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World of Sports: College basketball preview

World of Sports: College basketball preview
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[/media-credit] John Calipari enters his eighth season as coach of Kentucky, hoping to win his second title with the school.

College basketball is here, and teams all around the country are geared up to win the NCAA Tournament.

This year’s freshmen class is one of the best in the recent decades. This class includes outstanding players such as Duke’s Harry Giles, Kentucky’s Bam Adebayo, Kansas’ Josh Jackson, UCLA’s Lonzo Ball and Washington’s Markelle Fultz.

Harry Giles: Giles is the number one ranked high school prospect according ESPN. The 6-10 power forward is tremendous at finishing at the rim. With his explosive body, Giles is extremely good at put-back dunks.

Bam Adebayo: Adebayo is the second best power forward behind Giles. Adebayo is 6-10, 250, will always be the biggest player on the court. His dominance on the glass will get him plenty of rebounds.

Josh Jackson: Jackson is the top ranked small forward out of high school. Jackson is 6-7, 185, is very explosive with the ball. Weighing only 185 with a big body makes him near impossible to guard.

Lonzo Ball: Ball is the No. 1 point guard coming out of high school according to ESPN due to his phenomenal passing ability. This will help him fill the point guard role for UCLA, which has been missing in the recent years.

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Markelle Fultz: Some consider him as the best guard in this class. Fultz’s 6-4 body will give him an advantage over normal guards, who are typically shorter. His three-point shooting and pull-up game is strong.

All of these players will try and help their team to win the NCAA Tournament. The easiest way to punch your ticket to the tournament is by winning your conference tournament. This is my projection for the Power Seven conference winners.

ACC: This conference is filled with talented teams such as Duke, Louisville and North Carolina. I like Duke with all their top prospect players over North Carolina in the tournament final.

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[/media-credit] College teams around the nation will battle for a spot in the Big Dance.

Atlantic 10: The smallest conference within the power seven. VCU and Rhode Island will be the top dogs in this conference. VCU will top Rhode Island in the tournament final.

Big 12: Baylor, Iowa State, Oklahoma, Texas and West Virginia will all be trying to overthrow Kansas. Kansas has won the tournament seven times in the past 11 years. This year will not be different. My prediction is Kansas over Iowa State.

Big East: The main contenders in the Big East this year are Butler, Creighton, Seton Hall, Villanova and Xavier. Villanova lost some players to the NBA, but they will still repeat as champion over Xavier.

Big Ten: The Big Ten is one of the hardest conferences to play in due to talented teams like Indiana, Michigan State, Maryland and Wisconsin. Melo Trimble of Maryland should win conference player of the year and bring his team to the tournament final. But Indiana’s big roster will beat Trimble’s Maryland.

Pac 12: The conference who sent seven teams to the NCAA Tournament last year retains the skill to do it again. Oregon, Colorado, Arizona, Washington and UCLA all lead the pack. UCLA, with all their weapons, will beat Oregon in a tightly contested match.

SEC: The SEC is one of the weaker conferences within the power seven despite Kentucky being one of the best teams in the nation. Kentucky should win the conference easily, the only teams that might come close to beating them are Florida, Texas A&M and Vanderbilt.  

This season will bring many upsets and close games, do not miss any of the actions.

For last week’s World of Sports read, World of Sports: Cubs win it all

This writer can be reached via twitter: @JohnMonke and via email: John Monke

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