I'm sure most of you read the headline and said 'well, obviously.' That's what I would have thought but there appears to be a few bloggers who've failed to understand the current state of college basketball and the fact that November games don't translate whatsoever into March.
One prominent blogger wrote this today:
North Carolina is NOT No. 1 in college hoops: Hard to take them seriously at the No. 1 spot when they are barely getting by Davidson (by 4). Now, Davidson is a really good mid-major (see their Tournament performance a year ago vs. Maryland), but still: If you're going to claim a team is No. 1 (and that's the "experts," not Roy Williams himself), they should win a little more impressively, shouldn't they?I'm a big fan of Shanoff, but he deserves a hard time for this one. Hard to take them seriously? Hard to take you seriously, Dan.
Are you kidding? North Carolina is loaded, can we agree on that much? That lone should be reason enough to take the Tar Heels seriously. Secondly, this was their first game of the season on a neutral court against a mid-major instate school with plenty of talent. The difference between Davidson and North Carolina is not as drastic as it once was. Frankly, I came away more impressed that Roy Williams left Charlotte with a win after taking Stephen Curry and Davidson's best shot. Lastly, this is mid-November. A quick look through past November games will show you many, many losses for eventual Final Four teams.
This has become one of my biggest pet peeves in sports: fan overreaction to the early games in college basketball. This isn't college football where early style points still affect the outcome of your season. Watching games this early in the season is entertaining and it's fun to speculate and begin to form some predictions, but you really can't jump to any conclusions until January. /rant off
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