Early Season Elements

The early season tip-off tournaments provide a great way to display the nation's top teams and allow for some marquee matchups along the way while fans and viewers watch during their holiday festivities. This season really captivated my eye with all of the big name tournaments like the Old Spice Classic, the 76 Classic and the Maui Invitational. This year, we can take a ton from all of these, and although no teams really involved in the national title picture, a slew of teams involved who will shake things up in the major conferences come February and March. Some thoughts:

- Everyone believed Mark Few had an empty cupboard with the defections of Jeremy Pargo and Josh Heytvelt at Gonzaga. The Kennel though held on to Matt Bouldin who is finally coming around and the Zags are big inside with the maturation of sophomore Robert Sacre and freshman Elias Harris. While young, Gonzaga got three good wins on the islands; they beat Big 12 Colorado in a thriller where they struggled and then looked like a different team. They beat Wisconsin by 13 and then Cincinnati in the title game in a smashmouth, Big Ten type game. Sacre grew up in front of the Lahaina Civic Center, pouring in 14 of the Zags 61 points in the overtime victory. Gonzaga has a really good starting five and if they continue to mature will be a force in the top 25 all year. Really interesting game tonight against Washington State in Spokane...Wazzu captured the Great Alaska Shootout.

- Another WCC team that made a splash over the holiday was the Portland Pilots. Portland was expected to be in the mix of the WCC race, but not expected to contend this early in such a quality tournament liek the 76 classic that featured four ranked teams. Portalnd reached the title game with an absolute thrashing of UCLA in the first round, 74-47 then beat a really good Minnesota team 61-56. They showed they can win in the halfcourt as well as with the press and the backcourt of T.J. Campbell and Nik Raivio is a real force averaging a combined 33 per game. Portland got dropped by West Virginia in the title game; by 18 nonetheless, but that game does not set the tone for what Portland accomplished. Now ranked in the top 25, Portland showed they have arrived and will be formidable competition in a tough WCC this year.

- A disappointing team down in the Old Spice Classic in Orlando this past weekend was Michigan. The Wolverines entered the weekend with a number 15 ranking and the only one with such an achievement in the field. THey quickly watched the ranking vanish as they lost to both Alabama and Marquette after narrowly beating Creighton on a Thanksgiving Day game they really should have lost if not for Manny Harris. Michigan has a legitimate Big Ten POY candidate in Harris, but are lacking after interior force DeShawn Sims. Alabama's press really got to the Wolverines to keep them in it and Marquette's speed made Michigan look like a team unable to cope with speed and athleticism from that of the Big Ten.

Preseason tournaments provide the greatest way for fans to become familiar with the teams who will matter every season and players who can take over games. This season the teams that made a jump were Portland, Gonzaga, Cincinnati, Florida State and Florida who beat Michigan State the day after Thanksgiving. Teams who seemed tripped off of Triptophan were Michigan State, UCLA, Michigan and Maryland. The great thing about these tournaments is that its so early it allows teams to garner improvement while also providing excitement for the teams who made a stir.