Let the Games Begin!

Hoops fans, I don't care what anyone tries to tell you, Christmas comes in November! The season is underway and I couldn't be happier right now. I will start by saying I am sorry I haven't posted in awhile but it was a mixture of me being very busy and to be completely honest I was getting a little bit bored about writing about preseason rankings and not getting to watch any ball. Never fear though, with the season kicking off last night I have a renewed sense of energy and some day after thoughts to share about the opening night of the season.

Well I would like to start out by giving Isiah Thomas credit for coaching against UNC last night mostly because his mother had just had surgery earlier in the day, and that takes a lot of guts to do. But also because he was so over matched it wasn't even funny. The real thing I would like to discuss here is the glaring number of turnovers that the North Carolina Tar Heels committed in this game. Now I realize that its so early in the season and the Heels are playing with almost a completely new team, but Roy Williams himself admitted that the turnover situation had been plaguing the Heels all season long. On the bright side for the Heels, very few of those turnovers were committed by their new point man, Larry Drew. As for FIU, well as Isiah Thomas stated, they never gave up. This program has been through 9 straight losing seasons and the players seem excited to play under Thomas. If Marvin Roberts can continue to play games like that (18 points) the Golden Panthers may see their program start to turn around a little.

Another point of contention from last night: Ohio State is going to be a force in the Big 10 this season. Now you may ask how I can possibly come to that conclusion after seeing them play Alcorn State. The answer lies in the statistics from last nights game. The Buckeyes had 5 players score in double figures (2 of them came off the bench), only committed 6 turnovers, and possibly the most impressive figure of the night, had all but 2 of their players play over 10 minutes in the game. Ohio State is a deep team folks, and depth is one of the biggest factors come late in the season. Don't be surprised to see the Buckeyes in the top 10 for a good part of this season, be even less surprised if they upset the number 4 Tar Heels in 10 days on their home court.

The Mastermind's Game of the Day: Murray State @ #12 California
Welcome to the radar California Golden Bears. This is going to be the story of your whole season. Folks Cal is not used to be such a force in the Pac-10 not to mention being picked to win it. This is just the first of many games where under matched, under ranked, teams are going to push the Bears to the brink. Cal was caught off guard last night by a mixture of a possibly underrated Murray State team and the Golden Bears taking their opponent lightly. Now I am still calling Cal the favorite to win the Pac-10 but they need to harden up a little, and check the target on their backs because its not going away anytime soon.

Its gonna be a fantastic Season hoop heads! Thoughts, comments, concerns, as usual, are encouraged!