College Basketball- The Anticipation

Ayo Dosunmu celebrates with the fans, one of many exciting moments in college basketball last season.

The college basketball season is quickly approaching, and fans all over the world are feeling the anticipation.

College basketball gets fans and even me excited every year when it is on the way back. There is a new sense of optimism towards your team (which happens in every sport), but in college you get excited about your new freshman recruits coming in and the impact they can make. Everyone was fascinated last year by the phenom freshman, Zion Williamson, he mesmerized fans with his insane vertical and powerful dunks. I can't remember a freshman in the past drawing that much attention in the college hoops world.

Zion is in the NBA now, that paves the way for a new class of freshman and all of the exciting things they bring to the game. The number one player coming out of high school this year is James Wiseman, he is a 7 foot center from Memphis, who will also be attending the University of Memphis. Memphis has a very exciting recruiting class this year with 5 top 100 players joining their squad this season. They are sure to be a good team this year just like Duke was last year adding the likes of Zion Williamson and RJ Barrett.

Although there are teams with new freshman coming in with high expectations, there are veteran teams that are looking to have a great season as well. The Michigan State Spartans are coming off a Final Four appearance after upsetting the Duke Blue Devils in the Elite Eight. They return Cassius Winston, a point guard is predicted to win national player of the year. They have veteran big men coming back as well, so you can expect the Spartans to have a big season, hints why they're ranked number one in the preseason poll.

There is one team coming into this year with high expectations that really came out of no where. That team is the Illinois Fighting Illini. Although a little biased as I am a fan of Illinois, I believe that this team will live up to the hype. They are returning an all big ten freshman last season in Ayo Dosunmu, and bringing in a 7 foot top 50 big man in Kofi Cockburn. These players have the people in Urbana-Champaign excited for this season, they have me excited as well.

I could talk for days about all of the exciting story lines going into the season, but it's just the anticipation building that has me the most excited. We do have college football to watch right now which is great in it's own way, but that opening tip off to college basketball is something special. We are getting closer and closer to the students getting loud in the student section and the crazy moments that go down every week during the season.

As we hit 36 days until the college basketball season begins I am full of excitement. I can't wait to see how all of the story lines of this season play out. All college sports are special but basketball may be my favorite, you can expect more blogs about it. While we wait for the college basketball season to begin, enjoy the college football season.