{"id":151,"date":"2008-04-08T19:36:51","date_gmt":"2008-04-09T00:36:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.broadstreetbelievers.com\/?p=151"},"modified":"2008-04-09T10:08:13","modified_gmt":"2008-04-09T15:08:13","slug":"looking-ahead-to-next-march","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/?p=151","title":{"rendered":"Looking Ahead to Next March"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of my favorite columns to read every year are the ones where, in the aftermath of the championship game,\u00a0the writers project the top teams for next year’s college basketball season.\u00a0 I’ll attempt to beat them to the punch this year, although my research probably won’t be as exhaustive.\u00a0 One of the reasons the columns are interesting is because you have to guess which underclassmen will leave for the NBA, and assess how that will affect the team.\u00a0 The top two teams on my list are very much in the “wait and see” category.\u00a0 As a basic rule of thumb, if I think a player is questionable to come back, I’ll rank his team as if he is<\/em> coming back.<\/p>\n

\"hansbroug\"1. North Carolina: <\/strong>I’m assuming that Tyler Hansbrough returns for his senior year and that Ty Lawson moves on to the League.\u00a0 Even without Lawson, this would be the team to beat.\u00a0\u00a0Hansbrough would be\u00a0joined by the likes of Wayne Ellington, Deon Thompson, and Danny Green, and he would also be a man on a mission, with a national championship being\u00a0the only thing missing from his college resume.\u00a0 If he can pull it off, Hansbrough would go down as one of the most accomplished college players in the history of the game.<\/p>\n

2. Kansas: <\/strong>This ranking could potentially drop like a rock, depending on the decisions of Brandon Rush, Darrell Arthur, and Mario Chalmers.\u00a0 Russell Robinson, Darnell Jackson, and Sasha Kaun are gone, but a nucleus of Rush, Arthur, Chalmers, and Sherron Collins would certainly contend again.\u00a0 Players tend to leave early after a national championship, so Bill Self may have to turn his attention to bringing these guys back to school after he signs his re-worked contract some time soon.<\/p>\n

3. Duke: <\/strong>This Duke team will probably still be lacking some inside muscle, but with everyone except DeMarcus Nelson returning to a team that earned a 2-seed in the tournament this year, they will be tough.\u00a0 The nation’s top high school center, 7’2″ John Riek, is still considering the Dukies, and he would cement them as a Top 5 team heading into next season.<\/p>\n

4.\u00a0 Louisville: <\/strong>At first, you see that Louisville is losing some big-time talent, with David Padgett, Juan Palacios, and Earl Clark all moving on.\u00a0 But, assuming Terrence Williams returns, they will probably be even better than they were this season.\u00a0 Jerry Smith, Edgar Sosa, Andre McGee, and Derrick Caracter also return, and two blue-chip recruits, Samardo Samuels and Terrence Jennings, will be joining the front-court.<\/p>\n

5. Tennessee: <\/strong>It looks like Bruce Pearl has this team in it for the long-haul.\u00a0 Chris Lofton and Jajuan Smith exit, but next\"tyler year’s team will feature a ridiculous junior class that includes Tyler Smith, Ramar Smith, J.P. Prince, Wayne Chism, and Duke Crews.\u00a0 Top recruit Scotty Hopson will attempt to replace some of the perimeter scoring lost with the departure of Lofton and Jajuan Smith.<\/p>\n

6.\u00a0 Pittsburgh: <\/strong>Mike Cook graduates, but they were without him for most of the season anyway.\u00a0 Guards Ronald Ramon and Keith Benjamin are also gone, but any team in the nation would be happy to have\u00a0the trio of Sam Young, Dejaun Blair, and Levance Fields leading the way.<\/p>\n

7.\u00a0 UConn: <\/strong>Jim Calhoun brings his whole team back, so if A.J. Price can recover from the torn ACL\u00a0he suffered in the tournament, he will join Jeff Adrien, Jerome Dyson, and Hasheem Thabeet on a team that could return UConn to national prominence.<\/p>\n

8.\u00a0 Gonzaga: <\/strong>The best team on the West Coast next season may very will be the Zags, not a Pac-10 team.\u00a0 Only David Pendergraft graduates, meaning Mark Few will have Jeremy Pargo, Matt Bouldin, Josh Heytvelt, Austin Daye, and Micah Downs at his disposal.\u00a0 The Zags will certainly look to make some noise early in the season with some big-name non-conference wins.<\/p>\n

9.\u00a0 Michigan St.: <\/strong>The Drews, Neitzel and Naymick, graduate but the Spartans will still have a boatload of talent, led by Raymar Morgan, Kalin Lucas, Travis Walton, and Goran Suton.\u00a0 Excellent recruit Delvon Roe will also contribute.<\/p>\n

10.\u00a0 USC: <\/strong>This may seem like a strange choice, with O.J. Mayo definitely heading for the lottery, but USC will still have Daniel Hackett, Taj Gibson, and Davon Jefferson.\u00a0 Maybe most importantly, they will replace Mayo with arguably the top guard in the Class of 2008: L.A. native Demar DeRozan.<\/p>\n

Other Notes:<\/strong><\/p>\n

-The Big East will be the best conference in the country next season.\u00a0 Besides Louisville, Pitt, and UConn, there will plenty of other top teams.\u00a0 Notre Dame returns Luke Harangody and Kyle McAlarney.\u00a0 Villanova returns everyone from a Sweet 16 team.\u00a0 Marquette could be great if Dominic James and Jerel McNeal come back and West Virginia will be very tough if Joe Alexander stays.\u00a0 Georgetown loses Hibbert, Wallace, and Ewing, but an amazing recruiting class, led by Greg Monroe, will keep them in the tournament.<\/p>\n

-Memphis will be doing some rebuilding with Douglas-Roberts, Rose, and Dorsey gone.<\/p>\n

-UCLA will be\u00a0the hardest hit by early departures, with Love, Collison, and Westbrook probably leaving.\u00a0 Josh Shipp and Luc Richard Mbah A Moute will be joined by top recruit Jrue Holiday.<\/p>\n

-Purdue (everyone back)\u00a0and Wisconsin (with Marcus Landry and Trevon Hughes leading the way)\u00a0will challenge Michigan St. in the Big Ten again.<\/p>\n

-Texas returns everyone but Augustin and will be poised to take the Big 12 from Kansas if the Jayhawks are hit hard by early departures.<\/p>\n

-Clemson and Miami both return their top scorers, among others, and\u00a0will be back in the tournament out of the ACC.<\/p>\n

-Xavier will contend in the A-1o, but not nationally, with the departures of Duncan, Burrell, and Lavender.<\/p>\n

-Other teams headed for a downturn: Stanford, Washington St., Butler, Vanderbilt, Indiana.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of my favorite columns to read every year are the ones where, in the aftermath of the championship game,\u00a0the writers project the top teams for next year’s college basketball season.\u00a0 I’ll attempt to beat them to the punch this … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[109,227,47,44,43,45,275,42,10,276,79],"class_list":["post-151","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-college-hoops","tag-duke","tag-gonzaga","tag-kansas","tag-louisville","tag-michigan-st","tag-north-carolina","tag-pittsburgh","tag-tennessee","tag-tyler-hansbrough","tag-uconn","tag-usc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=151"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=151"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=151"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=151"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}