[giddyup123Participant]

 I’m very excited for the new season to kick of today! Just one more thing to take my mind off the stupidity our country showed on Tues evening… Anyway, my own politics pitch aside, I wanted to make some bold predictions, thoughts on the upcoming season:

1. Michigan State will be a bubble team come march. I know people may think this is ludicrous but hear me out. I’m a big beleiver in Tom Izzo but this is a team that really over-performed last year and lost arguably the best player in the country, their second leading scorer, their most talented big man, and have health issues up front. I think Miles Bridges will be a lot rawer than people think as he got by with athleticism and brute strength in HS (a la Shabazz Muhammed). If they beat Arziona today, please don’t immediately give me sh*t for this post, its one game and we all know Arizona is having their own personal issues right now. 

2. Shabazz Muhammed, Cliff Alexander, Cheick Diallo… who will be the next top-10, projected lottery pick prospect that seemed to fit the trend of getting by on athleticism/strength in HS but will be exposed at the college level by skill level, rawness. My pick is Bam Adebayo. I could be totally wrong, but these projections of him as an all american (NBC, CBS) seem very absurd. 

3. Bruce Brown of Miami will be the freshman that most outplays his HS ranking (around 30ish) and becomes a stud in the ACC. I see a lot of Russell Westbrook in his game, and I think his athleticm, relentles, and jumper will allow him to become an efficient 15-ppg scorer and very good defender.

4. The best line-up in college basketball this year will be when Villanova trots out their "Death Squad" line-up of Brunson, Hart, Jenkins, Bridges, and Eric Paschall. Don’t know if they ever start that combo (without a true post) but come tourament time, this lineup is going to be the talk of their region.

5. Josh Jackson, Lonzo Ball, Jayson Tatum will not make all-american teams (as many sports writers, fellow bloggers have predicted) and by the start of conference play we will not be talking about their ability to lead (in scoring, as the alpha dog) but their ability to fit in #3-4 roll and be ultimate, efficient, and low-turnover role players that hover around stat lines of 13ppg, 4rpg, 4apg. But, that will not affect their draft status as 2 of the 3 will still go top 6 in the draft. All 3 of these guys have gone to programs that have atleast 2 stud guards, and lots of depth. They will not need to average 15+ ppg (or in Ball’s case, average 8 apg) right away, nor will it be to their teams best interest.

6. Mid-majors and low-major teams to keep an eye on as we approach tournament time: Wichita State, BYU, Grand Canyon University, and University of Vermont.

7. Sleeper All American: Isaac Haas. As his minutes increases, would not surprise me to see him average 19ppg, 12 rpg, and 3 bpg and become a lottery selection as Purdue trots out a top-10 team by season’s end. A Jakob Poeltl type campaign out of him will make him a 2nd team all american by season’s end.

 

 

 

  

 

[SpartanGloryParticipant]

 So your saying MSU, with a hall of fame coach, 4 top 100 freshmen (Bridges is an absolute freak, the Shabazz comparison is way off), with a major chip on their shoulder after last year, will be a boarder line tournament team? I’d love to bet you on that. Their schedule is brutal to start the year and even if they win 1 of those games and win 70% of their conference games they’d be a shoe in. 

No issue with the rest of your post but gotta neg for that "bold" prediction…

[esperanzafleet69Participant]

 agreed. to say msu is a bubble team is laughable.. cassuis winston, langford, and bridges are ALL great players and they will be this year. the only thing i can see preventing us from advancing in the tournament is size, which we’ve shown tonight we can handle against a much bigger arizona team.. all you can do at this point is hope schilling comes back by dec/jan.

 

[McDunkin]

The New Jersey institute of technology Highlanders will shock and amaze once again.

[Hype Machine]

Isaac Humphries was dominant in his 19 minutes.

9pts, 8 rebs, 3 blks, 3 stls.

Ive been saying hes a top 5 draft pick for 2 years. Everyone else has disagreed with me. Everyone.

 

Draft sites are afraid to rank him because they know it looks bad when the Hype Machine gets one-up on them.

 

 

[D7H7NParticipant]

 Dennis Smith was looking good in preseason but I guess he really can’t shoot. Also he went to a garbge team with a garbage coach he may not end up averaging good numbers because NCSU has other players on the team that will get priority for scoring.

[Hype Machine]

 Can someone please tell me why Coach Cal is holding Isaac Humphries back? He played 7 measly minutes. 

His combined stats from the first 2 games.

26 total minutes 

58% FG

15pts

12rbs

3 blk

3 stl

And now for the wow factor.

Check out the spin-cycle dunk! It’s a contender for best white dunk of the year. 

Then Cal abuses him on the sideline and pulls him outta the game. WTF

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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