{"id":1386803,"date":"2019-02-05T14:44:00","date_gmt":"2019-02-05T21:44:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/news\/focus-shifts-to-college-basketball-with-football-finished\/"},"modified":"2019-02-05T14:44:00","modified_gmt":"2019-02-05T21:44:00","slug":"focus-shifts-to-college-basketball-with-football-finished","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kkch\/local-news\/focus-shifts-to-college-basketball-with-football-finished\/","title":{"rendered":"Focus shifts to college basketball with football finished"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/figure>\n

BC-BKC–Shifting to Basketball,895<\/p>\n

Focus shifts to college basketball with football finished<\/p>\n

College basketball gets its turn in spotlight with football season officially over<\/p>\n

AP Photo NCGB110, TXMW119, WAYK113<\/p>\n

Eds: With AP Photos.<\/p>\n

By JOHN MARSHALL<\/p>\n

AP Basketball Writer<\/p>\n

The Super Bowl marked the official end of the football season. Now it’s time for college basketball’s turn in the spotlight. <\/p>\n

Sports fans crazed with football for five months need something to fill the void, and college basketball is a perfect fit. Star players have established themselves, conference races are heating up and March Madness is just around the corner. <\/p>\n

To get you caught up, we’ve got a rundown of what has happened so far and what to look forward to: <\/p>\n

MOUNT ZION <\/p>\n

Zion Williamson arrived at Duke with plenty of hype as the highest-flying freshman in Coach K’s stellar recruiting class. <\/p>\n

Somehow, Williamson has exceeded lofty expectations. <\/p>\n

Built like an NFL defensive end, the 6-foot-7, 285-pound forward produces more highlight-reel plays in one game than most players do in a season. Dunking with his head above the rim and snatching blocked shots from the shooter’s hands, Williamson is unlike any player in college basketball, perhaps ever. <\/p>\n

He is almost like a rock star, with fans whispering “there he is,” when the Blue Devils take the floor, lining up to see his dunks in warmups. <\/p>\n

If you’re going to watch only one player from now until the national championship game in April, Williamson is the one. And do it while you can: He likely will be the No. 1 pick in this year’s NBA draft. <\/p>\n

BALLIN’ BLUE DEVILS <\/p>\n

Williamson has been good and so has his team. <\/p>\n

Duke has four freshmen who likely will be first-round NBA picks, including three potential lottery picks. R.J. Barrett is smooth, athletic and could be the No. 2 pick behind Williamson next summer. Cam Reddish is 6-8 and can play inside or out. Point guard Tre Jones could end up being better than his brother, Tyus, who plays for the NBA’s Minnesota Timberwolves. <\/p>\n

The Blue Devils don’t just beat teams, they steamroll them with flurries of dunks and 3-pointers. <\/p>\n

Fans often get tired of the hype surrounding Duke’s teams. This year, it’s legit. <\/p>\n

YEAH, JA <\/p>\n

The best player most college basketball fans may not have heard of is Ja Morant. <\/p>\n

That’s because he plays at Murray State, which gets overshadowed by the two larger programs in Kentucky. <\/p>\n

Like Williamson, Morant is a highlight waiting to happen. He has become known for the basketball version of “catching a body,” occasionally jumping over defenders while dunking on them. <\/p>\n

Morant averages 24.1 points, 10.3 assists and 5.6 rebounds per game. This show, too, will likely end soon; Morant is expected to be a lottery pick later this year. <\/p>\n

VAULTING VOLS <\/p>\n

Tennessee can not only stake a claim as the best team in the SEC, but the best in the country. <\/p>\n

The Volunteers currently are No. 1 in the AP Top 25 and have lost once all season, in overtime to then-No. 2 Kansas. <\/p>\n

Tennessee is loaded with talent and depth and has a front-runner for national player of the year in Grant Williams. Coach Rick Barnes’ team can put up points in bunches and muscle teams on the defensive end. <\/p>\n

The Vols are a true national-title contender. <\/p>\n

BIG 12 BATTLE <\/p>\n

Kansas locked up its record 14th straight Big 12 title a year ago. The Jayhawks have a fight on their hands for No. 15. <\/p>\n

Kansas lost big man Udoka Azubuike to a season-ending hand injury in early January, forcing coach Bill Self to adjust how his team plays. <\/p>\n

The Jayhawks enter this week with three teams above them in the standings: Kansas State, Baylor and Iowa State. <\/p>\n

The good news: They’re only a game back with a month left before the Big 12 Tournament. <\/p>\n

ZIGGING ZAGS <\/p>\n

Gonzaga entered the 2018-19 season being hyped as a Final Four contender, maybe even better than the team that reached the national title game two years ago. <\/p>\n

The Zags hit a snag before the season started, losing multitalented forward Killian Tillie to an ankle injury. Now that Tillie is back and guard Geno Crandall has returned from a broken hand, Gonzaga will be tough to beat. <\/p>\n

The Zags have a national player of the year-type player in Rui Hachimura and arguably have coach Mark Few’s most talented roster ever. <\/p>\n

TOUGH ACC <\/p>\n

This year could mark the first with an all-ACC Final Four. OK, maybe not, but the conference is loaded. <\/p>\n

Duke has been dominant, No. 3 Virginia still has that lockdown defense and No. 8 North Carolina has a trove of talent. No. 10 Virginia Tech has one of the nation’s best backcourts and can light it up from the 3-point arc. No. 22 Florida State is loaded with talent, depth and athleticism. Louisville has made huge strides in its first season under Chris Mack, and Syracuse has a victory over Duke under its belt. <\/p>\n

The final month and the ACC Tournament should be a wild ride. <\/p>\n

MID-MAJOR MONSTERS <\/p>\n

Every March, mid-major teams make deep runs at the NCAA Tournament. Expect this year to be no different. <\/p>\n

Nevada has the type of talented, veteran roster that could send coach Eric Musselman to the top of the college basketball world. <\/p>\n

Houston has outstanding guards and coach Kelvin Sampson is one of the best in the game. <\/p>\n

Buffalo has shown last year’s knockoff of Arizona in the NCAA Tournament’s first round was no fluke. The Bulls have nearly everyone back and are 19-3 heading into this week. <\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014 <\/p>\n

More AP college basketball: https:\/\/apnews.com\/Collegebasketball<\/a> and http:\/\/www.twitter.com\/AP\u2014Top25<\/a><\/p>\n

via:: Post Independent<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BC-BKC–Shifting to Basketball,895 Focus shifts to college basketball with football finished College basketball gets its turn in spotlight with football season officially over AP Photo NCGB110, TXMW119, WAYK113 Eds: With AP Photos. By JOHN MARSHALL AP Basketball Writer The Super Bowl marked the official end of the football season. Now it’s time for college basketball’s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[112],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1386803","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-10-02 17:17:17","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KKCH - The Lift FM","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kkch","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kkch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1386803","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kkch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kkch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kkch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kkch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1386803"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kkch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1386803\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kkch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1386803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kkch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1386803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kkch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1386803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}