Which Top 5 College Basketball Team Has the Toughest Season Opener?

On paper, out of the top five teams in the country, the Ohio State Buckeyes will have the toughest season opener for the 2012-13 college basketball season.

Realistically, the Buckeyes will probably come up victorious against the Marquette Golden Eagles, but they clearly have the toughest game to open their season out of Indiana, Louisville, Kentucky and Michigan. However, the Wildcats will open the season against an ACC school in the Maryland Terrapins.

Marquette will no longer have Jae Crowder or Darius Johnson-Odom on the team, but it will still have some very talented players. We are talking about a Big East school here. Luckily for the Golden Eagles, Vander Blue, Junior Cadougan, Davante Gardner, Jamil Wilson and Todd Mayo will be back. Although these players played supporting roles to Crowder and Johnson-Odom, they should definitely step up their games in the upcoming season, since they will have bigger roles on the team and all. All five of these players averaged six points or more per game last season, but Gardner led them with 9.5 points per game.

The Golden Eagles will obviously miss their two best players from last season, but they shouldn’t worry too much.

With that said, the Buckeyes will have a tough test in Marquette, but there is no reason why they won’t win their season opener. Deshaun Thomas will start the season off by putting up big boy numbers. Expect Thomas to average near 20 points per game. He did put up 15.4 points per game last season.

Then there is Aaron Craft, who is arguably the best point guard in the nation, thanks to his point guard abilities and being a lock-down defender.

Ohio State may not be the most explosive team in the country, but its defense should lead them to victory over Marquette to kick off the season.