Quick peek: Southwestern Men's basketball

No question, this should be a tight race in the Southwestern 2A Men's Basketball again, but 3 thru 6 may be the most intriguing. Anybody can win on any given night in this league. I really don't believe there is a true last place team, but this is how I would rank them before the season really gets in gear.

Southwestern 2A Men's Basketball Preview

6) Chase- They are much improved from a year ago with transfer Tyler Whiteside in the lineup, but Deandre McCoy is the best three-point shooter on the team. Whiteside is going to score a lot of points, but can they defend. They didn't win a conference game last year, but I have a feeling that will likely change this season.

5) R-S Central- The Hilltoppers should be able to defend and they will play a full dose of 32 minutes every night. Elijah Carson, Jacob Knox and Ty Watkins are all capable of leading, but they are not anywhere near as deep as they were a year ago.

4) East Gaston- Guard, Cameron Stackson leads the Warriors with post man Brandon Sherrill, but they are only about seven, maybe eight deep. Quality does count for something though.

3) South Point- They are a fairly deep roster wise with some inexperience at the varsity level, but they lost the most of any team in conference from last season. Still, they have good guard play behind Logan Threatt and Kam Dyer, but Blake Turner is the key piece of the Red Raiders. So far, they have shown to score well, but defending is a question.

2) East Rutherford- East is led by Christian Walker and Quay Logan. However, they are nine deep and can push a pace way past most teams limits.

1) Shelby- When they get all the pieces back from football, they should be at the top of the board. They have a ton of talent and size.

NFL

The door is now wide open in the NFL as New Orleans, New England, Pittsburgh, Houston, Chicago and the Rams have all lost once in the last two weeks. Dallas has won five in a row, while Carolina has lost five in a row. The Chargers and Seahawks are looking better every week. The Chiefs are without Kareem Hunt and have still won two in a row. The point is they are all human and no one team is invincible. Maybe the Patriots in January, but that too remains to be seen.

College Basketball

Virginia and Duke look like the cream of the crop in the ACC. Duke still has some defensive issues, but keeping up with them in the scoring column will be a problem for most. UNC is having defensive issues as well. The Tarheels look good in stretches, but Roy Williams is not a quitter. N.C. State looks underrated. It's still early and three-plus months from now, we will see who rises and who falls.