From: iselivl@ucunix.san.uc.edu (Victor L. Iseli)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.basketball.college
Subject: Re: Next Year!!
Date: 9 Apr 92 15:39:36 GMT
Organization: Univ. of Cincinnati

In Article 13163 <2306@news.duke.edu> trradrx@canctr.mc.duke.edu writes:
%First off, I want to congratulate Cincinatti for a great year--I predicted
%them to lose in the first round, so I'll serve up a delicious dish of crow
%to munch on.  
    Munch, munch...  The spelling is, by the way, Cincinnati...
                                                  ^^^^^^^^^^
% Second, I will hereby predict that this Michigan team will never make it
%back to the finals again.  It seems too much like the 1978 Duke team that
% [stuff deleted: mostly about internal squabbling, egos, etc.]
    I have similar reservations.  It will be tough for 5 freshmen to live up
    to next year's expectations, but, they also demonstrated much more
    maturity than almost anyone would've imagined.  

%...too much praise/pressure from the media.  Chris Webber is a great one, but
%has a lot of growing up to do.
    I think these guys are closer than you think.  They certainly came off
    very well in the press conferences as being confident without seeming
    cocky.  And their basketball talent is almost gaudy.  The rest is
    just learning mental toughness.  And, I have reason to believe that they 
    gained a valuable lesson in the championship game.

%  Third, what are the preseason rankings going to be????
%Maybe:
%1) Indiana
%2) Kansas
%3) Michigan
%4) Duke
%5) Seton Hall
%6) Florida State
%7) Kentucky
%8) So Cal (if Miner comes back)
%9) Ohio State (if JJ comes back)
%10) Oklahoma State
   I find it amusing that no one is speaking about Cincinnati again.  I guess
   we were just a flash in the pan (ha!)...

   BTW how are other teams from the Big East such as Syracuse and 
   Georgetown looking?

%
%Does this sound reasonable? Who I am forgeting? FSU has a great recruiting
%class, and return all their starters and big contributors.  I see the 
%ACC like this:
%1) Duke (too much experience, but it'll be a dogfight this year)
%2) FSU (could easily be #1)
%3) UNC (Montross is starting to dominate, Phelps is solid, I predict
%        Don Williams will start to come on)
%4) GTech (best frontline in the ACC)
%5) Wake (Rodney Rogers. Randolph Childress. Need I say more?)
%6) Virginia (NIT momentum, tough Cory Alexander and Junior Burrough)
%7) NC State (great recruiting class, some skilled perimeter players--I like
%             this team a lot)
%These seven teams should all have winning records, and all seven might go to
%the NCAA's.
^^^^^^^^^^^ WOW!  The chances of that seem remote.  Even if these teams are
that good, seven teams from one conference???  How often does that happen?
Even if it has occurred before, I think the NCAA would have a tough time 
doing that with so many teams scrambling for the remaining at-large 
bids.  Remember that our conference, the Great Midwest, had NO automatic bids, 
being a rookie conference.  Still, 3 of our teams were in the NCAAs 
(DePaul, Memphis and Cincy).

It really doesn't matter what the rankings are at the beginning of the season,
since there are so many unpredictable teams.  I think about our crosstown
rivals, the Xavier Musketeers.  Pete Gillen is too good of a coach to be out
of the great dance for a long time.  And there are many other teams like that
in our country.  What counts is how things end up at the finish of the season,
when ranking is based more (but not exclusively) on a team's merit, not their
name.

...and that spelling, again, is C-i-n-c-i-n-n-a-t-i...

--Victor Iseli.
iselivl@ucunix.san.uc.edu

			...WAY TO GO 'CATS!!!

NCAA Midwest Regional Champs	|| ||__		Great Midwest Tourney Champs
Great Midwest Co-Champs	 	\\_//--		NCAA Final Four
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