It's Baaaacckk

It's that most wonderful time of the year. Well, not really. That will come shorty after the new year when conference play gets under way. However, for all practical purposes, the 2008/2009 NCAA College Hoops season kicked off some 50 minutes ago at the CBB mecca Cameron Indoor Stadium.

Duke was gracious enough to host some of the opening round in this year's Coaches vs Cancer Tourney so Georgia Southern and Houston are squaring off on Coach K Court as we speak. The Blue Devils will take the court a little later this evening although unless you have ESPN U, don't plan on watching.

It figures to be an interesting year with no clear cut favorite outside of UNC and no real preseason consensus player of the year candidates. Since UNC is a guarantee early exit under Roy Williams (and yes, anything short of the National Championship Game is early) the field is fairly wide open.

I'm excited about a few teams and expect to see them do some damage in the new year. Michigan State, Louisville and Notre Dame are a few of the trendy picks that should live up to the hype. Then there is Duke. I say it every year, but I really like what they have coming into this season. Greg Paulus has been reduced to a role player thanks to the emergence of Nolan Smith, the interior has been solidified with 6'10 Miles Plumlee and they still have a shooters capable of lighting up the court on any given night. All in all, it's looking pretty good.

Prediction: Duke takes down Mich State in a rematch of the classic 2005 Sweet 16 clash.