Matt Norlander has published 37 preposterously plausible (and crazy) predictions for the 2018-19 season. So I went through them early Friday, picked three I agree with, three I disagree with, and used them as conversation starters. The result is this 56-minute episode of the Eye On College Basketball Podcast.
- OPEN: Norlander believes the Big 12 will be a top-two league, according to KenPom, for the sixth consecutive year. But I think this is the season that streak is snapped because both the ACC and SEC will be better.
- 7:23: Norlander believes West Virginia will be the only team in the preseason AP poll to not make the NCAA Tournament. I think that's wrong on two levels. First and foremost, I submit that there will be more than one team in the preseason AP poll to miss the NCAA Tournament, if only because there always is. Either way, I don't think one of the teams will be West Virginia because I trust Bob Huggins forever and always.
- 12:39: Norlander believes the Nebraska job is going to open -- and I interpreted that as him thinking Tim Miles would be fired. So this started as a disagreement because I think Nebraska is going to be good. But Norlander explained what he actually thinks is that Miles will win enough to bounce to a better, or comparable, job after the season. So this conversation took an unexpected turn.
- 26:02: John Calipari has made four Final Fours in nine seasons at Kentucky -- which is twice as many as any other coach in that same span. We both think this season will give him five-in-10 -- and six overall in a 12-year span, which is obviously pretty incredible.
- 32:38: Will it be Memphis or Kentucky for James Wiseman? Honestly, I still think it could go either way. But, gun-to-head, right now, I'd go with Memphis. And Norlander agrees.
- 45:40: Norlander predicts that Cincinnati will make the NCAA Tournament for the ninth consecutive year this season. Not everybody would agree with that. But I do. Because I trust Mick Cronin like I trust Bob Huggins.
- 49:36: The CBS Sports "experts" -- Norlander and I included -- published Final Four picks this week. Yes, we know, they'll probably be wrong because Final Four picks are nearly impossible to make in November or even on Selection Sunday. Regardless, we closed the podcast by discussing our picks.
The latest Eye on College Basketball podcast is below. Give it a listen. And if you're not already subscribed, please subscribe to the podcast via iTunes. If you are already subscribed, thank you. And #ShoutsToDevanDowney.
