Early Preseason Top 25 for 2009-2010

[tornado]

Rivals hits the street with one of the earliest Top 25's for next year...
Nice to see Butler up there...

1. Kansas
2. Syracuse.
3. North Carolina
4. Purdue
5. Michigan State
6. Duke
7. USC
8. Villanova
9. Texas
10. Tennessee
11. Butler
12. Connecticut
13. West Virginia
14. Wake Forest
15. Ohio State
16. Washington.
17. Arizona State
18. Michigan
19. Georgetown
20. Siena.
21. Minnesota.
22. Louisville
25. Illinois

http://collegebasketball.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=933183

[mportsch]

That seems like a fairly good list - it will be interesting to see how it shifts as underclassmen declare.

I don't see Ohio State being #15, even if Evan Turner returns - they still don't have a PG and don't really have any complete big men (Dallas Lauderdale can block shots, but can't score and isn't much of a rebounder). I see turnovers and rebounding still being big problems for them, much like this year.

I like seeing Butler up there - they should be tough, as they return everybody from a very young team.

Illinois at the bottom of the Top 25 seems about right - I expect them to be about as good overall as they were this season, but with more flashes of excellence (higher overall talent level with the freshmen replacing Meacham/Frazier/Brock). They should definitely be a more dangerous team come tournament time than they were this season.

[BradleyBrave]

Bradley #26. Just missed it again!

[mrcoachdude]

6 Big TEn teams....impressive

[BradleyBrave]

6 Big TEn teams....impressive

Much like the Valley, most of the Big 10's best players are underclassmen. The real question for them is how many will stay in school and how many will declare for the NBA Draft.

[Tulsa Brave]

I predict that Memphis will replace Siena in any and all polls by midseason.

[mportsch]

You may be right about Memphis. They have a lot of uncertainty right now - Tyreke Evans possibly leaving, recruiting class up in the air, and there always seem to be transfers with a coaching change - but they still figure to have a lot of talent. If Evans leaves and they don't have anybody transfer (and their two remaining commits actually stick with them), here's their likely rotation:

PG Willie Kemp Sr.
SG Doneal Mack Sr.
SF Roburt Sallie Jr.
PF Pierre Henderson-Niles Sr.
C Shawn Taggart Sr.

PF Wesley Witherspoon So.
PF Will Coleman Fr. (4-stars)
SF Darnell Dodson Fr. (4-stars)

There's certainly a lot of talent there - everybody except Henderson-Niles was a 4-star on Rivals coming out of high school. There's something to be said for having talented seniors, and Memphis also has an amazing track record of recent success - they've finished in the top 10 of Pomeroy's ratings for 4 straight seasons.

At first, I wasn't sure I agreed with you, but they do look like a Top 25 team, even without Evans. It will be interesting to see how things play out for them.

[Da Coach]

If all their players stay, they could be pretty good next year. But that usually doesn't happen with a coaching change.
Of course, we don't know what kind of coach their new coach will be. But they will lose their "best of all-time" 2009 recruiting class, and I expect some of their present players will bolt when the academic year ends.

[Braves4Life]

CHN Top 50

Here's the CHN Top 50. Creighton is the only MVC team coming in at # 48. Illinois at #12.

http://www.collegehoopsnet.com/2010-earlytop-50-ranking-166800

[Fyrebyrd]

Syracuse...#2? What are they on? They are losing their top three players who made up for about 2/3 of their scoring.

[FutureBrave2013]

Syracuse...#2? What are they on? They are losing their top three players who made up for about 2/3 of their scoring.

The list was made before Syracuse's players declared.

[SFP]

Here's the CHN Top 50. Creighton is the only MVC team coming in at # 48. Illinois at #12.

http://www.collegehoopsnet.com/2010-...ranking-166800

This is all a crap shot anyway! I believe UNI will be better then CU next year and CU is getting their ranking over UNI because of familiarity. The same can be said of why some of these schools ranking are where they are at.

[MacabreMob]

This is all a crap shot anyway! ....

Yes - Helps explain why I hate "polls" and the "learned opinion" (whatever the fark that is and why anyone should think it means anything more than an any other opinion... which is just that... an opinion... one we all have... along with arse-holes). And you can add the "drive-by media" to my list of arse-hats.

[SFP]

Yes - Helps explain why I hate "polls" and the "learned opinion" (whatever the fark that is and why anyone should think it means anything more than an any other opinion... which is just that... an opinion... one we all have... along with arse-holes). And you can add the "drive-by media" to my list of arse-hats.

From the beginnning of this season I thought UNC was the best team in the country, "head and shoulders." Next year I do not see a team with that type of depth and talent. I think next year will be wide open and especially if some of the predicted players take off to the pros. UNC was a lot like the Florida team that won back2back championships. Tons of NBA talent, depth and senior leadership.

[Future Walk-On]

I expect Illinois to be better than #25...Maybe I am bias, but they return their top three leading scorers...in Davis, McCamey, and Tisdale. Stan Simpson is eligable. Recruiting class rated as high as 11 by Rivals...someone to try and replace Frazier...and hopefully someone is can shoot near as good as Meacham and I think they will be good.