Let's Talk Some Hoops

I'm not going to waste anytime, here's my field of 65, mark it down:

• ACC: UNC, Duke, BC, Tech. Looking at the ACC, looks very similar to last year, down. UNC is loaded. How Roy Williams is going to allocate playing time, I don't know. David Noel is the only big loss. Frasor, Miller, Ginyard, Terry, and Hansbrough are back. Add Lawson, Ellington, Stepheson, and Wright, not to mention Danny Green who didn't play much and you have a bonafide national championship contender. Duke will start off slow, especially with Greg Paulus out injured, but McRoberts, Nelson, and the 2 touted freshmen Gerald Henderson and Koubek will carry the load. BC had Jared Dudley back along with Sean Marshall. Gunner Tyrece Rice is back on the outside to shoot the 3. Tech has all of their key contributors back from a disappointing 2005-06, but the potential is there to finish 2nd in the league. Morrow and Dickey can be a formidable inside-outside duo.
• A-10: Xavier, St. Louis. Xavier could be really, really good. Oklahoma transfer Drew Lavender and Stanley Burrell in the backcourt, Justin Cage, Justin Doellman, Josh Duncan up front, Brandon Cole, BJ Raymond and Johnny Wolf off the bench. That 8 man rotation on paper is as good as you'll find anywhere.
• Big East: Pittsburgh, Georgetown, Marquette, Syracuse, Villanova, UConn, Louisville, DePaul. Pitt is a Final 4 contender with big man Aaron Gray back. Ramon and Fields are a solid backcourt, Sam Young is a mismatch at the 4, Levon Kendall is the glue guy, and Gray is the big fella. There will be more shots available with no Carl Krauser, but where will the leadership come from? The Hoyas have their own big man in Roy Hibbert plus one of the most valuable players to his team in Jeff Green. Marquette's 3 guard lineup is as good as you'll find led by Dominic James. Syracuse's now seniors came to play in the Big East tourney, can they do it for a year? Villanova lost 3 of their 4 guards to the NBA, but Curtis Sumpter is back along with all those forwards/centers who gained experience in his absence, plus star freshman guard Scottie Reynolds. DePaul has all 5 starters back from a team that played well at the end of last year (beat Syracuse by 39). Louisville might be a little bit of a sleeper with freshman Derrick Caracter helping Juan Palacios and David Padgett at the forward spot.
• Big 10: Wisconsin, Ohio St., Indiana, Penn St., Purdue, Michigan. Yup, no Illinois or Michigan St., those are not typos. Wisconsin will win the Big 10 regular season title. Taylor is the do-it-all guard, Tucker is the do-it-all player who can take you off the dribble and post you up. The Bo Ryan offense is still hard to figure it out. Ohio St. and the Thad Five will improve as the year goes on, just like Michigan's Fab Five. Greg Oden gets all the hype, but Daequan Cook might be the best player in the freshman class. Indiana will have DJ White for a whole year and will be tough to guard with all their shooters. Penn St. returns 80% of its production from an NIT team that beat Illinois in Champaign, which ended their home court win streak. Purdue, if healthy, will be there also. Carl Landry is back from a knee injury, David Teague's knee is in good shape, and Nate Minnoy is healthy. Michigan will be fighting again to make the NCAA, but I think they'll do it.
• Big 12: Kansas, Texas A&M, Oklahoma St., Kansas St., Texas Tech, Texas. Kansas might have the most talent of anyone in the country. Russell Robinson and Mario Chalmers in the backcourt, Brandon Rush, Julian Wright, and Sasha Kaun up front, CJ Giles off the bench, and Sherron Collins the incoming star freshman makes them a national contender. Texas A&M has maybe the best inside-outside duo in Acie Law and Joseph Jones. Billy Gillespie is one of the best coaches in the nation. OSU responded to Sean Sutton and they return their late season starting lineup. Bob Huggins is the beneficiary of a full cupboard at Kansas St. Cartier Martin is no longer suspended by the school (big surprise). I think Texas will struggle more than people think, they are really young. Their youth is talented, led by Kevin Durant, but with no real experience to rely on, they'll be a middle of the pack team.
• Missouri Valley: Creighton, Wichita St., So. Illinois. Creighton gets Nate Funk back along with their top 8 players from last year. Funk has more game than Kyle Korver, Creighton could be scary good for a "mid-major". So. Illinois has their 5 starters back which means tougher defense and better offense. Wichita St. returns 6 of their top 7 players, led by swingman Kyle Wilson.
• Pac 10: UCLA, Arizona, Oregon, Washington. UCLA could return to the Final 4 if they stay healthy and find a backup point guard to relieve Darren Collison every now and then. I love saying Luc Mbah A Moute. The only thing that could prevent Arizona from going all the way is inside toughness. Mustafa Shakur, Jawann McClellan, and Marcus Williams give them shooting and quickness outside. Chase Budinger, Ivan Radenovic, and Kirk Walters are good face up inside players, but play too soft. We've been waiting a couple of years for Oregon and their talent. If they don't show up this year, Ernie Kent may be gone. Washington, though with some key losses, is an established program and they'll be in NCAA discussion. Spencer Hawes will be one of the top freshmen.
• SEC: Florida, Kentucky, LSU, Tennessee, Alabama, Arkansas. Toughest conference top to bottom, 8 teams have legit NCAA hopes. Florida, well you know. Kentucky will be tough defensively. They'll have to be to make up for their lack of offense. Magnum Rolle will be a good inside complement for Glen Davis. Not a game changer like Tyrus Thomas, but he'll be solid. Chris Lofton will make some All-America teams for UT. Ronald Steele is just what his name implies.
• And the others: Long Beach St., Memphis, Houston, Akron, San Diego St., BYU, Nevada, Fresno St., Gonzaga, Vermont, Belmont, Northern Arizona, Winthrop, Hofstra, Wisconsin-Green Bay, Penn, Delaware St., Marist, Missouri-Kansas City, Robert Morris, Samford, Bucknell, College of Charleston, Sam Houston St., Western Kentucky, Arkansas-Pine Bluff
• Just missing: Maryland, Virginia, Virginia Tech, UMass, Providence, USC, Mississippi St., Georgia, Air Force

I was going to go conference by conference, team by team, but I don't think I'll have time to do all of that.

Sweet 16: North Carolina, Duke, Xavier, Pitt, Georgetown, Marquette, Villanova, Ohio St., Kansas, Texas A&M, Memphis, Creighton, UCLA, Florida, LSU, Alabama

Final 4: North Carolina, Kansas, Florida, Xavier

Champ: North Carolina over Florida. Florida is awfully good, but UNC has the depth, quickness, and strength to beat them.

Of course, I'll be wrong, but oh well, it's fun talking hoops. We'll talk football later in the week.