still have Vanderbilt who brings back their entire NCAA Tourney team from last year, Pitt who is always a perennial power, Baylor with all their insane talent, efficient Wisconsin, Dangerous Xavier, and UCLA with the Wear Twins. Arizona is still damn special even without Derrick Williams, Marquette is always a tough out, Kansas is always a threat every year. Teams like Cincinnati, and Alabama have been slowly improving and becoming respectable again, Michigan, though they would have been much better this year had Darius Morris stayed is pretty good, Texas A&M with Middleton, Michigan State always wins somehow, and then good old Gonzaga put up damn good fights.

Now this is just the ESPN preseason Top 25 of teams. There are still 43 more teams that need to make the tournament. I really think this will be a gret year of college basketball.

All of these teams are great and we all know there will be teams that are not preseason top 25 that will explode onto the national scene. Maybe ISU can be that team this year!

[Senolcyc]

Does the new APR restriction on making the tournament kick in this year? Several top teams will be barred if so. UConn's players couldn't spell C-A-T if you spotted them the C and the A.

[drose1]

it will probably be one of the most viewed seasons since there is no nba, if it makes that much of a difference

[Mumbai1986]

I don't know if the new APR goes into affect now. Would suck for Uconn, their team is amazing.

[ISUAgronomist]

It will affect UCONN for 2012-2013:

NCAA rule changes would keep Connecticut Huskies out of 2013 tourney - ESPN

Under the rules adopted by the NCAA's Division I Board of Directors, a school cannot participate in the 2013 tournament unless it has a two-year average score of 930 or a four-year average of 900 on the NCAA's annual Academic Progress Rate

Connecticut's men's basketball scored 826 for the 2009-10 school year. A UConn official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the number isn't official until next May, said the score for the 2010-11 school year would be approximately 975.

That would not be high enough. It would give Connecticut a two-year score of 900.5 and a four-year average of 888.5.

Connecticut, which lost two scholarships this season as a result of the latest APR report, sought clarification hoping the NCAA might use numbers from the 2010-11 and 2011-12 school years. The 2011-12 numbers are not expected to be released until May 2013, after the tournament is played.

[AlleyAddict]

"Hurry! Get more tutors to do their homework and take their tests for them!" -Jim Calhoun

[cy4prez7]

I heard APR doesn't go into affect until 2014...may be wrong though