The 2016-2017 College Basketball season officially starts tonight with two top 20 games taking place in Honolulu, Hawaii at the Armed Forces Classic. In the first game #10 Arizona will take on #12 Michigan State at 7:00 PM EST. In game two it will be #11 Indiana taking on #3 Kansas. The scheduled game time is 9:00 PM EST provided the first game finishes on time and allows sufficient time for the start.
The early season favorite is the Duke Blue Devils. They have a good mix of newcomers and experienced players that will help the youngsters play Duke basketball. They are followed in the preseason poll by Kansas, Kentucky, and Villanova. ‘Nova was last year’s winner of the National Championship. They return three starters from last year’s team and one of those is Kris Jenkins, the one who hit the last second shot at the buzzer to beat North Carolina.
This is one of my favorite times of the year. As the NCAA basketball season is beginning the NCAA football season is winding down and getting ready for conference championships and bowl games. That means the television channels have plenty of games for the avid sports fan to watch. As the holidays approach it will be exciting to see the new young talent on the hardwood and which teams will be a force to be reckoned with in their conference and beyond. Predictions have been made as far as who will win each conference and via for an opportunity to play in March Madness.
In the blink of an eye we will be debating which teams are on the bubble and which teams are outside the bubble. There is sure to be some teams that come out of nowhere to have tremendous seasons and there will be teams that were predicted to do very well that have faltered. There will be upsets throughout the season and into the tournament, but before we know it the championship game will be upon us and a new champion crowned.
By Dr. Bret Simmermacher
Dr. Simmermacher is the Chair of Sports Coaching at the United States Sports Academy, and can be reached at bsimmer@ussa.edu