Today is the day we’ve been waiting months for. Real, live, meaningful college basketball takes place today for the first time since Kentucky cut down the nets in New Orleans. We’ll keep it brief today with the Morning Mix because there will be so much going on. Make sure to keep refreshing the College Basketball Talk homepage today.
Top Stories:
- Which is the best team in “The Triangle”?: Apparently the resurgence of North Carolina State has forced a name change from “Tobacco Road” to “The Triangle”. Nonetheless, the College Basketball Talk writers discuss their thoughts.
- Welcome to #NBCtheLeague: The College Basketball Talk writers are testing their fantasy wits in the college hoops realm. Take a look at the rosters and team names.
- College Basketball Talk writers pick major conference winners: Indiana and Creighton were the only unanimous picks. Kansas, Drexel, Memphis, and Gonzaga received five out of six votes. Raphielle Johnson was the only writer to go “chalk”.
- Preseason Wooden Award top-50 watch list released: Louisville is the only team to place three players, and the list of notable snubs is almost nonexistent
- Kentucky donates $500,00 to Superstorm Sandy relief efforts: There is not a coach in the country who better utilizes his stature to benefit the university and the community than John Calipari. The Kentucky head coach held a telethon on Wednesday night in order to raise funds for the relief efforts.
Hoops Housekeeping:
- Florida guard Scottie Wilbekin will be suspended for the Carrier Classic against Georgetown (Orlando Sentinel)
- Cleveland State has given head coach Gary Waters a seven-year extension (Cleveland Plain-Dealer)
- USC is going to need all the help they can get this season, and it seems as though they got some. 7-foot Rice-transfer Omar Oraby was cleared by the NCAA and will be able to participate right away (ESPN)
- Kansas freshman Landen Lucas will sit out the season-opener as is in the process of deciding if he wants to redshirt or not (KUsports.com)
Observations & Analysis:
- Gary Parrish looks ahead to what should be a tremendous opening weekend for college hoops (CBS Sports)
- 68 predictions for the college basketball season that are bound to come true (Yahoo Sports)
- Jeff Goodman tells us there are ten things we need to know before we head into the 2012-2013 season (CBS Sports)
- TCU has had almost no basketball success in the past two decades. But with Trent Johnson at the helm of the Horn Frogs, a new era of hoops is on the horizon (Dallas Star-Telegram)
Video of the Day:
Our pals Vin Parise and Eric Kuselias from NBC Sport Talk provide a preview of the first weekend of college hoops
The ten year-old brother of former-Washington Redskin Sean Taylor (R.I.P) is going to be a beast some day. (The Big Lead)
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