ATL

Twelve games into the season its the Hawks of ATL with the best record in the L. Their 10-2 is no joke off an early cupcake schedule either. Their loses come @ the Lakeshow and @ Charlotte (okay the Charlotte, what the hell). But wins @ Boston, @ Portland, home against Denver, home against Portland, home against Miami. All projected playoff teams, not bad.

Obviously the ATL is on the rise and continues to bring the power balance in the EL more even in east and west.

WHY WE LOVE RON ARTEST

There are plenty of reasons to hate Ron Artest. The Detroit melee. His annual post season meltdown. You can't deny, however, his passion for the game. Throwing Ariza's shoe? If MJ pulled this, everyone would beat themselves into the ground praising his "gamesmanship." Of course the Houston announcer thinks it should be delay of game. Whatever.

(I would make a post on Brandon Jennings, but my heart is broken. Scott Layden, Zeke, now Donnie Walsh...the Knicks' one good draft pick in my lifetime was Trevor Ariza, who was dealt with a pack of signed Isiah Thomas trading cards for the Basketball Player Formerly Known as Steve Francis. FML.)

Mulligan

With the 8th pick in the 2009 NBA Draft, the New York Knicks select Brandon Jennings of Lottomattica Roma.

Oh wait! The Knicks selected Jordan "DNP" Hill. Not the quick lefty point guard who dropped 55, 5, 5 last night on 21-34, 7-8, 6-8 shooting. Yea yea I know he did it against the Warriors who still haven't heard that you have to play both Offense and Defense in a basketball game. But you try going outside right now and hitting 21-34 shots unguarded period.

Last night he became the first rookie since AI to drop 50 in a game his rookie year (fitting as AI closes the curtain on his career). He totaled the second amount of points ever by a Milwaukee Buck (to Redd's 57). He totaled the 5th highest rookie point total ever (behind Wilt 58 twice, Elgin Baylor 57, Earl "Black Jesus" Monroe 56). And he became the youngest person ever to score 55, at 20 yrs old and 2 months ... in just his 7th NBA game.

No question the early favorite for rookie of the year. Imagine if LeBron was thinking about teams, would be nice to be going to play with a 20 year phenom like King James was once himself.

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This draft was better than everyone thought. 4 PGs already making an impact!

Thornton Getting a Shot

One of AO's "my guys" from the 2009 draft, Marcus Thornton finally gets some burn after Byron Scott got jettisoned. This guy seriously has seen nothing more than garbage minutes thus far. Tonight..24 minutes and 20 points. Only a couple rebounds assists and one steal. But I'm telling you, this guy is an NBA scorer. And haven't we been asking where's the athletic 2 to go with the wizardry of Chris Paul at the 1?

Try looking at the bench.

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There Are No Cinderellas

Right now four teams are practicing, preparing and becoming mentally tough enough to endure 35-ish games and multiple tournaments, battling every night. We don't know who they are yet, but in 5 months they will be immortalized in college basketball lour.

So strike up the band, crack open a natty, and throw on your team's fan shirt ... Let College Basketball begin!

Tonight tips the first few games of the 2009-2010 college basketball season and I couldn't be more excited. College basketball season is like Christmas for five months. Every game a new present. Hanging on every possession. From the crunch time possessions where every pass has you biting your nails, to the blow outs where you want to see your favorite 5'8" white walk on chuck a 30 foot three. Come Friday when my own Alma-mater tips off I will be rocking my brand new Final Four t-shirt as giddy as a 2nd grader in a candy store.

So quickly, what does Sip Rogers think about the upcoming season before he gets back to his paper on the problems with choice-of-law rules in international commercial arbitration? I think we have a rather wide open season. On most of the highly ranked preseason teams there is a lot of promising youth alongside those vets.

As we saw last year, veteran leadership was the mantra of getting to the final four. UNC (Lawson, Hansborough, Ellington), Mich. State (Suton, Walton), Uconn (Thabeet, Adrien), Villanova (Cunningham, Anderson). Of these four Michigan State probably comes out in the best position having really only lost one stud. However, the rest of these teams bring in some great recruits.

The mantra of couple of veterans and a host of recruits seems to be the same for Kansas, Texas and Kentucky as well. This spells what could be a very unpredictable March. Or at least something opposite of the bookend #1 ranking UNC achieved last season.

An interesting little study was done in reference to the how literal minutes on the floor plays a telling factor in successful teams. Perhaps which group of star-studded frosh can have the quickest impact will be the telling sign of which of these top teams is legit by the end of March.

"Looking at the last two National Champions; Kansas entered the 2007-08 season returning players having played 11,871 minutes. Last season, North Carolina’s squad started the season with 14,265 minutes of previous playing experience.

Looking at the early favorites for the 2010 Championship,Kansas’s players have racked up8,906 total minutes in college ball. Purdue (11,990 minutes) ranks the highest among popular top-ten picks. Fellow Big East foe, West Virginia, has turned in 10,311 minutes. 2009 Runner-up Michigan St?9,082 minutes. The Longhorns from Texas are only returning5,011 minutes of returners. And John Calipari’s Kentuckyteam? Coach Cal had better hope that the freshmen bring it, because the Bluegrass Wildcats only have 6,350 minutes of NCAA experience. With Villanova coming in with10,440 minutes."

We shall see how it all works out but it should be fun to watch the young guns make an impact. Sip and the Mecca team are fired up.

My early unadulterated Final Four prediction ... Kansas, Mich. St., Villanova & Cal

But let's get prepared for the upsets, the six-overtime games in the Mecca, the buzzer beaters, the battles down low, the pride, the glory, the passion ... of NCAA Men's Basketball.