The National Landscape...WHO are your SLEEPERS for National CHAMPS...

[BLUEDOGHOUSE]

This year's season/tournament is going to be dominated by teams who are very strong down low. UNC, Uconn, OSU, UK et al. There's too much talent in the paint. Any Dark Horse that is coming to play has to be strong down low or I don't think they're going to break through. I'm not sold on any guard dominated squads this year (at this stage). Teams like Louisville are going to need big development from players down low (Dieng) to be true contenders imo--btw, watching him develop over the course of last year, I really like what Dieng brings to the table; just not sure if it comes together this year or not.

Note to BLUEDOG: you can edit your post instead of posting corrections. It's the little blue text to the bottom left of your posts.

Thanks intlzncster for giving me the editing tip. I like Florida at the guard position. They truly are loaded there and on any given night if those guards are clicking it will be big trouble for anyone including NCAR. Florida however is very suspect in the front court. Overall they are a true wildcard if not dark horse. Louisville has Dieng, Buckles Swopshire and Chane Behanan in the front court. We know the back court is experienced and strong with Siva, Blackshear, Mara and Kuric et al. Louisville is loaded.

 

[BLUEDOGHOUSE]

I would put Baylor right around 20-25. The PG situation scares me a lot. I could see losing Lacedarius Dunn helping more than it hurts.

Hey BurnsBros...We shall see. Dunn was Dyson like in my opinion. I think you will see the same result with Baylor that you saw with UConn last year with the omission of Dunn from the Baylor roster.

 

[BLUEDOGHOUSE]

Michigan lost G Darius Morris who opted out as a Junior to join the NBA draft and wasn't even drafted! Even after losing him they return stud senior Tim Hardaway Jr. and a nice young center Jordan Morgan.they have a boatload of sophmores that will improve and also bring in 2 four star recruits Carlton Brundrige and Trey Burke. Last year they barely almost knocked off Duke in the second rd of the tourney. Missing Morris will hurt their chances to make it deep but u said darkhorse. Like this year 2012 will have a stud roster with Glenn Robinson Jr (4 star, 8 pf) coming in to join a already young talented team.

I am really looking forward to that Michigan/Memphis game on Nov. 21st. in Hawaii. That should be a great game. Novak and Douglass give UM some senior leadership in the backcourt. It will be interesting to see what kind of game Joe Dumars son Jordan has this year. No question you are riding down Darkhorse Avenue with UM. Lets mark the post and check back at the end of the year!!

 

[-Huskiediehard-]

yea we need novak and douglass to step up this year their senior leadership will be key but they really struggled last year especially shooting the three the last 4-5 weeks of the season. Both will probably lose minutes to the young guys. And I also am looking forward to Hawaii.

 

[BLUEDOGHOUSE]

yea we need novak and douglass to step up this year their senior leadership will be key but they really struggled last year especially shooting the three the last 4-5 weeks of the season. Both will probably lose minutes to the young guys. And I also am looking forward to Hawaii.

Do you have a Michigan connection? Beilein is a solid coach.

http://www.freep.com/article/201108...higan-s-John-Beilein-expects-stay-past-year-5

 

[babysheep]

I have a tough time believing that most of these teams can be considered dark horses. Vandy? Really? A seemingly-consensus top 10 team? Florida?

 

[TheRogers]

Pitt is my darkhorse. A good Pitt team seems to always be one unlucky break away from changing their NCAA fate. Dixon is a great coach and if he gets them in the FF, they will smell blood.

 

[Burnsbros23]

LOL yah Florida Baylor in top 10 zona is in the top 15.

Wichita State will be good and there not in the top 25. Nova too.

 

[bmayuc]

baylor has a huge skill issue. they have crazy size, length, athleticism but lack PG play that is so vital in the tourney... reminds me of a team full of stanley robinsons...

 

[nelsonmuntz]

A top 15 team can't be a dark horse. This rules out Florida and Baylor. I was going to say Xavier, but they will be right on the edge of the Top 15.

I like Georgetown to surprise. Freeman was a good player and seemed like a good guy, but was not clutch in the last 5 minutes of a game. Thompson is not a great game coach but I love his system. He could coach a rec team to shoot close to 50% from the field for the season.

I think Villanova will be better because Fisher was a selfish player that clearly frustrated his teammates with his poor shot selection and ball hogging.

UCLA won't be ranked preseason but the Pac 12 stills sucks and Howland is too good a coach to be bad this long.

 

[babysheep]

Discussions like this are impossible because how many people predicted VCU would make the Final Four? How many people predicted that Butler would make it to the NC game for the second time in a row? How many people predicted that UConn would win it all? You never know who it's going to be until they get hot in March.

 

[BLUEDOGHOUSE]

Thanks to all who added their opinions to this thread. It probably would have been a good idea for me to actually define what constitutes a dark horse in my initial post. I thought it was a good idea to leave it vague for the purpose of opening up the dialogue. The UConn fan base is generally a knowledgeable one as a whole and those who have responded have shown great insight. It is always challenging for some knowledgeable UConn fans to objectively remove themselves from the natural bias that surrounds being a die hard fan. After all thats why message boards like this exist under designated team names.

I remember sharing a cab with a father and son who are life long North Carolina fans in Detroit. All of us went to see the Pistons play at the Palace in Auburn Hills as a side trip to our Final Four adventure. The cab we were sharing was out of gas in the Palace parking lot and I remember the weather being terrible. We waited for over 2 hours for service from triple A ect ect ect..I shared great conversation all about basketball with this father and son. They knew Roy Williams personally and the son was an aspiring coach. Both thought Roy Williams was a terrific guy of course and I didn't doubt them as they were 2 of the most knowledgeable basketball men I ever conversed with. Each of them respected the UConn program and everything Jim Calhoun had accomplished at UConn. They took it upon themselves to know a lot about the programs history. I didn't know as much about recruiting and NCAR history so decided from that day forward I was going to try and educate myself on other programs.

So thanks for the input and I enjoy learning different things from the true UConn fan responders who simply enjoy the game and love the competition. I look forward to commenting on other posts to this thread but just wanted to express my appreciation to those who have given their insight. Have a great day!