Season is right around the corner..let's take a look at some upcoming action and some early season action:

Pre Season NIT Field:

The teams participating this year are Ohio State, Wisconsin-Green Bay, Columbia, Delaware State, Syracuse, Siena, Saint Joseph's, Fairleigh Dickinson, New Jersey Tech, Washington, Utah, High Point, Oral Roberts, Texas A&M, Texas-El Paso and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.

Final Four are still going to New York...Don't be sold on Ohio State with all their losses. Motta is a fabulous coach but lost 2 players who were drafed as lottery players including overall #1 (and done) Greg Oden.

I've changed my mind a little bit on the Aggies. They still have a decent team, I'm interested to see where they are seeded and who they draw.

Cuse would have to be my favorite. If they can get to the Garden, it is their's to lose. Lots of returning talent and the 1-2 punch of Davendorf and 6'11 super frosh Sean Williams make the team loaded offensively. Glass cleaner and defensive monster Terrence Roberts has departed, but the incoming class and several key returns make the Cuse one to reckon with. If they are in good form (which lately Jimmy's boys havent been to start the season) I like Cuse to win this tournament. I'll post a first round winner when we get started.

Big XII Notable games I'll be playing on this year:

Kansas Jayhawks:

**Arizona Nov 25'th

**@ USC Dec 2nd

**Depaul December 12'th

**Ohio Dec. 15'th

**@ Mizzou Jan 19'th

POTENTIAL GOY PLAYS and other plays I've locked on to:

Colorado @ Air Force Nov 29'th

Oklahoma @ Colorado Feb 9'th

Oregon @ K State Nov 29'th

Battle of Kansas Part II Mar 1'st

Wisconsin @ Texas 12/29 (Wicsonsin plays 4 big XII teams non conference by the way)

TOTAL OF THE YEAR PLAY POTENTIAL: Texas @ Mizzou Jan 12'th (big XII opener for both)

BEDLAM January 28'th in Stillwater

Texas Tech December 12'th

Wash. State @ Baylor 11/30 (This is a big play for me if the line is right)

I'll get into MoValley ailittle bit later but here's some nugs for ya to consider in your gambling this year in the XII:

**Tons of new coaching changes. Air force defensive whiz Bzednek takes over at Colorado and a team that had some of the highest totals listed last year will all of a sudden run a Princeton offense with tough defense. Look for early unders until the oddsmakers catch up.

**Baylor returns all 5 starters from a team that went 15-16..keep this in mind in non conference..the Bears went 4-9 in the XII. That means they were 11-7 out of conference. Don't be afraid to play Baylor early against a big name.

**Mizzou went 18-12 last year in Former UAB coach Mike Anderson's first year @ Mizzou. They return 88% of their scoring and now have 1 full year of the 40 minutes of hell under their belt (Trademark to Nolan Richardson)

Look for Vandy transfer Demarre Carroll to add some much needed depth and solid play on the interior for the Tigers. I predict Mizzou to make the dance this year fellas.

**D.J. Augustin is my pre season Big XII player of the year. I'm so sold on this kid that it might affect my capping. But Texas is a very underrated team and the loss of Durant really doesn't hurt the rest of the team as much as people predict. I think the Longhorns are gonna roll non conference this year. Be careful of the Mich State game in East Lansing, the Horns don't do well in that kind of environment in that kind of system.

**Kansas will push the ball even more this year and make a move to more of a 3 guard wing offense with lots of perimeter shooting. I'll be on the over early on the Hawks but I'm scared of some trap games on the totals early. Study these and make sure to fade the Hawks for Rush's first game back. Yes..fade them.

**K State is vastly underrated. I'll be hitting on them hard if Michael Beasley looks like the phenom he's supposed to be. This team is very tough and very physical. They should be in the Big East with the style that Huggin's top assistant and new head coach Frank Martin brings to aggieland. The Cats are gonna make noise and will even be rated in the non conference portion of their schedule.

Good luck this year boys. Really looking forward to the season and I'm ready to roll in the XII and Valley this year. We are going to cash because both conferences are going to go strong against trend bets this year. You'll see new styles predicated by new coaches and scoring change because of the loss of talent. Looking forward to it and hope you slam this year. I'll post on the Missouri Valley when I'm done circling the games I'm going after. There is great value again in Valley non conference as we'll be catching even more points as dogs with all the loss of talent in the Valley this year.