Sports Illustrated Pre-Season Top Ten...

[EarlJam]

....and how far they missed the mark if their prediction was equivalent to trying to land a plane on an aircraft carrier or in tough conditions in general:

November 23, 2009

1. Kansas - Perfect landing with bad-ass piece of machinery, but arrestor hook failed to deploy, plane slides off into ocean: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdOmmUK83uI

2. Michigan State - Perfect landing. Pilot with shit-eatin' grin salutes the bridge. http://blstb.msn.com/i/82/255D6F55EA9E2 ... 785BFC.jpg

3. Villanova - Good approach, horrible finish. The 1:13 mark, Taylor King piloting: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gpCLeWqY0w

4. Texas - Good approach but shot down by novice pilot (Wake) on approach.

5. Kentucky - Made a perfect landing, blind-folded, then gave the finger to those picking them 5th. http://www.talkingproud.us/ImagesCultur ... member.jpg

6. Purdue - Perfect landing, despite pilot getting a bullet to the legs.

7. North Carolina - Wrong direction, wrong speed, wrong pilot,....disaster. Best represented by the first attempted landing in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gpCLeWqY0w

8. West Virginia - On line and comin' in hot!

9. Washington - Shaky, but made it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSqN7wDe ... L&index=27

10. UConn - Never quite made it airborne. Best represented by the first crash in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=SfW03eB ... re=related

-EarlJam

**This post used all non-fatal crashes.

[CameronBornAndBred]

7. North Carolina - Wrong direction, wrong speed, wrong pilot,....disaster. Best represented by the first attempted landing in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gpCLeWqY0w

[EarlJam]

Also, projecting starting line-up for Duke:

1. Scheyer
2. Smith
3. Singler
4. Thomas
5. Plumlee

Notice anyone missing????

-ZJam

[EarlJam]

Wow. I'll say this though. SI did a pretty damned good job pre-season of picking the field of 65. Included in their correct predictions:

-Arkansas-Pine Bluff
-St. Mary's
-Cornell
-Northern Iowa
-Texas A&M

Just to name a few of the lesser known teams.

-EJ

[EarlJam]

For each of the teams in the Top 25 pre-season, S.I. had a "Key Game" section. Like sweet honey, I now read their "key game" synopsis for Duke:

March 6, UNC: This game could decide the ACC regular season title, and it's also a chance for the Blue Devils to end Carolina's recent dominance; the Tar Heels have won four in a row at Cameron Indoor Stadium.



-EJ