B's Elite Eight

College Basketball is almost here. Man that feels good to say, one of the best sports in the world if not the best and definitely one of my personal favorites. Here I will have four tiers of teams, the first tier being the four best teams that week, the second being the four second best and so on and so forth. I will do an outsiders too, a four outsiders and the idea of elite eight comes from the Elite Eight being the fight for . There will be some schools that don't get a whole lot of recognition from everybody else in this section, so yes there will be some surprises. For this time though, we will go by the AP Rankings as a guide having been released this past week.

Tier 1

1. Gonzaga

2. Baylor

3. Iowa

4. Kansas

Each of these teams will most likely be playing a difficult schedule. I don't know if grueling is a strong enough word for Gonzaga's treacherous schedule. They will have to play three teams in the top six and three in my top four in the first four games. They were a force to be reckoned with last year and without suffering any big losses I feel they can be again this year. This year they have Jalen Suggs whom most believe is a top 5 player in college basketball. Baylor, will have to play a hard schedule too to open, playing in addition to Gonzaga Arizona State (18) and Texas (19)in the first five games. They had an incredible run last year coming out of absolutely nowhere to almost knockoff Kansas for the Big 12 title. They don't have any standout players but I think that's what makes them a fun team to watch. They played really well together last year and I hope/expect to see more of the same this year.

Iowa last year was amazing, With their stud and star Luka Garza being the leader whom is now a senior shocking teams like Maryland, Penn State and Illinois. This year they are already in the top 5 in the Preseason AP Poll and play some great teams to start off such as Gonzaga (1) and UNC (16) which will be beyond exciting to watch while home in quarantine. A team that's always a contender and has owned the Big 12 for over a decade is Kansas. They have only conceded the Big 12 title 3 times in the past fifteen years and last year was supposed to be their year to win the national championship but obviously they were not able to hold it. Kansas had two huge losses but will be ok simply because they have the reigning national player of the year. To open the season they play three top 11 in the first five games so we will see tests of their abilities early on.

Tier 2

1. Villanova Wildcats

2. Virginia Cavaliers

3. Wisconsin Badgers

4. Kentucky Wildcats

Villanova is a team that I saw struggle in the regular season last year for the first time in a long long time. The Wildcats normally get bounced early in the NCAA tournament but have shown a lot of success in the tournament in the past few years. Jay Wright, the Villanova coach says he has them right where he wants them which is a national title contender. These Cats are certainly ones to watch for and they will be tested in a gritty Big East Conference, especially with Creighton a team that has had a lot of key additions that make them one scary team to face. Virginia is technically still the defending champs due to Covid-19 but whether you call them that or not they are still contenders this year. The Cavaliers are contenders once again thanks to such a good recruiting class some refer to it as the best in school history. The Wahoos of course will be tested over and over again with their tough schedule in the Atlantic Coastal Conference (ACC) and early on with their challenging out of conference schedule having to face teams like (12) Michigan State and (3) Villanova. They're early schedule will prove to us who they really are and who they will be this year.

Wisconsin is definitely my favorite to win the Big Ten and this is because of how the Badgers were able to step up in big games i.e. Maryland. It is not (13) Michigan State surprisingly for the first time in a while and they're biggest competition most surprisingly is an Illinois team that has been mediocre at best in the past decade. I believe that the Badgers will contend for a Final Four appearance and maybe even a national title due to the fact that Wisconsin has all five starters returning and the reigning Big Ten coach of the year. The Wildcats of Kentucky, with not a single returning starter this year still have an impressive crew as always with the top two shooting guards in the league playing for them this season. They always have a difficult schedule but that is what makes these Wildcats so good and they definitely have some interesting competition in the Southeastern Conference (SEC) such as Louisiana State University (LSU) and (12) Tennessee but are the clear favorite. With John Calipari I think this young team can go far and am interested to see what they do.

Tier 3 (Just Outside)

1. Creighton

2. Duke

3. Tennessee

4. Illinois

Each of these teams are incredible and are sitting right outside of being the front runners for their conference. They're games against these front runners and in the coming weeks will prove if they are ready or not to make the jump into my Elite Eight.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving and enjoy some of these fun early college basketball tournaments:

https://www.cbssports.com/college-basketball/news/college-basketball-schedule-2020-21-ranking-the-best-early-season-tournaments-and-multi-team-events/

() = AP Top 25