College Basketball Prediction Time

[luburch]

Yes, yes, I realize that exhibition games just started and most of the polls have yet to be released, but I always enjoy preseason predictions. Obviously these predictions are a shot in the dark, but at the end of the year it's nice to be able to look back (laugh) and see what I thought before the season took off. So, I guess I'll start with mine.

National Champion:
Duke- Call me a homer, but I truly believe this team has what it takes. I felt this way about the 2011 team as well and do to(e) some unfortunate circumstances the chips didn't fall our way. Duke has a strong back-court with Quinn and Rasheed coming back, not to mention Andre returning for his senior season and Matt showing lots of promise early. Jabari and Rodney are simply studs. They understand the game and play within it. I'm not exactly sold on the coach, he's still a little unproven. The biggest area of concern for me is rebounding. Duke will play up-tempo and some smaller lineups so taking care of business on the glass will be key.

Final Four:
Michigan State- Allow me to get my love for Izzo out of the way. The guy can flat out coach and consistently has his teams performing well in March. With Harris, Payne, and Dawson returning this team has the tools for another successful run.

Oklahoma State- I may be reaching a bit here, but I think Oklahoma State may surprise some people come tournament time. They return their top two leading scorers (Smart, Brown) as well as Nash. This is a team with nine upperclassmen so experience will play a big role. I've barely even mentioned Smart who is a consensus preseason All-American and an absolute play maker.

Kansas- This is actually the pick that I'm least confident in. Obviously Self is a great coach and they have good teams year in and year out. I think Wiggins will have a solid year, but he'll have a difficult time living up to all this hype, as would anyone in his position. In the end, I think they can scrape out a FF berth.

Elite Eight:
Kentucky
Florida
Arizona
Syracuse

Dark Horses:
Oregon
Pittsburgh
Iowa
Harvard

Player of the Year
Smart/McDermott

Bold Prediction:
Maybe it's not that bold, but I'll say Harvard makes the Sweet 16.

Alright folks, let's hear what you have to say.

[kAzE]

National Champ:
Duke - because I've never not picked duke to win it all.

Final Four:
Louisville - Just can't bet against Pitino, even without Behanan.
Kentucky - How intense would a UK/UoL matchup in the Final Four be? I think the state of Kentucky would shut down. I also relish the chance for Duke to play against UK again in the NCAA tournament. 1998 still leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
VCU - I just like Shaka. Plus, this team is even better than the 2011 final four squad.

Elite Eight:
Michigan St. - MSU is pretty much a lock for the elite 8 every year.
Wichita St. - Cleanthony Early looks like an all-american.
Kansas - Too much talent to leave out.
Syracuse - The ACC is already being annointed as the best conference, so I predict that we will send 2 teams to the elite 8. Was tempted to put Virginia here, but I'll go with CJ Fair and the Orangemen.

Player of the Year:
Jabari Parker - Well, if we win it all, Jabari probably had a monster Carmelo-esque year.

Bold Prediction: UNC loses in the first round to Florida Gulf Coast.

[OldPhiKap]

Bold Prediction: UNC loses in the first round to Florida Gulf Coast.

Carolina is much better than that. They'll at least make the third round of the NIT, not go out that early.

[Ichabod Drain]

Bold Prediction: UNC loses in the first round to Florida Gulf Coast.

Mercer will be taking the A-Sun bid this year. But I would be delighted if they had the opportunity to knock out UNC in the first round. :cool:

[luvdahops]

National Champ:
Duke - because I've never not picked duke to win it all.

Final Four:
Louisville - Just can't bet against Pitino, even without Behanan.
Kentucky - How intense would a UK/UoL matchup in the Final Four be? I think the state of Kentucky would shut down. I also relish the chance for Duke to play against UK again in the NCAA tournament. 1998 still leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
VCU - I just like Shaka. Plus, this team is even better than the 2011 final four squad.

Elite Eight:
Michigan St. - MSU is pretty much a lock for the elite 8 every year.
Wichita St. - Cleanthony Early looks like an all-american.
Kansas - Too much talent to leave out.
Syracuse - The ACC is already being annointed as the best conference, so I predict that we will send 2 teams to the elite 8. Was tempted to put Virginia here, but I'll go with CJ Fair and the Orangemen.

Player of the Year:
Jabari Parker - Well, if we win it all, Jabari probably had a monster Carmelo-esque year.

Bold Prediction: UNC loses in the first round to Florida Gulf Coast.

Kentucky and Louisville met in the 2012 Final Four in New Orleans, with UK pulling away in the 2nd half to win 69-61. The teams will also play at Rupp on December 28.

[BigZ]

National Champion: Duke

Final Four:
Syracuse- Runner Up.
Kansas
Oklahoma State

Elight 8
Kentucky
Arizona
VCU
Michigan St

National Player of the Year: Rodney Hood

Bold Prediction: PJ Hairston does not get arrested during the season.

[BlueDevilBrowns]

NATIONAL CHAMPS: Duke

FINAL FOUR: Arizona(a lock to be the #1 seed out West, with an easy(ier) path to the FF).
MSU(Izzo averages 1 FF appearance around every 3 years so it's time).
Syracuse(1 FF team from the previous year almost always returns the next).

ELITE EIGHT: Kansas Louisville Ohio State Gonzaga

DARKHORSE: Florida(I mean StatNerds have to be correct eventually, right?).

PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Aaron Craft

BOLD PREDICTION: Ol' Roy will "seriously consider" retirement after a mediocre year but through the "love and support" of the UNC community, will graciously decide to return. However, Hubert Davis will be named his Successor.

[OldPhiKap]

NATIONAL CHAMPS: Duke

FINAL FOUR: whatever team we beat in the final (I'll say MSU)
whatever team we beat in the semi-final (I'll say Syracuse)
a bracketbuster dark horse whose run finally ends (I'll say Baylor)

ELITE EIGHT: Kansas, Arizona, Notre Dame, Ohio State

BIGGEST FLOP: Kentucky (goes out in the second round, after struggling in the opener)

PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Rodney Hood

BOLD PREDICTION: It will get ugly between ol' Roy and Jim Boeheim. There will be no love lost, and Syracuse will quickly learn to hate the Heels.

[GGLC]

I'm going to predict that Duke doesn't win the national title.

[hurleyfor3]

BOLD PREDICTION: It will get ugly between ol' Roy and Jim Boeheim. There will be no love lost, and Syracuse will quickly learn to hate the Heels.

Ooooh, I like this call.

I suspect that within a few years, after K and/or the relevant opposing coach has moved on, Duke will develop a Maryland-like relationship with one of the newcomers. Maybe more like a VPI-under-Greenberg relationship.

I'll pick Kentucky to go all the way, just to keep the expectations on them high and to look forward to being wrong. Unc to make the Final Four.

[Bob Green]

Duke- Call me a homer

Homer!

Duke lost 47.5 points per game with the graduation of Mason Plumlee, Seth Curry and Ryan Kelly. Personally, I'm going to watch a few of the early season games to see how things flow before making grandiose statements.

[jimsumner]

Homer!

Duke lost 47.5 points per game with the graduation of Mason Plumlee, Seth Curry and Ryan Kelly. Personally, I'm going to watch a few of the early season games to see how things flow before making grandiose statements.

Duke lost 45.3 ppg from the 1990 team and won it all the next season.

So, there is a precedent. Sort of.

[GGLC]

I'm going to predict that Duke doesn't win the national title.


Duke lost 45.3 ppg from the 1990 team and won it all the next season.

So, there is a precedent. Sort of.

I'd like to change my prediction.

[Bob Green]

Duke lost 45.3 ppg from the 1990 team and won it all the next season.

So, there is a precedent. Sort of.

Well I'll argue with just about anyone, but I'm certainly not going to argue with Jim Sumner. :D

[OldPhiKap]

Well I'll argue with just about anyone, but I'm certainly not going to argue with Jim Sumner. :D

He would be the worst person with whom to argue. Literally.

[devildeac]

ACC championship.

National Championship.

40-0.


(And yes, this is really OZZIE and I stole devildeac's username and password yesterday and I'll let him know this weekend. Or whenever he reads this post:o;).)

[luburch]

With conference tournaments about to start I thought it would be a good time to bump this and take a look back at some of the predictions we made, before the actual tournament starts.

Duke is certainly still in contention to win the NC, but I'm not sure I feel as confident as I did before the season started.

Kansas is still in strong contention for the FF, and I wouldn't rule MSU out if they can get completely healthy and get some momentum in the Big Ten Tourney. I may be most off on Oklahoma State who had a mid-year meltdown, but appear to be righting the ship. However a FF may be a bit of a stretch.

All of my EE predictions seem to be in place.

Oregon/Iowa/Pittsburgh all have had somewhat similar seasons. They started off hot, got ranked fairly high, and have come back down to earth. They could still make some noise come tourney time though. Harvard has been their consistent self. They key will be to see if they an make it to the second weekend.

I was most likely right on the McDermott half of my the POY pick.

How did everyone else do?



Yes, yes, I realize that exhibition games just started and most of the polls have yet to be released, but I always enjoy preseason predictions. Obviously these predictions are a shot in the dark, but at the end of the year it's nice to be able to look back (laugh) and see what I thought before the season took off. So, I guess I'll start with mine.

National Champion:
Duke- Call me a homer, but I truly believe this team has what it takes. I felt this way about the 2011 team as well and do to(e) some unfortunate circumstances the chips didn't fall our way. Duke has a strong back-court with Quinn and Rasheed coming back, not to mention Andre returning for his senior season and Matt showing lots of promise early. Jabari and Rodney are simply studs. They understand the game and play within it. I'm not exactly sold on the coach, he's still a little unproven. The biggest area of concern for me is rebounding. Duke will play up-tempo and some smaller lineups so taking care of business on the glass will be key.

Final Four:
Michigan State- Allow me to get my love for Izzo out of the way. The guy can flat out coach and consistently has his teams performing well in March. With Harris, Payne, and Dawson returning this team has the tools for another successful run.

Oklahoma State- I may be reaching a bit here, but I think Oklahoma State may surprise some people come tournament time. They return their top two leading scorers (Smart, Brown) as well as Nash. This is a team with nine upperclassmen so experience will play a big role. I've barely even mentioned Smart who is a consensus preseason All-American and an absolute play maker.

Kansas- This is actually the pick that I'm least confident in. Obviously Self is a great coach and they have good teams year in and year out. I think Wiggins will have a solid year, but he'll have a difficult time living up to all this hype, as would anyone in his position. In the end, I think they can scrape out a FF berth.

Elite Eight:
Kentucky
Florida
Arizona
Syracuse

Dark Horses:
Oregon
Pittsburgh
Iowa
Harvard

Player of the Year
Smart/McDermott

Bold Prediction:
Maybe it's not that bold, but I'll say Harvard makes the Sweet 16.

Alright folks, let's hear what you have to say.

[brevity]

Mercer will be taking the A-Sun bid this year. But I would be delighted if they had the opportunity to knock out UNC in the first round. :cool:

Wow. This was a heck of a call for you to make in October. The Atlantic Sun will indeed be represented in the tournament by Mercer. I don't know if UNC will be seeded high enough to pair with them (3 vs. 14, maybe). But if you're right about this too, you win DBR. Just make sure no one puts up an upset alert thread first to spoil the whole thing.

[OldPhiKap]

Wow. This was a heck of a call for you to make in October. The Atlantic Sun will indeed be represented in the tournament by Mercer. I don't know if UNC will be seeded high enough to pair with them (3 vs. 14, maybe). But if you're right about this too, you win DBR. Just make sure no one puts up an upset alert thread first to spoil the whole thing.

Joe Lunardi has them playing UVa in the first round. If the Bears win, I'll give that one to Ichabod as an incredible call.

[hurleyfor3]

I'll pick Kentucky to go all the way, just to keep the expectations on them high and to look forward to being wrong. Unc to make the Final Four.

I stand by these picks, and for the same reasons. As for us, we're losing to Wofford.

[BlueDevilBrowns]

NATIONAL CHAMPS: Duke

FINAL FOUR: Arizona(a lock to be the #1 seed out West, with an easy(ier) path to the FF).
MSU(Izzo averages 1 FF appearance around every 3 years so it's time).
Syracuse(1 FF team from the previous year almost always returns the next).

ELITE EIGHT: Kansas Louisville Ohio State Gonzaga

DARKHORSE: Florida(I mean StatNerds have to be correct eventually, right?).

PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Aaron Craft

BOLD PREDICTION: Ol' Roy will "seriously consider" retirement after a mediocre year but through the "love and support" of the UNC community, will graciously decide to return. However, Hubert Davis will be named his Successor.

My picks still look reasonable with the exception of Craft as POY(what was I thinking???).

Florida isn't a darkhorse any longer.

I guess my Bold Prediction could still come true if the Heels fail to win much in the ACCT and NCAAT(fingers crossed!).

[luburch]

Mercer will be taking the A-Sun bid this year. But I would be delighted if they had the opportunity to knock out UNC in the first round. :cool:

Well this is a little awkward.

[AncientPsychicT]

Well this is a little awkward.

This whole thread is a landmine of creepy jinxes. Some of those bold predictions man....

For example:


BOLD PREDICTION: It will get ugly between ol' Roy and Jim Boeheim. There will be no love lost, and Syracuse will quickly learn to hate the Heels.

!!!!!!!!! (http://collegebasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/2014/02/22/jim-boeheim-goes-nuts-gets-ejected-in-loss-to-duke-video/)