College basketball season. T-minus two weeks until the games really mean something.
It’s coming up fast, and yet with college football in full swing, the shooty-hoops are getting even less love than normal. Obviously, this is not a problem at Sons of Pepe Sanchez (or else we’d probably be called Sons of Pisa Tinoisamoa) but it is worth bearing in mind that the cognoscenti have run out of space on the dance card to devote to basketball.
So until the season tips, we’ll tackle one big question for each of my own personal preseason top-10. For previous editions, we have:
No. 10 Kentucky: Can youth be served in Lexington this time?
No. 9 Purdue: What happens if Zach Edey’s supporting cast isn’t enough?
No. 8 Texas A&M: Was the post-New Year Texas A&M the rule or the exception?
No. 7 Tennessee: Is this the year the Vol offense does its part?
No. 6 Creighton: How, exactly, can Creighton get over the hump?
No. 5 Michigan State: What is this Spartan team now?
No. 4 UConn: What can the Huskies do for an encore?
No. 3 Marquette: Will the Golden Eagles have enough size?
And now, to ponder the Azul Satans:
Is Jon Scheyer ready to take the next step in his head coaching journey?
Scheyer is in his second season; he has less than a decade in his pocket coaching in college. He inherited one of the marquee programs in the sport—and feel however you need to feel about Duke, this is unquestionably true—and while I don’t even know how you could set expectations for him in his first year, 27 wins and an ACC Tournament title feels like it would be right about there. The Blue Devils put two guys into the first round of the NBA Draft, pulled a top-five class and otherwise did Duke Stuff.