Men's College Basketball 2003-2004 (NO SMACK)

Wright was a huge pick-up for the Orange. Somebody that UConn really wanted. But unfortunatly Rudy Gay might be a pipe dreams. Reports are that he cut his list down to Maryland and UConn. Thats unfortunate becuase he would have made a great replacement for Hakim Warrick (who I think will bolt for NBA riches after this season, especially since he is a guarenteed lotto pick). But if UConn does pick him up? Let's play what if

IF Omeka Okafer stays for his SR Year.
IF Ben Gordon stays for his SR Year
IF Charlie Villanueva stays for his SO Year
IF Rudy Gay signs with UCONN

Add to that guys like Dennem Brown (a Soph this season), that has the makings of one of the best College Basketball squads ever.

 

That's a lot of if's. People thought that Duke's team in 2001-2002 was going to be one of the best ever. Returning four starters off the Nat'l Championship team with incoming talent like Dahntay Jones and Daniel Ewing, plus the return from injury of Nick Horvath. One (of many) woeful night on the charity stripe and all of a sudden you're only a Sweet 16 team.

If's are fun to talk about, but don't put too much stock into them.

 

You should come back to North Carolina and try to convince the Carolina fans here that they're not the best team in the country. If this hype builds anymore I fear there may be a coup and Roy Williams will be installed as governor-for-life.

 

I agree.

More than likely this is what UConn's team will look like in 2004/05:
C Josh Boone/Hilton Armstrong
F Marcus White
F Rashad Anderson
G Denham Brown
G Marcus Williams

So UConn better take advantage of the great opportunity they have this year because Gordon, Okafor, and Villanueva are all gonna jet for the NBA next year.

 

You say that like it's a bad thing.

 

Blue Ribbons pre-season rankings and pre-season All-America selections. http://goduke.ocsn.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/092303aaa.html

 

My Own Top 10

1. UConn - Omeka Okafer, Ben Gordon, Charlie Villanueva, Taliek Brown, Dennem Brown. Best starting 5 in the country

2. Duke - The Big 6 is a year older. Reddick, Shav Randolph, Shelden Williams are big time College Ballers. Daniel Ewing is one of the better guards. But they either need Duhon to play under control, or get him OFF the floor.

3. Syracuse - lost Melo, gain Cuse's best recruiting class ever (according to Jimmy B)

4. North Carolina - Raymond Felton+RaShaad McCants+Healthy Sean May+Roy Williams = Final Four

5. Michigan St - They got loads of talent. Most of it untapped. But the talent is definatly there. Tom Izzo is the real star of this squad.

6. Florida - Roberson and David Lee are studs, but Christian Drejer has to start living up to the hype

7. Illinois - Dee Brown and a weak Big 10 means a nice high ranking

8. Notre Dame - Chris Thomas and Torin Francis make a great inside/outside combo. But they need to get tougher defensivly

9. Zags - fundamentally sound big forwards + lightning quick guards = good team

10. Kansas - The most entertaining player in America, Keith Langford, play for Kansas. They have talented players at every position, but now they have to step and replace Kirk Heinrich and Nick Collison.

10a. Texas - They lost TJ Ford, but they bring everything else back from a Final Four team that BEAT Uconn.

 

It's game-time baby.

Roy? Roy who? Now I know many of you will laugh at me when I say Kansas basketball doesn't skip a beat without Roy, but there's not really anyone here in Lawrence who doesn't think that way. In 6 months, Bill Self retained one of the nations top recruiting classes and as of last week, just got oral commitments from another top 5 class. Self already proved he is a better recruiter (Roy was never really that great at recruiting) and if he can rival Roy's on-court coaching ability, Kansas will be Elite 8 every year almost.

If KU doesn't get back to the Final Four, it has more to do with the fact that we lost Nick Collison and Kirk Hinrich and not that we lost Roy.

Having said that... I like KU's chances again this year with a dominant front and back court. Watch out for Kieth Langford to bust out big time in his Junior season and as long as Wayne Simien can stay healthy I don't see many weaknesses for this team. Losing Kirk Hinrich does take away a 3-point threat that is nearly impossible to replace, but with a freshmen class coming in with shooters, big-men, and showtimers, I don't see this team missing a beat. This quote says it all, “I have a lot respect for Coach Williams,” Kansas freshman J.R. Giddens says. “But now that Coach Self is here, there’s no frown on my face at all.”

To get an idea of this team, Assist machine Aaron Miles will start the point and feed the ball to two slashers, Kieth Langford and freshman JR Giddens, and between them will be one of the top front courts in the country with Wayne Simien and senior Jeff Graves. The addition of top recruit David Padgett will give some much needed depth in the front court and the back court is just stacked with talent. The Jayhawks lost two NBA players, but gained at least two NBA players (maybe 3 or 4) with the 5 recruits coming in.

So who else would I pick for #1 besides Kansas? Two straight Final Fours and a top class will earn it for ya.

As for the rest of the teams in the country, UConn is one team I really don't want KU to face. I would have loved for KU to get Villanueva, but not having him is no big deal. But adding CV to an already solid team makes them just flat out scary.

My #3 team will be a team rising from dissapointment. Duke hasn't made too many Duke fans happy the last few years, but the lessons that team has learned along with one of the best coaches in the country who will make sure they learned their lessons. Plus Nick Collison isn't around anymore to demolish that team.

The #4 team in the country is one that better get rid of the injury bug quickly if it wishes to live up to the hype that it has failed to live up to recently. A team that talented with IMO the best coach in the country has no business no making the Final Four this season. I was sure jealous of them getting Shannon Brown after watching the Mickey D's all-star game.

The #5 team is one that you probably weren't expecting, Missouri. As a Kansas fan, it pains me to say this, but that soon to be on probation program has actually put together one hell of a team. Losing Rickey Clemons hurts big time, but any starting lineup that has Rickey Paulding, Arthur Johnson, Travon Bryant deserves respect (from anyone other than a KU fan). I'll look forward to sweeping them once again, but come March, I'd prefer this team goes home early as to not spoil any chances for my Jayhawks. If they are going to do it, this has to be their year, because not only are they losing key players next season, those losses won't hurt their pst-season chances much because there won't be any to begin with given the probation this program faces once the investigations are done.

So there's my top 5. It should be a pretty fun season as it seems like the college game is becoming more and more of a slashers game. As always, I'll pick my Jayhawks in the Final Four (I've been right the last two seasons!) and along with them I'll pick UConn, Arizona, and Duke.

And if you were wondering, in the past, KU fans have always rooted for North Carolina and pretty much vice-versa with UNC fans given the history between the schools, but there's not a whole lot of respect left for the tarheel program the way they handled the situation during the Final Four, so Lawrence says... go Duke!

 

With regards to UT, I think they will fare ok without TJ Ford. The seniors will be out to proove that they can do it without him.

TJ was unbelievable at creating the right tempo in a game, distributing the ball, creating easy baskets, and making something happen when we needed it. These attribtues will be missed. They also lose Deginald Erskin, an undersized power forward who was a beast two years ago in the tourny, but was average last year.

That being said, the team should still be a Top 15 team, and possibly higher. In my opinion, this team will go as far as James Thomas will take them. He has an opportunity to be one of the best big men in the country. He is as skilled a rebounder as there is in the country. The question will be whether he will be assertive enough offensively. He needs to be a man amongst boys this year. I personally don't know if he has this mentality offensively. He is too nice of a guy.

The team will also live and die on the shooting of Brian Boddicker and Sydmill Harris. With Thomas, Buckman and Klotz they have good inside play. With Mouton they have good dribble penetration/creativity. The question is when these things happen and the ball is kicked out, will these guys make their shots?

I think they can compete for the Big XII and should be a lock for the NCAA's. They have enough depth to withstand some injuries, and should be a fun team to watch as Barnes will use his depth to his advantage (pressing, running, fouling, etc.)

 

aren't you forgetting someone? Someone that beat #1, #4, and #5 on your list?

 

Shhhh. Maybe we can sneek up on teams next year as well.

 

LOL... I'll be the last person you find disrespecting Syracuse. I won't be the least bit shocked if "Cuse can repeat, but losing Anthony was huge. If I remember, they have a highly regarded class which will definately help fill the void. But still... it's tough to lose a player of Anthony's class and not notice it. There aren't many coaches out there more qualified to coach a team after losing a player like that than Boeheim.

With Anthony, this team is no doubt #1, but withough Anthony, I'd rank them somewhere between 6th and 8th. The team still scares me as a Kansas fan.

 

No no, I wasn't talking about respect. I know you know your stuff when talking college basketball. I was just curious about your logic of placing Kansas so high when they lost Hinrich and Collison, and not ranking Cuse so high when they lost just Melo. Both sqauds have comprable classes, and Carmelo was about as important to this Syracuse squad as Collison was to the Kansas squad. Both squads will regret losnig their stars rebounding more than anything else. And just like Kansas has Wayne Simien to help fill the void, Cuse has a superstar in waiting Hakim Warrick to step up. I know I listed Kansas as #10, but thats because I think College basketball is a guard oriented game, and I don't know that Aaron Miles and Lee will be able to fill the massive hole left by Kirk Heinrich. But if Miles does step then this team will be just as good as last seasons.

 

Here we're talking about giving a team the benifit of the doubt in reference to losing big time players and still remaining top in the country.

The way I look at it, Anthony was the 'Cuse team. Before you get all pissy about that comment, here's why I say that. 'Cuse has tons of talent, but even though the talent was there, the team was built around Anthony.

Let me take the box score from the championship game to argue my point....
Leaders Syracuse Kansas
Points----Anthony 20----- 2 tied at 19
Rebounds---Anthony 10----Collison 21
Assists ----Anthony 7----Miles 7

I don't question the talent that Syracuse has, the only part I question about that team is their ability to change from a one-man show to a team led by Mcnamera and Warrick. I think they can do it and I wouldn't be shocked in the least to see them in the Final Four, but I do think they'll lose some games this year. They lost 4 games last year, and without looking at their schedule, I'll say they lose more than that this year. They'll man-up and go deep in the tourny though.


As for Kansas, the versatility they showed last season was really impressive. When one man was shut down, another popped up to lead the team. The experience this team has with back to back Final Fours and the best Junior class in the country who knows nothing but Final Fours is a big reason. Much like last year, I don't see who you shut down to beat Kansas. Like I said, it's going to be assist machine Miles with Langford and the man who claims he should have beat Lebron in the Micky D's dunk contest, JR Giddons. Then down low it is Simien and Graves. The biggest weaknesses this team has is 3-point shooting and big-man depth. So if Graves gets in foul trouble like he does so often, the only replacement is Freshman david padgett and Senior Bryant Nash. Or they might just move Giddons to power and put in Syracuse's favorite man Michael Lee at shooting guard.

I dunno, we'll just have to see how it plays out. I think the experience and the hunger this team has after losing two Final Fours is strong enough to give this team and edge no one else has. Replacing two all-americans mentality-wise I do believe is an easier task that replacing one superstar, if that makes any sense.

Oh boy, another season or arguing with appooonu, should be fun!

Dammit, now you have me reliving the championship game and remembering how much I hate Mcnamera. If he doesn't go ape-s**t, Kansas wins. Grrrr....

 

It is true that the whole offense revolved around Carmelo but didn't Kansas's whole offense revolve around Hienrich and Collison. And imo losing 2 stars will hurt more than losing one. Plus, I think Syracuse has better returning players than Kansas. Kansas is very vulnerable to teams that know how to pack it in and force them to shoot 3s. Who can shoot on Kansas?

 

As a matter of fact, no, I didn't think the team revolved around Kirk and Nick, they were simply the two best players on a stocked team. The tournament was proof of that last year. You constantly heard analogies of Kansas as a 3 or 4 or 5 headed monster, when you shut one player down, another one pops up. Hinrich, Collison, and Langford all had games in the tourny in which they led the team in scoring, and Miles had a couple 18+ games. Anthony led the team 5 out of the 6 games. Collison led the team 4 out of the six games in rebounding, in the games he didn't, Graves averaged 12 rebounds. With Wayne Simien coming back from a season ending injury, he can fill the rebounding hole that Collison leaves because Wayne pretty much everyone around here thinks that Wayne will average more rebounds this year than Collison. Anthony led the team in rebounding in all 6 games in the tournament.

And I don't think there is a better pure point guard in the country than Aaron Miles.

As far as a better returning class for 'Cuse? I dunno, I mean that is a talented group, but Langford, Simien, and Miles is just as good as that Gooden, Collison, Hinrich class at Kansas two years ago that was better than the Dunleavy, Boozer, Williams class at Duke the same year. Kansas' Junior class is three likely first round picks. Graves is an iffy for "The League" and there's about 3 NBA players coming in with the freshmen. Plus that Junior trio is leading the team with nothing but Final Fours in their past.

Kansas has done a good job or replacing Collison and Hinrich talent-wise, the real question is how does the team respond to the absence of those two? I think they'll respond well because of the way the sophomores and Graves last season stepped up when Hinrich and Collison weren't producing.

Anthony on the other hand is one of the best, most dominant players the college game has seen in a few years. The talent is there to easily place a top-10 team on the court, maybe top-5, but I'm not completely confident that the team will be able to function the same way that they did last season without Anthony. Two good comparisons would be comparing Kansas to the championship Duke team, they lose two great seniors, but their sophomore trio was good enough to lead them to a 26-3 record the following season. Battier was one of the better college seniors that I can remember, he just dominated the court.

I'd finish this up, but I got some homework to finish up that is due in an hour.

 

Let's take a look at the talent that surrounded Carmelo shall we?

Hakim Warrick - will be a top 3 NBA draft pick.

Billy Edelin - came out of Oak Hill Academy as one of the best PG in the country. Politics kept him out of the McDonald's All-America Game

Gerry McNamara - Another top 50 recruit in the Nation. This is a kid that Duke really wanted. Instead, they had to "settle" for JJ Reddick.

Josh Pace is also a top 50 recruit out of Griffin, Ga.

Add Matt Gorman (the 3rd in the #3 class that included Melo and GMac), and an incoming class that Jimmy B labeled the best he's ever seen at Syracuse. And is it really that different from Kansas?

 

I understand that, but take a look at Kansas...

G Jeff Hawkins
G Omar Wilkes
G Keith Langford
G Jeremy Case
G Aaron Miles
G J.R. Giddens
G Stephen Vinson
G Nick Bahe
G Michael Lee Jr

F Wayne Simien Jr
F Brett Olson
F Bryant Nash
F Christian Moody
F Jeff Graves
F Moulaye Niang

C David Padgett

Langford, Miles, Giddens, Simien, and Padgett are all Micky D's all-Americans and all should be going to the NBA, and potential NBA players include Omar Wilkes and Jeff Graves. The talent on this team is sick. That is why not many Kansas fans were too upset when Villanueva chose UConn over Kansas, because there is already too much talent and there wouldn't be enough PT to go around without pissing people off.

I don't doubt the talent at 'Cuse, I know it's there, I watched it beat my team last season. It's just my opinion that losing Anthony is too much for this team to be ranked in the top 5, but rather I'd put them in the 5-10 range.

 

I guess its pointless to figure out if a team is between 1 - 5, and 5 - 10 3 weeks before practice starts.


A Team I think the nation should watch out for is Michigab. They would have been a #7 seed last season and they have some good talent returning

 

Agreed, I was about to say it's about time to agree to disagree. Both will be good teams and the memory of Warrick swatting that ball out with be wiped if we can beat the in the championship game this year.

I watched the Mickey D's dunk competition that I taped a while back this morning. It would have been really interesting to see how Giddens would have turned out if Roy stayed. Typically Roy never recruited the "ballers", he went for the more fundamentally sound players like Collison. Giddens is gonna get a lot of SportsCenter time this year with the dunking skills he has. It would have been interesting to see how he would have finished against Lebron in the final if he didn't hurt his foot. Lebron just went the safe route and Leron should have been able to take him.

 

Opinions from Tucson

I agree with the polls about UCONN. I had them to win the title last year. They are straight out scary.

As far as Arizona, I have a good feeling for this year. Lute's teams usually do better when they're more athletic. Losing Luke Walton and Rick Anderson improves their athleticism 100%.
I still think it was a mistake when Lute decided not to press 48 minutes a game. We blow out WKU by 50 and he decides there were too many defensive errors.

Skipshady, apoOnU's description of Arizona is pretty good. The first thing I would say, though, is that Arizona has no major stars. Iguodola and Adams have a lot of talent, but also have room for improvement (see jump shots).
Second, to say that Shukur will be an immediate improvement over Gardner sounds like it came from a recruiting bible. While plausible, not very likely.
Last, apoOnU had the cornerstones correct in Stoudamire and Frye. Though the former might want to hit his uncle up for some of that green, leafy substance to calm that attitude problem.

My verdict? Arizona will be dangerous come March, but will need some lucky bounces (a la '97) along the way to win it all.

 

Re: Opinions from Tucson

well I was never much of a fan of Gardner really. And I've seen a few highlites of Shakur. That cat can ball, and he can already do things that Gardner could only dream about. Arizona has a history of getting freshman guards to play extremely well. to the point where they play their way to a #1 seed. Mike Bibby, Jason Gardner, Gilbert Arenas, Salim Staudamire...all these guys played well as freshman