<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Take four returning senior starters from a 27-win team. Add a bunch of big-time freshmen. What do you get? The nation's No. 1 team. That talented mix of experience and youth has carried Duke to the top spot in the preseason ESPN/USA Today Coaches' poll. The Blue Devils (27-6 last season), returning All-Americans J.J. Redick and Shelden Williams, received 28 of a possible 31 first-place votes and 767 points, easily pushing them past Connecticut, which landed at No. 2 despite not receiving a first-place vote and still dealing with the ongoing suspensions of point guards Marcus Williams and A.J. Price. Big 12 co-favorite Texas (two first-place votes) is a close third, followed by Villanova (one first-place vote), which recently lost senior Curtis Sumpter to a knee injury, and Big Ten preseason pick Michigan State, fresh off last season's Final Four appearance. Texas' Red River rival, Oklahoma, is sixth, with Gonzaga, Louisville, Arizona and Kentucky rounding out the top 10. Behind Craig Smith and Jared Dudley, ACC newcomer Boston College is 11th, followed by Conference USA favorite Memphis, Stanford, Alabama and West Virginia, which fell just short of last season's Final Four and returns sharpshooting big man Kevin Pittsnogle. Gerry McNamara and Syracuse are 16th, followed by last year's finalist, Illinois, then UCLA and Wake Forest (tied for 18th) and Iowa at No. 20. The final five include Maryland, Indiana, Iowa State, George Washington and Nevada. Defending national champion North Carolina, having lost its top seven scorers from last season, received 34 points, putting them in a tie for 35th.</div> source UConn number 2!!
I'm not really impressed by this UConn team enough to put them #2 personally, but it's not a horrible pick. I also feel like Texas is being overrated. It's Rudy Gay, LaMarcus Aldridge, and Daniel Gibson; all three of them have been overhyped ever since talks of the '06 draft came up, and that's lead to UConn and Texas being overhyped. I definitely think they'll be top ten teams, but I wouldn't say #2 and #3. If Sumpter were still healthy, I'd have Villanova #2, but since he's not, why are they still in the top five? I realize that they have more than Sumpter on their roster, but he was their second leading scorer and leading rebounder; a huge loss. Outside of the top five, I think that Gonzaga is too low, as are George Washington and Iowa. I didn't expect California to be ranked, but they should have gotten a lot more consideration than two votes. Why did Syracuse even get ranked, much less at #16? I like Gerry McNamara as much as the next guy, but he's not reason enough to rank them #16. By losing Warrick and Pace, they're losing two of their top three players from last season. Terrence Roberts, Eric Devendorf, Louie McCroskey, and Darryl Watkins could be solid players, but none of them even averaged over 8 ppg last season. I just don't see it. Lastly, Oregon didn't even get one vote. With Malik Hairston and Aaron Brooks, they have one of the best backcourts in the NCAA, so they should have definitely gotten consideration from the voters.
DUKE!!!! JJ reddick and Shelden williams....I'm saying it now, one of them will be rookie of the year next year.
Gators 39th. That's good to know at least we aren't being overrated this year, hopefully our sophmores can pick up the slack and get us into the tourney. WIth a very weak non conference schedule(minus the coaches vs cancer tourney-only chance ot play a top team) and with the SEC in a down year, the Gators could easily get to 20 wins again.
As much as I hate to say it but I have to say Duke was the right pick to put at the top. Followed by Villanova and Michigan State in that order. I think Nova after the key loss of Sumpter will come together and really put on a show for us.
