September 5, 2009

Rivals.com
Rivals.com College Basketball Staff

At the College Basketball Roundtable each week, we ask each member of the college basketball coverage staff for his opinion about a topic in the sport. We have two questions this week - one today and one Sunday.

TODAY'S QUESTION: Which of the myriad preseason tournaments are you most interested in seeing and why?

If I could pick one tournament to attend, I'd pick the Puerto Rico Tip-Off, and not just because it's in San Juan. One of the first-round games is Dayton-Georgia Tech, and it could get better from there. Villanova has Final Four potential for the second consecutive season. The Wildcats will play either the Flyers, who have a bona-fide star in Chris Wright as well as Sweet 16 aspirations, or Georgia Tech, a team with a young nucleus of Gani Lawal and five-star freshman Derrick Favors. On the other side of the bracket, Kansas State could be an NCAA tournament team this season after just missing the Big Dance last year because of a soft non-conference schedule. SEC West contender Ole Miss draws Indiana in the first round. I'm curious to see what kind of progress the Hoosiers have made in their rebuilding process after signing a top-25 freshman class.

- DAVID FOX

I'm most interested in the Puerto Rico Tip-Off. There's Dayton-Georgia Tech in the first round, with the winner almost certainly getting Final Four contender Villanova in the second round. Indiana goes against guard-heavy Ole Miss in the first round, which will be a good barometer as to how improved the Hoosiers will be in their second season under Tom Crean. There's a likely Kansas State-Ole Miss matchup in the second round. Ole Miss could be the best team in the SEC West and might be the third-best team in the SEC overall. K-State has a chance to finish in the top four of the Big 12. There just are a lot of intriguing potential matchups in this one.

- MIKE HUGUENIN

I'm looking forward to the final weekend of the Coaches vs. Cancer tournament Nov. 19-20 at Madison Square Garden. On the docket: North Carolina-Ohio State and California-Syracuse. All the preseason hype about Kansas and Kentucky is causing people to sleep on North Carolina, which will have one of the country's strongest and deepest frontcourts with Ed Davis, Deon Thompson and Tyler Zeller - not to mention superstar freshman John Henson, who can play just about anywhere on the court. More than anything, though, the game will provide a good test for the Tar Heels' new starting point guard, Larry Drew, who will be going against one of the country's top backcourts in Ohio State's Evan Turner, William Buford and David Lighty. Although it won't be as good as North Carolina, Syracuse is another squad that may not be getting the credit is deserves. The addition of Iowa State transfer Wesley Johnson will give the Orange two NBA-caliber players in its frontcourt (the other is Arinze Onuaku). Like North Carolina, though, Syracuse will be breaking in a new point guard in freshman Brandon Triche, who will no doubt have a tough time with Cal's Jerome Randle and Patrick Christopher.

- JASON KING

The 2K Sports Classic (Coaches vs. Cancer tournament) offers the most star power, with defending national champion North Carolina and probable NCAA tournament teams Syracuse, California and Ohio State in the semifinals. The Preseason NIT offers the potential of a Connecticut-Duke championship game. But the Maui Invitational offers the most intrigue just because so many of its teams will be interesting to watch early in the season. Cincinnati and Vanderbilt are considered potential breakthrough teams because they return so much talent. Are they as good as advertised? We'll get an early indication when they face off in the first round. Gonzaga lost most of its top players from the team that reached the Sweet 16. This tournament could show whether the Zags are going to slip a notch this season. Is Maryland guard Grevis Vasquez finally going to get some help this season? This tournament could give us an answer. There also is a first-round pairing between Arizona and Wisconsin, both of whom barely kept alive their long NCAA tournament streaks last season. How will Arizona fare under new coach Sean Miller? Is Wisconsin still a likely tournament team after losing Marcus Landry and Joe Krabbenhoft? We may have a better idea once the Badgers return from Hawaii.

- STEVE MEGARGEE