Bruins are in the hunt for a successful b-ball season

  Brian Thompson E-mail questions and
comments to [email protected].

Click Here for more articles by Brian Thompson

With the ups and downs of the UCLA football team garnering most
of the attention this fall, college basketball has slipped below
the radar screen.

In fact, I’d bet that a lot of you didn’t even know
that the men’s basketball team tips off its season tomorrow
night. That’s right, Kapono, Gadzuric, Lavin and all of our
favorite characters will be back to fill that special place in all
of our hearts, as the Bruins take on the vaunted EA Sports
All-Stars in an exhibition at Pauley Pavilion.

So as the Bruins put on those classic white, blue and gold
uniforms and begin their quest to add banner No. 12 to the rafters
at Pauley tomorrow, let us take a look at some things to keep an
eye on in the world of college basketball:

Let’s start right at the top. Duke should win it all. This
is the consensus No. 1 team in the nation. As much as I hate to
admit it, don’t be surprised if the Blue Devils stay there
the entire season. Mike Krzyzewski is the closest thing we have to
John R. Wooden in college basketball today. He gets the
nation’s best players, runs a clean program, and meticulously
prepares his players.

Player of the Year Shane Battier is gone, but the rest of the
cast from last year’s NCAA Championship team is back. Duke
has perhaps the two best guards in the country ““ Jason
Williams and Chris Duhon. Guard play is vital to success at the
collegiate level more so than in the NBA. And they added a high
school All-American, guard Daniel Ewing, as well as a high-scoring
transfer, Dahntay Jones. Scary. Of course, anything can happen in
the NCAA Tournament. But there’s a good chance everyone else
is just playing for second place.

The traditional powers will reign supreme. There are a lot of
very, very good teams in the nation this year. Among these are some
familiar names, such as Maryland, which isn’t intimidated by
ACC rival Duke in the least. Kentucky, with exciting forward
Tayshaun Prince and an extremely deep bench, can also make a run
for the championship. Illinois, which has a veteran squad and
threatens on the inside and outside, will be competitive in March.
And UCLA, which is no stranger to national titles, has a chance to
add to their banners in Pauley.

But this season may mark the return to prominence of some former
powerhouses, such as Georgetown and Indiana. There’s a lot of
parity this season, but it is because there’s a lot of talent
spread out among college basketball and not because of the lack of
quality players and teams. Expect a lot of familiar names with high
seedings come March.

The Pac-10 will be better than you think. Of the “Big
Three” in the Pac-10, only one looks like a contender.
Stanford lost four starters. So did Arizona. That leaves UCLA as
the easy pick for the Pac-10 title.

I do think the Bruins should win the conference crown. But it
won’t be as easy as some think. Stanford still has Casey
Jacobsen, who some have tabbed for Player of the Year, while
Arizona still has experienced point guard Jason Gardner. And these
are two of the best-coached teams in the nation. That alone will
equate to a lot of wins.

Plus, there are a few teams on the rise in the Pac-10. USC made
it to the Elite Eight a year ago. Dare I say it, but the Trojans
might give the Bruins a run at the Pac-10 title. Cal has a very
young team and will be inconsistent, but on the days they put it
all together the Bears have a chance to sneak away with some big
wins.

An added dimension to the Pac-10 picture is the return of the
conference tournament in mid-March. As is the case in any
conference tournament, a team at the bottom of the standings, by
virtue of putting together three wins in a row, can win a bid into
the NCAA Tournament. That could mean that a deserving team is
squeezed out of the Big Dance.

The Bruins’ fortunes will be revealed early. With talent
and stability come expectations. And this season, people are
expecting a lot out of the Bruins.

In recent years, Lavin’s boys have struggled to find
chemistry out of the gate. Without guard Earl Watson, the chemistry
problem might be compounded. But in order to be true contenders,
the Bruins need to buck this trend. This team should be familiar
enough with each other to do just that, with starters Jason Kapono,
Dan Gadzuric, Matt Barnes and Billy Knight all returning. The best
place to gauge what this team is made of is at the Maui
Invitational Thanksgiving week. There, the Bruins will likely face
Kansas, and possibly Duke. If the Bruins are for real and want to
be truly among the big boys, they will have to prove it in Maui.
Otherwise, the mental block of not being able to beat a top-5 team
may stick with the Bruins all season. This team has a real chance
to make it to the Final Four. It would be a shame if they settled
for the Sweet 16 yet again.

It should be an interesting season, to say the least. There are
bound to be a few twists and turns along the way between now and
March. Get ready, it all starts tomorrow night.