<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Prospects are proceeding with caution, at an 84 percent clip. Fifty-three of the 63 NCAA-produced early entrants in the NBA draft have yet to hire an agent following the April 29 deadline to declare. Which means that the slate of available pro prospects -- released today by the league -- is hardly set in stone, and the real parties in limbo between now and June 18, the deadline to withdraw from the draft, are the college teams who have stars sitting on the NBA fence. The departures of already-represented underclassmen such as Gonzaga's Adam Morrison, LSU's Tyrus Thomas and Texas' LaMarcus Aldridge were foregone conclusions in our early look at the 2006-07 landscape. But three schools in that initial top 10 -- UCLA, Memphis and Texas -- are now in jeopardy of taking less-expected hits to their Final Four hopes. Here are the six teams, including the Bruins, Tigers and Longhorns, with the most at stake in the next month and a half. 6. George Washington 5. Rutgers 4. Memphis 3. Villanova 2. Texas 1. UCLA</div> Full Story
I don't necessarily agree with the order of the list. Texas definitely has the most to lose. They'd go from a potential #1 team to a probable NIT team. Aldridge, Tucker, and Gibson all have realistic chances of being All-Americans next season, and with the addition of star high school recruit Kevin Durant, they'd have something special; now on the other end of the spectrum, they could lose all five starters, amounting to the loss of 85% of their scoring, 78% of their rebounding, and 74% of their assists. That's almost as crazy as what happened to North Carolina last offseason. UCLA would at least return three of the better freshman in the nation from last season: Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, Darren Collison, and Alfred Aboya, who were all in the starting lineup at one point last season. They also return a potential All-Pac 10 prospect in Josh Shipp, who sat out most of last season with injuries, and then they've got Lorenzo Mata in the post, who also logged time as a starter last season. They should be in the tournament picture next season regardless of what Farmar and Afflalo decide to do. I'd say that programs like Arkansas, California, Colorado, Michigan State, North Carolina State, and Pittsburgh stand to lose more, not because they lose a lot of players but because the players they'll potentially lose mean everything to their teams.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Voodoo Child:</div><div class="quote_post">UCLA would at least return three of the better freshman in the nation from last season: Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, Darren Collison, and Alfred Aboya, who were all in the starting lineup at one point last season. They also return a potential All-Pac 10 prospect in Josh Shipp, who sat out most of last season with injuries, and then they've got Lorenzo Mata in the post, who also logged time as a starter last season. They should be in the tournament picture next season regardless of what Farmar and Afflalo decide to do. </div> I thought the same way when I first read the article. Luc Richard Mbah a Moute was the Pac-10 freshman of the year last season and established himself as one of the better post-players in the nation. Darren Collison really impressed me in his freshman season; he did a real nice job as Farmar's backup and I think he's capable of starting at the point next season. Alfred Aboya could possibly start at center with Fey and Hollins graduating, and don't forget about incoming McDonalds All-American James Keefe, who has a chance to come in and start right away. The only problem I see is they don't have a starting calibur shooting guard. Josh Shipp would likely start at shooting guard, but I think he's better suited at small forward; they have a stockpile of forwards, though...so it should be interesting to see how everything pans out.
