> THE NCAA GETS A FRONT-END REALIGNMENT
>THE
FOOTBALL-DRIVEN CONFERENCE
realignment you've been hearing about for a while will finally show up on your flat-screen this college basketball season, and its effects will be felt at the top of the hoops food chain. Missouri will push Kentucky and Florida for supremacy in the SEC, while West Virginia and Texas Christian should populate the Big 12's midsection and cellar, respectively. Those lovable overachievers from Butler and Virginia Commonwealth will give perennial contender Xavier some competition in the Atlantic 10. Not counting TCU, all these new arrivals have made it at least as far as the Elite Eight in the past four seasons.
And that's just speaking in the present tense. Next season Syracuse and Pittsburgh will join the Atlantic Coast Conference, with Notre Dame scheduled to bring its game to the ACC as soon as the Irish negotiate their exit from the Big East.
Still, don't write that Big
East obituary yet. Legendary Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun announced his retirement in September, but as long as the Huskies, Louisville, Georgetown, Villanova and Marquette stay, the Big East will be a player.
Depending on your viewing habits, the last time you saw Mike Krzyzewski he was either watching his Duke team lose to Lehigh in the round of 64 or coaching the United States to a gold medal at the Olympics. He doesn't have LeBron and Kobe anymore, but Coach K.'s Blue Devils will be much improved this year, especially on defense.
Far from Tobacco Road, the prognosis for West Coast hoops is finally looking up, with Ben Howland and Sean Miller landing stellar recruiting classes for UCLA and Arizona, respectively. But if you're looking for elite hoops after the East Coast goes to bed, don't look past Gonzaga and its four returning starters.
The teams at the top of the polls for most of the year will be Indiana, Louisville and Kentucky, but we expect a surging Michigan State to ride a dominant defense and just enough offense all the way to a national title. •----------------------
| Indiana OVER Marquette
, • Kansas OVER Butler
Kentucky OKR Arizona
•• Duke OKI 1 Pittsburgh
I< HoridaOKR UCLA • Gonzaga OVER Louisville i
Michigan State OVER Syracuse NC State OKI Ohio State
ELITE EIGHT
• Indiana r ER Kansas Kentucky OKR Duke Florida OVER Gonzaga Michigan State OKR NC State
FINAL FOUR
Kentucky OKR Indiana Michigan State OKR Florida
NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP
MICHIGAN STATE OVER Kentucky
