Top storylines as the college hoops season is near...

1. Will the ACC live up to the hype?

LY with the additions of Cuse,Pitt and Notre Dame the new 15 team ACC had a lot of hype and rightfully so. Talks of 8,9 even 10 teams in the tourney. That didn't happen in year 1. Now Maryland leaves and Louisville joins the league. Is the ACC better than it was? Or did it just add more cargo? Time will tell

2. Rick Pitino has a chance at history and no one is talking about it

Hell Rick Pitino may not know what i'm talking about. I'll tell you. Let's say Louisville wins the ACC tournament this year which isn't out of the realm of possibility. If that happens Rick Pitino at Louisville will have won 3 conference tourney titles in 3 different conferences in 3 years If at some point at Louisville he wins an ACC Tourney which very well could happen. Pitino will have won 4 conference tourney titles in 4 different conferences at Louisville. Just interesting IMO

3. Bruce Pearl and Kelvin Sampson are back in college basketball

2 words you never want associated with you are "show-cause" Both men got show cause penalties which led to their departure from college hoops. Sampson was hired at Houston and they are building new facilities. Sampson said this offseason "Phi Slama Jama isn't going to win us any games. A new building will,practice facility as well we have to catch up facilities wise" He'll get Houston going in the next few years. Hell a year or 2 from now we may be talking about the big Houston-SMU game in college hoops

Bruce Pearl returns to the SEC at Auburn who hasn't made the NCAA Tourney since 2003 and only been there 8 times. Pearl has a lot of folks excited with his demeanor/style of play. And he's brought in some transfers in KC Ross Miller from New Mexico State and Antoine Mason from Niagara. Pearl will win there probably not right away but witin a year or 2 they could be a top4-5 SEC team

Other coaching hires that i find interesting are:

Cuonzo Martin at California

Buzz Williams at Va.Tech {I wasn't suprised Buzz left Marquette}

Ernie Kent Washington State

Danny Manning Wake Forest

Frank Haith Tulsa

Saul Phillips Ohio

Mike Dunlap Loyola Marymount

4. Will the SEC finally get better in hoops?

If you believe the SEC is a bad hoops league don't tell South Carolina HC Frank Martin. He said the following this offseason" I'm tired of this fallacy our league is no good. I'm tired of it Its disrespectful to the coaches in our league. Our league is ahrd we're a league in transition. I think you'll start seeing our leaguemoving forward as the new coaches stabilize their program"

With all due respect to Coach Martin the problem in the SEC is it's Kentucky/Florida league. If you put Arkansas's players in Ole Miss's jersey's Ole Miss's players in Alabama's jersey's Bama's players in S.Carolina's jerseys. S.Carolina's players in A&M's jerseys they'd all finish about the same. It's like that in a lot of leagues but it shows more in the SEC. Arkansas should be a tourney team and a sleeper team i like...LSU. Nevertheless SEC needs to get better

5. The Transfer epidemic

Its just showing up more and more in college hoops. 700+ transfers a year. Grad Student transfers everyone has a sick relative etc. Something needs to be done about all the transfers in college hoops. Coaches have talked about giving a player 6 years to play 4 seasons to not have the 5th year transfer free agents. Something has to be done guys

6-10 coming up

Some conferences in their exhibition games are experimenting with a 30 second shot clock to see how the game flows. Personally guys i'm in favor of a 30 second shot clock i also thing its time to make it 6 fouls on a player to foul out. I think in the next 2-3 years the 30 second shot clock will be universal. High school hoops definitely needs a shot clock but thats another thread for another day

7. All the talk about UMASS will be about Derrick Gordon but that's not the big UMASS story

Most media outlets when talking UMASS basketball will focus on Derrick Gordon coming out in April. I think we all say good for you DG no one cares the big UMASS story IMO is how do they survive non-conference play? I'll post UMASS's schedule in terms of home road Alt.Site:

Home games vs Siena,Manhattan,Canisius,Iona,Northeastern

Road games vs Harvard,LSU,Providence,BYU

Neutral court games vs Boston College,Notre Dame,Florida State,FGCU

Plus 18 A-10 games. That's a brutal schedule. Not as much fun for ESPN to talk about but this to me is the true story. Once again Derrick good for you we don't care stay healthy make us some money

8. Is the Big 12 the best league?

This is an interesting conference. Everyone's darling is Texas. Kansas wins every year. K-State will be underrated. Iowa State with Hoiberg is dangerous. Oklahoma can score but needs tourney success. Baylor and Ok.State though down could steal some wins and play spoiler. W.Virginia is a question mark. But you can make an argument the Big 12 is the best hoops league. The proof will be in the pudding though

9. The Pac-12 took 2 steps forward and now takes 5 steps back

6 schools made the NCAA tourney LY and from my count 25-30 key players from the 12 schools have left for 1 reason or another. Oregon added 5 walk-ons to the program to have bodies. UCLA lost a ton. Oregon State fired their HC late. the league has 3 new HC's. Utah is looking to take the next step. Anytime the Pac-12 has success their players leave and then they go through a 2 yr rebuilding phase that you don't seem to see in other leagues. Some sleeper ATS teams IMO Washington and USC. USC may pull an upset or 2

10. Is THIS the year a #16 seed beats #1 seed

The college basketball world is flat guys. And each year these 16's are closer and closer to slaying Goliath. C.Carolina led Virginia at the Half. Weber State was within 9 of Arizona. 2 yrs ago. Southern came close vs Gonzaga. WKU within 7 of Kansas. 3 yrs ago UNC Asheville tested Cuse. Is this the year the glass slipper fits?

11-15 coming up

When you're building a schedule to get you to the NIT don't get pissed when you get picked to go to the NIT. SMU in may's eyes got screwed by the committee. But they had 2 good NC games lost to USF,temple and Houston in the AAC tourney which killed them. they made a run to the NIT championship game losing to Minnesota. This year SMU has games vs Gonzaga,Indiana,Arkansas,Michigan

Utah's non conference was a joke LY. This year games with San Diego State,Wichita State,BYU,Kansas and UNLV. Much better and note to all schools. When in doubt play good teams. Is that too much to ask?

12. Who will be the mid-major darling this year?

My picks: E.Washington,Cleveland State,Siena,Oral Roberts and this one may shock ya... I like Army in the Patriot League. Give me your picks if you get a chance

13. Kevin Ware lands at Georgia State

We all remember watching Ware break his leg vs Duke in the Elite 8. He played  a game or 2 LY and has now decided to go to Ga.State is the overwhelming favorite in the Sun Belt. I think we can all agree GL to Kevin going forward

14. Coach K is 17 wins from 1,000 as a HC

Unless Duke is just god awful Coach K will pick up his 1,000th win likely in January. Boeheim isn't too far behind 1,000 wins. Once those guys acheive that will another HC ever do it? I say No

15. The WCC may be the best its been in my lifetime

Now i grant you i'm younger than most but the WCC may be the best it's been in a long time. Gonzaga is the favorite rightfully so,BYU is BYU and Saint Mary's is always good. What makes this interesting guys i think this could be a year where a team like San Francisco,San Diego or a Portland wins the WCC tourney and steals the automatic bid. We could have 4 WCC teams in the NCAA tourney

Those are the top storylines for the college hoops season. BOL this season guys

Your thoughts are welcome