the college basketball season has just ended, and with that..the medias have starting to release their projected rankings for next seasons. Most of them have the salukis somewhere from the the top 15 to the top 25. The highest is from the Sports Illustrated Magazine that has us ranked as the number 10!!!..you seee i wasn't drinking too much maroon kool aid when i said we'll be good next year..:p..

Here's the rankings:
1. Florida Gator
2. UNC Tar heel
3. UCLA
4. Memphis
5. Kansas
6. Ohio State
7. GeorgeTown
8. Texas
9. Texas A&M
10. Southern Illinois Salukis. The Salukis, who tied for second in the Missouri Valley Conference, have their top nine scorers back, including the senior backcourt of Jamaal Tatum and Tony Young, who will be gunning for their fourth -- and the school's sixth -- straight NCAA tournament appearance. Veteran squad + prior Big Dance experience + strong guardplay = dangerous in March. Blowout loss to West Virginia this year be damned.

Btw, here's an interesting list on why college basketball games are more fun to watch than the NBA (dikutip dari sini: http://www-tech.mit.edu/V123/N65/65_-_ncaa.65s.html)...hehe..I'm not a fan on the NBA, I guess I used to be a fan of lakers, but then I jumped off the bandwagon, hehe..but I'm still a fan of Mr. 81 though..=).


1. Egos
college basketball players always play their hearts out..and they are humbled by the fact that they are paid in education. beberapa dari mereka ada yang datang dari keluarga di bawah pas pasan, they live in the projects, and mostly the first generation in college, ada yang udah punya anak, ada yang keluarganya addicted to crack dan lain sebagainya..and most importantly they have to juggle between their academic responsibilities (Exams, assignments, group meetings, etc) and their responsibilities as atheletes (working out, practice, travelling, etc). Memang sih pemain nba juga pasti nya ada yang backgroundnya seperti itu, but once they are in nba of course they lead a pretty good and easy life.

2. Playing style
college basketball is more of a teamwork, not just relying on two or three stars for individual performances, like in the NBA. and plus the NBA is boooring..and the game is too long..:p.

3. College Fans
The feeling you get when you're in the arena is like no other. There is no NBA stadium that can produce the intensity and outright crazy fanaticism that college students show for their respective teams. You don’t see NBA stadiums filled with an entire section of screaming college fans all with painted bodies and choreographed, traditional tactics to disrupt the opposing team on free throws. It adds a level of excitement and enjoyment to college games that isn’t there in the NBA. The passion of college fans is so intense and so contagious it easily affects other people.

4. Parity
In any given year of college basketball, there are at least twenty teams that are good enough to win the championship, unlike the NBA, where you know a Western conference team will win, and you usually even know which one by the first round of the playoffs. In college b-ball, you never know until the final game who’s going to win since it's a one and done tournament. The greater number of teams also means there are more possible match-ups between good teams, and so generally more good games than in the NBA.

5. Permanence
In college, there is a much better chance the team you root for will be around for as long as you are, and there is no chance of the team being sold or moving cities. Along the same lines, the sheer number of college teams means that more people have a team they can root for, even if they do not live near a major city.

6. March Madness
This one goes pretty much without saying. To me, the NBA playoffs never come near to the excitement of March Madness. Thanks to office pools, just about everybody in the country fills out a bracket and discusses games over the water cooler. Throw in the fact that so many casual fans are rooting for either an alma mater or a state university in the field of 64, and it's easy to see how March Madness has become a social event.