NCAA Basketball: Buy or sell Duke, Kansas, Arizona, Purdue, and Kentucky?
By Bryan Mauro
January is here and that means conference play is about to get ramped up throughout NCAA Basketball. Non-conference schedules are complete for most schools, which means we all are going to have a realistic look at the resumes of some of the tournament teams.
The new year also brings about the speculation of which teams have what it takes to win the National Championship. Last year Baylor and Gonzaga looked like the clear-cut title favorites heading into the month of January and they ended up playing in the National Title.
This year it’s the same two teams in Baylor and Gonzaga and they are going to face a little bit stiffer competition this year as they fight for the top. It would surprise no one if one of the Big Ten teams in Michigan State or Illinois or blue blood UCLA were to step up and win the title.
Outside of the usual suspects, there is another group of teams on who many in the college basketball world have very mixed opinions. All of them are great teams but the question is are all of these teams able to win the national title? Can any of them? Can some of them? Each of these teams has a weakness that teams are going to exploit in the NCAA tournament.
The “Buy or Sell” is back. Five teams will be reviewed and given an honest view of their chances to win the National Championship. These are all subject to change given how any season goes. The goal here is to evaluate each team on their strengths and weaknesses and how that will hold up against the best teams in the NCAA tournament regardless of seeding.
None of us know the seeding or the matchups yet so it is hard to speculate on that. We do all know which teams have looked like the best teams all year and which teams have a legitimate chance to make a deep run to the national title game.
A “Buy” rating is one given to a team that has a great chance to match up well with anyone and make the title game. A “Sell” is a team that needs to show more and has some glaring weaknesses that need to be addressed before tournament play begins.