We're rolling right into college basketball season, and it's going to be a great year in the ACC. One very intriguing part of the season to me is all of the early season tournaments that every single ACC team is taking place in. Each day this week, I'll be previewing three of the twelve tournaments ACC teams are participating in. Keep checking in throughout the week. Here's today's preview of the tournaments Boston College, Clemson, and Duke are participating in.
Boston College
Old Spice Classic
Boston College will travel down to Orlando November 25-28 to participate in the Old Spice Classic. They'll try to defend the ACC crown, as Florida State won this tournament last year. Though it won't be easy, as the tournament brings in another solid field as usual. The field consists of Boston College, California, Georgia, Manhattan, Notre Dame, Temple, Texas A&M and Wisconsin.
California is in a rebuilding year after winning the Pac-10 title and losing Pac-10 player of the year Jerome Randle. Although in tournaments like these, endurance is a key in the players, and the Bear's wealth of freshmen might still be used to tournament play like this. California also has one of the best names in basketball in Bak Bak, their sophomore forward.
Georgia is probably my favorite to win the tournament. Trey Thompkins and Travis Leslie are both future NBA draft picks with two years under their belt, and are on the All-SEC first team. Having one player like that is dangerous enough, but two? I expect Georgia to win this tournament, as well as make some waves in the SEC.
Notre Dame has lost the two players that have carried them for the last four years in Luke Harangody and Tory Jackson. I don't think they'll be able to figure out how to survive without them within the first two weeks of the season- and it will show in Orlando.
Temple is probably the most solid team in this tournament. While they obviously won't have the big names or highly recruited players like the other big name schools, they're a very good team. I'd be surprised if they weren't in the championship game of this tournament.
I've learned a valuable lesson in my years of picking the NCAA Tournament Bracket- don't pick against Wisconsin. While I don't think Bo Ryan has near as strong of a team as he's had in previous years, Wisconsin always sticks around, and don't think they won't in this tournament, too.
Texas A&M is a lot like Wisconsin, in the sense that they're going to give it their best shot. But the Aggies have definitely had better teams then the one they have this year. An NIT bound A&M team won't be the biggest competition in this tournament.
Manhattan won't look like a good win, but it will definitely look like a bad loss. I can confidently say that Manhattan won't be a contender in this tournament.
How BC Will Fare: Short and sweet- While the Eagles have talent in the starting 5, they pretty much have nothing after that. It'll be a tough tournament for the Eagles to win. But you can never count an ACC team out.
Tournament Prediction: Georgia and Temple will face off in the championship game. Georgia wins. Boston College goes 1-2.
Clemson
Paradise Jam
Clemson will compete in the Paradise Jam from November 19-22. The ACC has never fared well in the Paradise Jam, but the Tigers look to change that this year. And it is completely in reach, as they won't have to go through what other ACC teams will have to go through to win their tournaments. This year's (in my opinion weak) field consists of Alabama, Clemson, Iowa, Long Beach State, Old Dominion, Seton Hall, Saint Peters, and Xavier.
Xavier is the one strong point in this tournament, in my opinion, and is also my favorite to win the Paradise Jam. Athlon Sports put it perfectly: Xavier always overachieves. They'll continue to, as teams like this do, because these tournaments are a good way to try to get that ticket to the Big Dance. The Musketeers have earned the respect. They'll do good in this tournament.
Speaking of trying to punch your ticket to the tournament, there's several teams in this year's Paradise Jam that have good squads, and are trying to get the tournament committee to notice them any way possible. Old Dominion especially. Other teams trying to do the same thing are Long Beach State, Seton Hall, and Saint Peters.
Alabama is the biggest name, and many people will probably favorite them to do good in this tournament just because of the name on their jersey. But in the end, Alabama is weak this year. They're a bad SEC team, and I don't expect them to do good in this tournament.
How Clemson Will Fare: I think the Tigers will fare very well in this tournament. They have had the talent to get very far in the NCAA Tournament, but Oliver Purnell (who I will always consider one of the worst coaches in America) held them back. Coach Brownell won't be like that. I think Clemson will have a better season then most are expecting, starting with this tournament.
Tournament Prediction: Xavier and Clemson face off in the championship game. It's a close game, but Xavier pulls it out.
Duke
O'Reilly Auto Parts CBE Classic
So here's how this tournament works out: There's four powerhouses, and a lot of cupcakes for the powerhouses to smother. Duke is the main attraction in this tournament, but it won't be easy for (in my opinion) the best team in the country- they'll still have to get by Kansas State, Gonzaga, and Marquette. Regional rounds take place November 12-18, but the real show will be November 22-23.
Kansas State is a Final Four team to me. I have very high praise for the Wildcats. They came onto the scene last year, and although they lose Denis Clemente, they still return a great team that includes Jacob Pullen, who many considered better then Clemente last season. I have very high expectations for K-State this year- and I think they could turn a lot of doubter's heads by winning this tournament, although Duke is in there way.
I got a personal experience watching Gonzaga, when they knocked my Seminoles out of the NCAA Tournament last year. I was disappointed at the time, but I also realized how good of a team Gonzaga has. And then I found out that they have 7 of their top 8 scorers returning? The Zags will have an excellent team this year, and while they probably won't win this CBE Classic, they'll be solid and make a run in the Big Dance.
Marquette is another team that I've gotten to watch play a lot. They just seem to pop up on my TV a lot. So I've seen that Marquette usually has a team that doesn't have one guy carrying the load, they have a good group of just-above-average guys who always seem to be able to pull together and get to the NCAAs. They won't win this tournament, but it shows just how good this tournament is with Marquette being the 4th best team.
This is a huge tournament, and I could analyze it all day. This is a short preview for right now, though. This is probably the only time I'll preview the Old Spice Classic, and the Paradise Jam just isn't that intriguing. Be sure to keep checking back into ACC Rivals during tournament time for more previews of the CBE Classic.
How Duke Will Fare: They're the best team in the country, as well as the defending national champions. Duke will fare fine- but Frank Martin's crew will probably be Duke's biggest threat until March.
Tournament Prediction: A Duke and K-State showdown that will make everyone's weekend- this is way too great of a game for me to make a prediction.
That's all for today's previews. Comment your thoughts, and thanks for reading!
