It’s under two weeks until the college basketball season kicks off which means we need to talk some hoops. I’m not sure about you, but I can’t wait for Memphis vs Tennessee-Martin (I wonder what the line will be in this gam?) and Maine vs Richmond on November 5th. Here is our preseason Top 5 college basketball poll and if you have feedback don’t forget to register and tell us what you think!

1 - UCLA - The Bruins have made the Final Four the last two years and this year should be no different with all the fire power they bring back. UCLA returns Darren Collison, Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, Josh Shipp, Michael Roll, Alfred Aboya and Lorenzo Mata-Real. They also welcome Parade, Gatorade, McDonald’s, you f##in name it high school player of the year Kevin Love. Look for Ben Howland to lead this extremely talented team to the promise land even without the leading scorer from the last two years Aaron Afflalo.

2 - UNC - Roy Williams lost Brandan Wright to the NBA lottery last year, but this team has boat loads of talent coming back. Tyler Hansbrough, Ty Lawson and Wayne Ellington are the three main guns with Hansbrough up for a national player of the year award. The Heels will win the ACC this year if role players like Marcus Ginyard and Danny Green step up their games up in conjunction with a solid contribution from freshman star William Graves. ACC should be in the bag and a Final Four is very possible for the boys in baby blue.

3 - Kansas - Rock Chalk Jayhawk will be ring loud and clear this year in Lawrence, Kansas with all-everything Brandon Rush leading the way. Mario Chalmers, Russell Robinson and Sasha Kaun are the other returning starters from last year with only Julius Wright jumping to the big pond from an Elite Eight team just last year. Bill Self also has new addition 6-11 center Cole Adrich who should provide some help down low. If Rush stays focused the ceiling is the limit for this team.

4 - Memphis - John Calipari has decided for now Memphis is home and he has turned this University into a national college basketball powerhouse. They return 5 of their top 6 players from last year’s squad and the Tigers have made the Elite Eight in back-to-back seasons. Don’t forget Memphis has the best point guard recruit in the nation Derrick Rose along with another star freshman in Justin Robinson. The schedule is in their favor due to home or neutral court games against Tennessee, Georgetown, Arizona, Gonzaga and Southern California with no road games harder than UAB. Look out!

5 - Louisville - We are leaving Georgetown out of our top five simply for the fact Jeff Green is gone and that means Lousiville will win the Big East. The Cardinals return 7 of their top 8 and are lead by one of the best coaches in the land in Rick Pitino. Terrence Williams, Edgar Sosa, David Padgett, Juan Palacios, and Derrick Caracter are the big guns and I’m sure they want to avenge their 1 point loss in the round of 32 last year against Texas A&M.

Florida covers -7.5 at home against Tennessee
Fresno State covers +16.5 at Oregon
Louisville/Kentucky covers over 77

Overall Record:

NFL 19-6-2
College Football: 14-15
MLB 1-0
College Basketball 48-37-2
NBA 6-4

Cincinnati covers +3.5 at home against Oregon State
Louisville covers -39 at home against Middle Tennessee State

Overall Record:

College Football: 12-12
NBA 6-4
MLB 1-0
College Basketball 48-37-2
NFL 12-5-1

I’m not going to lay out all of my bracket (errr.. brackets) because if you don’t have your brackets done by now then you should be shot.  I can’t tell you my bracket picks anyway because I plan on winning the $10 million from www.sportsbook.com for a perfect bracket.   I am however going to lay it all out for all the Underground peeps on who to bet on in the smorgasboard of college basketball action today.  Here is the first games of the day and if you agree or disagree feel free to chime in with your comments.  ENJOY!

Davidson covers +7.5 but loses the game against Maryland

Boston College covers -2.5 against Texas Tech

Louisville covers -5.5 against Stanford

OVERALL RECORD:

College Basketball 37-26-1

NBA 3-1

NFL 12-5-1

College Football: 10-8

Pittsburgh covers -8.5 at home against Louisville Cardinals

OVERALL RECORD:

College Basketball 24-12-1

NBA 2-1

NFL 12-5-1

College Football: 10-8

The former head coach of the Louisville Cardinals has decided to take over the Atlanta Falcons.  Petrino who has flirted with the NFL before feels like the head coaching job of the Falcons is the best in the NFL.  I look forward to seeing if he continues to feel this way when Vick is having his normal inconsistent issues and the owner is breathing down his neck for better overall performance.  I wish you luck Bobby and I really will miss watching your high powered college offense.

Louisville is now looking to hire Steve Kragthorpe the current head coach of the Tulsa Golden Hurricanes.

As an underdog, Wake Forest is an stunning 7-1 against the spread this season. This is truly a sign that the Demon Deacons might not be getting the respect they deserve. Wake Forest against teams with a winning record are just as solid at 6-1. The Wake Forest defense has been stellar giving up 12.3 PPG on the road but could have its hands full against a high powered Louisville offense. Louisville’s Brian Brohm leads the #3 scoring offense in the country at 39 PPG so this is definitely a battle of two sides. The extremely strong defense versus the just as strong if not stronger Cardinals offense. I would really like to see Wake’s defense win out, but it might be a bigger stretch then Boise St. beating Oklahoma. I’m sorry, but right now that is how I feel.

Jimmy V Classic

Oklahoma State covers +2 against Syracuse
Arizona covers -5 against Louisville

OVERALL RECORD:

College Basketball 7-3

College Football: 6-7

NFL 5-3-1