College Basketball Preview

While I'm a little hesitant to allow myself to commit to the idea that "Winter is coming" and that I may have to endure another season of sub zero temperatures, I also know that the cold winds bring one of my favorite times of the year . . . College Basketball Season. I know I said earlier in my NFL predictions that I didn't like making predictions  before seeing teams actually play, but to hell with it! It's my blog, I'll do what I damn well please. I've done predictions for the top conferences with legitimate opportunities to make some noise come March.

 Now a little closer look at some of the "Major Conferences."




One of the toughest conferences in country, the ACC will have a lot of marquee games to watch throughout the season. I have Duke wining the conference but I am not 100% confident in the pick. My gut told me that because the conference is so stacked with talented teams, the youth of the Blue Devils could catch up to them and allow the more experienced teams to take advantage. Unfortunately for the other teams in the ACC, Duke looks REALLY good on paper and have the whole non-conference schedule to create some chemistry and gain experience for their young core.

I know that Wisconsin is a consensus favorite to run away with the best conference in land (my opinion) but I just can't do that be a self respecting Minnesotan, and not to mention they have one very large missing component to winning the Big Ten ... Tom Izzo. Not only is he one of the top 5 coaches in country, he has an under the radar squad this year, which I love. After losing 3 players to the NBA (two first rounders) and a recruiting class without a lot of Diaper Dandies, people may expect a less dominant year than normal for the Spartans. But last season he continued to win even when his NBA caliber players missed a combined 20 games. Because of this, the bench players now taking vital roles in the offense, already have solid game experience to carry over into this season.

The one variable that could really mess up my Big Ten prediction, is Minnesota. After wining the NIT Tournament last season, they bring back a squad that has lost really only one major piece (Austin Hollins) and have brought in some quality talent in recruiting. If they progress and grow under Patino's system as planned, they could finish as high as 2nd or 3rd. If they don't, they do have the potential to be as low as 11th in my opinion.


Kansas is clearly the cream of the crop in this conference. They get the top notch recruits, they have one of the best coaches in the game, and they don't lose at home, like ever. Bill Self's home record with Kansas against Big 12 opponents at home is 86-5 over his 11 year stint thus far, and has won 8 straight Big 12 titles so you can see why they are my favorite to win it again. One team that I like to make some noise and challenge KU this year is Texas. Reasons being, they didn't lose a single player from a team that finished with 24 wins, 4th in the conference, won a NCAA Tournament game and had one of the best recruiting classes in the country this off season. They are my dark horse team to turn some heads this season. 

Besides Arizona, there's not a whole lot for me to say about the Pac 12. Personally, I feel that it is a highly over rated conference that somehow continually gets 6-7 teams in the tournament that end up doing nothing. With that said, Arizona is a legit team. They have athleticism, skill and play very good defense. The loss of Aaron Gordon will be a tough one to fill, but they reloaded on young talent and should still be a strong team come March.

There is not a stranger conference in my opinion than the SEC. At the top, they have two elite programs that can compete year in and year out for a national title. After that, I wouldn't bet on any of them finishing in the top half of the more competitive ACC or Big 10. But the two they got, they can be proud of. Since 2006, Florida has dominated March Madness with 2 Nat'l Titles and 4 straight Elite 8 appearances ('11-'14). Then there is Kentucky, who has become the unofficial farm system for the NBA since the arrival of Calipari in 2009 (20 players drafted - 15 in the first round - 8 in the top 10) and continually replenish with the nations young talent every summer. Don't bother watching to much of this conference throughout the course of the year, unless it's Florida v. Kentucky. If that's the case, then get you popcorn ready, cause it's gonna be a good one.

Final Four Prediction:

I have the two elite teams from the SEC (making the conference look better than it actually is), the nationally favored Duke with their highly touted Freshman and Coach K at the helm, and then my dark horse for the year in Texas who also brings in one of the nations top recruiting classes along with a team that didn't lose a single player from last years Tournament bound squad last season. Should be another crazy year of college basketball. Can't wait for it to start. 

Thank You, Mr. Donovan

A couple weeks ago, there were many great stories to come out of the world of sports. The Kansas City Royals kept their playoff hopes alive in a classically KC-way: countless extra innings to finally win by several runs. Adrian Peterson got arrested for smoking weed, a violation of his probation in relation to his current child abuse charges. Alfonso Ribeiro broke out the classic "Carlton" dance on Dancing with the Stars. Though all of these stories are important in the world of sports (minus the Carlton dance, but come on, that's a classic), there is one story that was overshadowed. It was covered by ESPN, but not in the sense that all of these other stories were. It was the retirement of a superstar in his sport. One that had the same impact on the sport as, say, Derek Jeter, but without nearly the coverage. That was the retirement of Landon Donovan.

Donovan announced back in August that he would retire at the end of the MLS season, which runs into November. While November hasn't hit yet (thankfully), Donovan did retire from the team he is most known for on Friday. That is the US Men's National Team. While he was noticeably absent from the 2014 World Cup, he has been on the team every year for at least one appearance since 2000. He's appeared 156 times, with 57 goals scored in those appearances.He holds two USMNT World Cup records, being the all-time goal scorer and the all-time assists leader. All- time. As in, he is the best soccer player from the United States to play in the World Cup. 

He's played all over the world, including for the best team in Germany, Bayern Munich, who themselves the last couple years have won several titles, including European champions, and for Everton in England. He will end his career with the LA Galaxy, and will end as the MLS's all time top scorers, with 136 goals. He'll end his career as the best that American Soccer has to offer, a player that doesn't come around often. But he gets only a short segment on ESPN.  Why?  Because soccer just isn't popular here. We only watch once every four years, and that's when the World Cup comes around. But when we watched, we watched the best that our country had to offer dominating every chance he got. He became a household name when he played a sport most people lose interest in after high school or college. He brought the attention of the American people to a sport that is revered all around the world, even if it was but for a few short weeks every four years. He was truly one of the greatest ambassadors the sport could ask for. 

He may have statistically had one of the best careers he could have asked for, but every fourth June, he got people riled up for a sport they normally wouldn't think twice about. Why?  Because he was good. He scored. The USMNT never won World Cup titles, but we watched with bated breath, hoping we would advance in the competition because of him. We never expected to win the title, but we had fun watching to see how far we would get, and for that fun and excitement, we have Mr. Donovan to thank. We'll still have our great players to watch, such as Clint Dempsey and Tim Howard, but it will be different without Landon Donovan on the pitch too. So, thank you Mr. Donovan. Thank you for bringing the attention of the American people to the World's sport. Thank you for being a great ambassador. And thank you for representing our country in a way that made us proud. 

Brent "Chunk" Kruger

Contributing Writer to IzzyLegit

A New Blueprint: The Rebuild of the Minnesota Timberwolves

Anthony Bennett                     Zach LaVine                    Andrew Wiggins                Thaddeus Young

The Minnesota Timberwolves.  A team that traded away its top player, Kevin Love, this summer will most likely lose more games than they did last year (40-42) and will miss the playoffs for the 11th year in a row; longest active streak in the league.  While the team may struggle the Timberwolves are in the process of their newest rebuilding project with a bunch of young and unproven talent, I find myself excited for what the future may hold.

New Additions:

Zach LaVine - The #13 overall pick in the 2014 draft might be the most athletic player in the draft that including Andrew Wiggins. At 6'5" he is big enough to play the two but Flip Saunders would also like to be able to use him as a point guard in the future. 

Andrew Wiggins at 2014 NBA Draft

Andrew Wiggins - The Timberwolves first ever #1 overall draft pick.  He has the athletic ability and potential to be the most dynamic wing player in Timberwolves history.  While his offense may take a while to develop, he should be able to step in right away and play solid perimeter defense. 

Anthony Bennett - The second ever #1 draft pick, both acquired in the Cleveland trade.  Bennett intrigues me even though he had a disastrous rookie year.  The Timberwolves spin on last year is that he had knee surgery in the summer and never really got his legs under him.  I don't know if I believe that but he has the potential to be a back to the basket player while also being able to stretch the floor. Not as far as Kevin Love, but in the 10'-15' variety.

Thaddeus Young - Acquired from the Philadelphia 76ers; he will try to replace some of the offensive production lost from Love.  He will not average a double-double but more likely 15 points and eight rebounds a night.  He will be an immediate upgrade on the defensive end where Love usually used to regroup and recharge for another pick and pop three pointer. 

Glen Robinson III - Possible steal of the draft falling to the Wolves at pick #40. Most likely will not play much this year but another young athletic wing who has the potential to turn into a very good role player.

Mo Williams - Might be one of the best pure shooters on the roster.  Along with Young he was brought into provide leadership and guidance to this young team.  Think what Sam Mitchell was to Kevin Garnett.

Remaining Wolves:

Shabazz Muhammad - Did not get much playing time last year, but has spent this summer rebuilding his body. This will, hopefully, allow him to be quicker laterally on defense to stay on the floor at the small forward position.  He may also be able to offer rotation flexibility by being able to play the 4 when/if the Wolves go with a small quicker lineup. 

Gorgui Dieng - He showed signs of becoming a "rim protector" that the Timberwolves have never had.  His offensive game leaves a lot to be desired but if he can protect the rim while grabbing some defensive rebounds there will be a spot on this team for him. 

Throw in established NBA players such as big man Nikola Pekovic, pure scorer Kevin Martin, defensive minded (and NBA Champion) Corey Brewer and Ricky Rubio leading the show give a solid baseline for the Wolves to start with. Ricky will absolutely be the face of the franchise at this point, and a key factor in how successful this team will be. With a more athletic team around him, the Wolves will try to push the ball like the Phoenix Suns when they implemented the "7 seconds or less" mentality with All-Stars Steve Nash and Amare Stoudemire.  The problem is, for this team to make it the next level, Rubio must learn how to shoot the ball.  Being able to consistently knock down a 15' shot would do wonders for this team. The team also has to get rid of JJ Barea's and his awful contract. He's not going to get a whole lot of playing time with the bigger and more athletic young guns on the squad, and his contract needs to get off the books for the team to be able have some flexibility in free agency and contract extensions. 

Flip Saunders

The most exciting addition to me is Flip Saunders as coach. He will go through the growing pains of a young team and has the experience of developing young talent into a solid core, that should be ready to compete in two to three years.  While the Wolves will most likely not build on what they did last year, or even compete for a playoff spot, what Flip has promised is a fun, defensive minded group that will let their athleticism and hard nose defense  turn into a up tempo style offense.  They will struggle to score points but with Rubio pushing the ball and distributing to our young dynamic wings, there should be at least one 'wow' moment a game.  Hopefully this will be the last 'blueprint for the future' for some time.  I don't know about you but I am excited to see how it turns out.  

Ryan Larson

Contributing Writer to IzzyLegit