<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Nothing is promised in college basketball. UCLA fell off the face of the earth for a few years. So did North Carolina. Indiana finished below .500. And all of that happened in the last five years. Sorry, but UK's Ramel Bradley isn't going to carry the 'Cats. (Getty Images) So don't be surprised, Arizona fans, to see your school on this list of vulnerable heavyweights. Same goes for you, Maryland fans. It happens all over the country, and it happens every year -- but it doesn't happen to your team. Right? Wrong, Kentucky fans. It'll happen in 2006-07. Fancy programs will flop. They always do. Next year's flops? Read on, please. They're listed alphabetically. Arizona: The Wildcats teetered on the edge of the NIT last season and finished 11-7 in the Pac-10, their worst league mark since Lute Olson's first season in 1983-84. Good news? Sorry, there's not much. If Mustafa Shakur stays in the NBA Draft, the Wildcats will have to replace three of their best perimeter players (Hassan Adams and Chris Rodgers were seniors) with a freshman class that has one outstanding wing (Chase Budinger), one pint-sized guard (Nic Wise) and one big project (Jordan Hill). Did you know Olson has never been to the NIT? Things change. Kentucky: Kentucky was a guard-dominated team last season, wasn't all that good in the first place (22-13, 9-7) and lost four of its top six guards. Not good. Add an uninspiring recruiting class and the Wildcats will struggle to get to the 2007 NCAA Tournament. Who's playing point guard, anyway, Ramel Bradley? Someone needs to teach him how to P-A-S-S. Maryland: Not long ago, Maryland was reaching back-to-back Final Fours, capped by the 2002 national championship. Now, the Terps are coming off back-to-back NIT appearances. Can it get worse? Sure it can. The best two players from last season's team, Nik Caner-Medley and Chris McCray (before his suspension), were seniors. So was sixth man Travis Garrison. Even if Ekene Ibekwe pulls out of the NBA Draft, and surely he will, the Terps don't have much offensive firepower for next season unless freshmen Eric Hayes and Greivas Vasquez are ready to do big things right away. Michigan State: With Paul Davis, Maurice Ager and Shannon Brown last season, the Spartans were 22-12 and 8-8 in the Big Ten. Davis and Ager are gone. Brown looks gone to the NBA as well. And what if Matt Trannon skips basketball next season to focus on the 2007 NFL Draft? Michigan State will struggle to score 60 points per game. Oklahoma: Already documented here, a few days back. Oklahoma loses three starters, plus three recruits, plus coach Kelvin Sampson. That's a setback that could take years to correct. </div> Source I thought this article had some teams on here that shouldn't of been, especially Zona. Who cares if we get rid of 3 of the biggest problems with our team? I posted the stuff on the teams I thought would interest JBB the most
Ramel Bradley can be a very valuable asset to this basketball team; he is an explosive scorer...but like many scorers, he lacks a little consistency and will occasionally take bad shots. And how in the heck is our top 10 recruiting class "uninspiring??? Perry Stevenson and Jodie Meeks was MVP of their state's playoff championship team; Derrick Jasper was named to LA Time California All-state team; and Porter received the MVP award last weekend at an all-star game that included 6 other D-I prospects. Doyel probably has it right that Kentucky will struggle this season, but I think he'll be eating crow on a few things he has said this offseason.
