by Yates Wong
College hoops is back in full force, with it has come some intriguing storylines. The first of which deals with the Duke Blue Devils. You may remember them last year having three NBA lottery draft picks, one of which being the legendary Zion Williamson. This year, however, they have been less fortunate. At the time of this article they are only ranked ten in the nation and they are coming off of a stunning loss to the Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks. This overtime win came seemingly out of nowhere; Duke has long been in the national eye as a program that makes little to no mistakes, their weaknesses were very much apparent against the Lumberjacks.
In the 2019-2020 season, Duke was the consensus best team in the nation until the tournament when U.V.A would end up taking the march madness crown. This year, however, I believe there will be a new top dog: Maryland.
Coached by Mark Turgeon, I believe that Maryland will make a push to win the NCAA championship this season. As recently as 2016, Maryland was a national powerhouse, reaching as high as number 2 in the AP poll. At this point they are ranked third in the country and show no signs of slowing down. Led in part by Anthony Cowan, they are currently 9-0 on the season and seem to only be improving.
As good as Anthony Cowan has been, he is not even in the conversation at the moment as a top pick in the draft. At the moment, I see UNC’s Cole Anthony as the likely first overall pick. A six foot three point guard, Anthony has all the tools to be a star at the next level. His scoring however may be his best attribute; in his college debut he put up 38 points. Other contenders for the top pick are James Wiseman and Anthony Edwards.
As with any season of college basketball there will be changes. I, however, believe that even in the frugal sport of college basketball, the season will end up as I previously stated.