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College Basketball Preview Sneak Peek

Although Louisville was crowned national champion just a few months ago and the season is still a while away it is never to early to think about college basketball. Here are five big storylines to think about for 2013-2014:

Kentucky: Only in today's college basketball could a team miss the NCAA tournament, lose to Robert Morris in the NIT first round and still be considered the best team entering 2013-14. The Wildcats bring in the best class in college
The Harrison Twins
hoops history with Julius Randle, the Harrison twins, James Young and Marcus Lee. Center Willie Cauley-Stein is expected to make huge strides after an inconsistent freshman showing and another sophomore, Alex Poythress, should see major minutes. Archie Goodwin, Ryan Harrow and Kyle Wiltjer are all gone but that isn't really a bad thing for this team.

The New Big East: After the fallout of the Big East in football, a new Big East has been formed. Syracuse and Pitt along with Notre Dame move to the ACC, while Louisville, Rutgers, Cincinnati, UConn and South Florida move to the newly formed American Athletic. This left the seven catholic schools to fend for themselves and they did well; they reeled in Butler, Xavier and Creighton, all strong mid-major programs. This new league might never be as good as the old Big East, where tournament teams sometimes reached the double-digits but it will still be strong. The addition of Butler, Creighton and Xavier will bring even more physicality to the league and more rivalries.

Repeat?:  The last team to repeat as national champions was the Florida team of All-Stars led by Joakim Noah and Corey Brewer. Louisville has enough back from last year's team to start thinking about it. Russ Smith flirted with the NBA but decided to come back and is immediately a Wooden Award threat. Luke Hancock, who had a dream tournament, gives the Cardinals a dangerous shooting threat and Montrezl Harrell and Chane Behanan are expected to develop into All-America big men. There will be some loss in leadership with four-year contributor Peyton Siva gone but somebody should take over the leadership reins.

Wichita State is a real threat: The Shockers shocked the college basketball landscape when they rod their tough, psychical brand of basketball to a Final Four, and nearly upset the number one overall seed, Louisville. Senior leader Carl Hall is gone from that team but nearly everyone else, except for Malcolm Armstead, returns. Big man Cleanthony Early had quite the NCAA tournament and should make quite the name for himself this year. Wichita also brings back swingman Ron Baker who should develop more in 2013-14 and guard Fred van Fleet will improve in big ways. Head coach Gregg Marshall also managed to bring in three-star prospect Shaquille Morris to help the frontcourt.

Coaching Changes: Andy Enfield's Florida Gulf Coast team made such an impression on college basketball fans everywhere, USC decided to hire the mastermind of "Dunk City". The other school in Los Angeles, UCLA, also found a new head coach after yet another disappointing year from Ben Howland. Former New Mexico head coach Steve Alford comes to Pauley Pavilion with a ton of pressure. Though he has proven he can succeed; his New Mexico teams won four Mountain West titles in his five years there. In the Big Ten, Minnesota said goodbye to Tubby Smith after a year in which the Gophers never fulfilled their vast potential. Rich Pitino (yes Rick's son) comes to the Twin Cities with some talent to work with. But the Big Ten will once more be brutal and Rodney Williams and Trevor Mbakwe are both gone. Rutgers hopes to start a new with Eddie Jordan, after firing the disgraced Mike Rice.

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