I'll watch anything and everything.
Clemson vs. Liberty in the morning, Texas vs. Western Carolina at night. Put it on TV, I'll plop down on the couch or set the DVR accordingly. Sure, those games are mismatches designed to be blowouts, but what do I care? Long as I get to see Trevor Booker rebound or Avery Bradley dunk, I'm cool. Or at least moderately entertained. But I often wonder (because I'm sometimes asked) whether I'd still watch these lopsided affairs if it wasn't my job to watch these lopsided affairs, and after considering the question for the past 10 minutes I can honestly tell you the answer is ... absolutely not.
Why would I?
Why would you?
These early-to-mid-November games are usually sloppy and uncompetitive, totally unwatchable to anybody who isn't A) a fan of one of the schools involved, B) a hardcore supporter of an NBA franchise projected to be in next year's lottery, or C) a degenerate gambler. If you don't fit into one of those categories, early college basketball is not for you -- proof being how the season's first 10 days produced exactly zero matchups between ranked teams.
It's depressing.
But it all changed Thursday.
It started with No. 18 Dayton's 63-59 win over No. 21 Georgia Tech (in Puerto Rico) and it'll be followed by No. 6 North Carolina vs. No. 15 Ohio State (in New York). Then on Friday, either Georgia Tech or Dayton will play No. 6 Villanova while UNC or OSU plays No. 13 California. So these next 48 hours are going to be a lot of fun as we watch All-American candidates like Derrick Favors (Georgia Tech), Chris Wright (Dayton), Ed Davis (North Carolina), Evan Turner (Ohio State), Scottie Reynolds (Villanova) and Jerome Randle (California) participate in games that are supposed to be competitive, all perform on stages that can serve as trampolines to further stardom.
Me?
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I'm most excited about Turner.
He's gone from pretty-darn-good to un-freaking-believable in a span of eight months. The 6-7 converted point guard is averaging 19.0 points, 17.0 rebounds and 7.0 assists through two contests (as opposed to 17.3 points, 7.1 rebounds and 4.0 assists last season), and he recorded just the second triple-double in program history last week against Alcorn State. If you have Turner on your fantasy college basketball team, you're golden. If you have to guard him, you're not. Either way, now Turner is taking his revamped game to Madison Square Garden, and the basketball junkies who pack the place to see LeBron James would be wise to do the same for this do-everything playmaker, if only because getting Turner in a Knicks uniform via the draft might be more possible than getting James in a Knicks uniform via free agency.
(But I digress.)
Will Turner post more crazy numbers at the Tar Heels' expense?
Can he grab 15 rebounds?
Against UNC's big frontline?
Those are interesting questions to consider.
Eleven days into the season, I'm just glad we finally have some.
