Beech Tree News Network

It’s that time again.  Time for college basketball! Thursday November 1 is UK’s first exhibition game. If you check out the pre-season rankings, it’s Indiana at 1, Louisville at 2 and defending National Champion Kentucky at 3.  This begs the age old question: what exactly is the point of preseason rankings? What do they mean? Do they hold any bearing on the season?
Last year’s preseason number one was North Carolina.  They did get a number one seed and lost to Kansas in the Elite Eight last year. They definitely lived up to their preseason hype.  However, when the season gets underway, what do pre-season rankings mean? It’s basically anticipation.  What do the “people in the know” think these teams will do in the coming year?  Of course, you factor in returning players.  That is, in fact, a main factor of a ranking.  Indiana basically has, I believe, all returning and only one new player.  Thus, they are number one.  Coincidentally, Kentucky is nowhere to be found on Indiana’s schedule this year.  I know, Coach Cal’s fault, right? According to detractors, there’s not much wrong in the world that isn’t his fault.
The other crux of the preseason top ranking is that everyone will come at you with reckless abandon.  With penchant of early season upsets, I bet we have several teams at number one on a couple of occasions by the end of the calendar year.  Louisville and Kentucky play their annual game on December 29.  I’m not sure what Louisville has, but I bet most are sending Indiana to the Final Four.  We’ll just see.  After all, that’s why the games are played.

Hello, my name is Andy Sullivan. I received my bachelor’s degree in business from Mid-Continent University in May 2009. I began writing for Beech Tree News in July 2009.  I enjoy playing guitar, the occasional Wii game, writing, and listening to music. I write a sports blog that can be found at http://www.tumblr.com/blog/sports-news-and-views.   If you have a comment, feel free to leave it in the space below.