ATLANTA — This week marks the official beginning of college basketball practice, and really there's only one plot point: Who's No. 2? Because the team that figures to win the ACC tournament in the Georgia Dome on March 15 and the national championship at Ford Field in Detroit 22 days later might not lose a game. And if you don't yet know that star-spangled team's identity ... well, that's why we hand out these cheat sheets.
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Is North Carolina the greatest team ever?
Maybe not ever. (Indiana was pretty good in 1976, and the Heels weren't bad in 1957 and 1982.) But in the era of early NBA entry, this is as potent as a collegiate squad can get. If Carolina loses a game, it will be a major upset. Guards Tywon Lawson and Wayne Ellington and forward Danny Green all entered their names in the draft last spring, and all three withdrew. The presence of those three would have put the Heels in any Top 10, but there's another key contributor. Maybe you've heard of him.
Is Tyler Hansbrough overrated?
The folks at NBAdraft.net project the big Heel as the 20th pick in the 2009 draft. Some take such projections to mean he's mostly hype. Wrong. Psycho T is the best college player of the new millennium because he plays every possession as if possessed, and also because he has expanded his game every season. Ask Rick Pitino about the jump shots Hansbrough hit to undo Louisville in the East Regional final, the same jump shots he wouldn't have even considered as a freshman.
Can anybody give Carolina a game?
Michigan State plays the Heels in Detroit on Dec. 3, and Psycho T goes to Duke for the annual psychodrama on Feb. 11. Beyond that, it's hard to imagine any team mounting much of a threat until the NCAA tournament. The class of the rest of the field stands to be Louisville, Connecticut and Purdue. The best player other than Hansbrough is Oklahoma's Blake Griffin. The most intriguing coach will be Tom Crean, who left Marquette to clean up Kelvin Sampson's mess at Indiana.
Will this be a big year for Georgia Tech?
Truth to tell, the games themselves will be almost incidental. The Jackets were 15-17 last season and lost their leading scorer and their leading rebounder. They should finish near the bottom of the ACC. But all is not yet lost: Rivals.com rates Tech's four early commitments as the fourth-best recruiting class of 2009, and the Jackets are vying with Georgia and four other schools for the services of South Atlanta's Derrick Favors, ranked the nation's No. 1 prospect by Scout.com.
Can Georgia build on its mighty March run?
The Bulldogs are still coached by Dennis Felton, who might have been fired had his team not won four games during the tornado-tossed SEC tournament. But Georgia, which already had to replace Sundiata Gaines and Dave Bliss, suffered more attrition when starter Billy Humphrey was dismissed from the team this summer. On the bright side, freshmen Howard Thompkins and Dustin Ware come highly regarded. And even if the Bulldogs finish fifth in the SEC East, they have a March pedigree now.
Mark Bradley writes for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. E-mail: mbradley AT ajc.com.
