My College Rankings For 2003-2004

My College Rankings for 2003 - 2004

Here are my top 10 rankings for the 2003 - 2004 season, feel free to comment -

1.Connecticut - Connecticut was the obvious choice for the #1 spot. They return such NBA prospects as Emeka Okafor, Dehnam Brown, Ben Gordon, and Taliek Brown. As long as the Huskies stay injury free then they should be the number one or two team in the nation hands down.

2.Duke - This is when it becomes hard to predict the teams. I picked Duke not only because they have a great returning class and a great incoming class of Freshman, but also because the sports reporters who vote in the polls are always biased towards Duke. Aside from that they have the best Freshman not going pro, Luol Deng. And they have some great All-American caliber players like J.J. Reddick, Shelden Williams, Shlavick Randolph, and Chris Duhon. The Blue Devil's only losses are insignificant other than the loss of Dahntay Jones, who can easily be replaced with J.J. Reddick.

3.Michigan State - They are predicted by just about everyone at ESPN to be #1, #2, or #3. Why did I rank them third? Simple, they recently lost Sophomore Erazem Lorbek to the NBA Draft thus giving them a much weaker frontcourt. They return everybody that matters from their previous season, and they add two high school All-Americans, Shannon Brown and Brandon Cotton. They also get high school seven footer, Drew Naymick. They have arguably the best backcourt in the nation, and they are also the deepest team in the nation. Paul Davis and Alan Anderson will now get more playing time and should show vast improvements, which in turn secures the Spartan's bid for the #3 ranking.

4.Arizona - The Wildcats are one of those teams that could have lost half of their team last season and still made my list. Depth is underrated in the NCAA. The Wildcats lose their three best players; Rick Anderson, Luke Walton, and Jason Gardner, but they return the likes of Salim Stoudamire, Channing Frye, Andre Igoudala, Chris Dunn, Hassan Adams, and Chris Rodgers to name a few. Lute Olsen was also hard at work recruiting. The Arizona Wildcats will have the best high school point guard, Mustafa Shakur on their roster in this upcoming season. The Wildcats also recruited and got verbal commitments from Ndudi Ebi, but Ebi has recently entered his name into the NBA Draft. However, Ebi can still reverse his decision and go back to college since he has not yet hired an agent. Ebi is expected to impact the Wildcats greatly and if Ebi decides to stay in the draft, which is unlikely, then the Wildcats should move down at least one ranking.

5.Missouri - The Tigers are looking great heading into next season. Their team is highlighted by top five Junior, wing forward Jason Conley; the best Senior in the nation, shooting guard Rickey Paulding; top fifteen Senior, power forward Trevon Bryant; top twenty Senior, center Arthur Johnson; and top forty Senior, point guard Rick Clemons who was recently reinstated after transferring from VMI. At first glance you would think that Missouri has what it takes to be the best in that nation. They have a very weak bench though. It is no doubt that they have the best or second best starters in the nation, but it takes more than starters to win a National Championship.

6.Kentucky - Not to long ago the Wildcats looked down and out. This past season they were ranked number one in the nation, but after a quick exit in the NCAA Tournament, things looked gloomy. Keith Bogans and Jules Camara would be leaving due to them being Seniors, and then Marquis Estill who had and extra year of eligibility elected to forgo his final year at Kentucky. Kentucky didn't have any big names coming in from High School either. They were saved when big time 7-4 Freshman prospect, Shagari Alleyne elected to go to Kentucky. All of a sudden things started to look up for the Wildcats as they also got Western Kentucky star Patrick Sparks to transfer to Kentucky. The Wildcats also got a 7-2 Polish prospect named, Lukasz Obrzut. With this seven-foot Freshman front court and a backcourt consisting of Gerald Fitch and Cliff Hawkins, Kentucky could be the surprise team of the season.

7.Florida - Florida is another deep team in a league where depth is everything. The Gators don't have many big name recruits coming in this off-season and they lose Matt Bonner as well as Justin Hamilton, but they have three of the five best Sophomores in the country in Matt Walsh, Christian Drejer, and Anthony Roberson. Big man David Lee could also be tearing things up on the inside, but you never know with him. He was supposed to be the Freshman of the Year two seasons ago, but he struggled to crack the Gator's starting lineup. Although this is true, he is still the most athletic big man in the NCAA, and his presence will be felt on the inside.

8.North Carolina - The returning Sophomores and Juniors is what excites me about this team. Their season could go either way just like the last few seasons. North Carolina has been very patient in putting up with it's youth and inconsistency, and this year I think it will finally pay off. They have one of the top five Centers in the league, Sean May. They have top ten player overall, Raymond Felton. And then they have two more top 25 players in Rashad McCants and Jawaad Williams. Just add Roy Williams to the mix and the Tarheels return to the top ten.

9.Ohio State - This is the pick that most of you won't understand at first. The Ohio State Buckeyes had a bellow average season last year, they lose their best player in Brent Darby, and they don't have any high school All-Americans coming in. So where else could the Buckeyes get help for the 2003 - 2004 season? Transfers. The Ohio State Buckeyes will be receiving transfers J.J. Sullinger and Tony Stockman. Sullinger will be one of the best players in the nation, and an All-American shoe in. He spent the first part of his college career with the Arkansas Razorbacks. Next on the Buckeye's list of transfers is Tony Stockman. Stockman is a top ten point guard in the NCAA and is also one of the fastest players in the Big Ten. He is an All-American candidate. Stockman played his previous seasons with Clemson. Headlining a list of returning players is big man, Zach Williams. Coach Jim O'Brien is very determined to crack the top ten this season. He hasn't missed the NCAA Tournament twice in a row before and he doesn't intend to now.

10.Syracuse - Everybody knows that the Orangemen lose Freshman Carmelo Anthony. This really hurts them, but Anthony or no Anthony; the Orangemen aren't going to fall off that easily. They will have All-American to be's in Gerry McNamara and Hakim Warrick, and they return many key players like Josh Pace and Billy Edelin to name a few. National Champions rarely fall off easily, and Syracuse is no exception.

Others -
11.Gonzaga - key players - Blake Stepp and Ronny Turiaf
12.Kansas - key players - Wayne Simien, Keith Langford, and Jeff Graves
13.California - key players - Richard Midgley, Amit Tamir, and Leon Powe
14.Louisville - key players - Francisco Garcia and Taquan Dean
15.Utah - key players - Andrew Bogut and Marc Jackson

Coming soon: In depth look at picks 11-25; changes

 

ok i disagree i think Duke will be number one at the end of the year.

they only lose 2 players in dahntey jones(SF) and casey sanders(PF/C), they are both immediatley replaced by McD's all americans Luol Deng(SF) and Kris Humphries(PF).
Duke will have excellent senior leadership from Chris Duhon and even from Nick Horvath, both have experienced deep tournament runs.
Duke will also have good guard depth, they will have Chris Duhon, Daniel Ewing, J.J Reddick, and Sean Dockery, and three of those are going to the USA National Team Trials
Most Importantly Duke will be very deep with big men, with Sheldon Williams, Micheal Thompson, Shavlick Randolph, Kris Humphries and Nick Horvath. they will never have to worry about foul trouble and all of them have good skills.
Duke's freshman from last year got a lot of playing time and experience and should be able to produce big time in the upcoming season

the only position Duke might be weak at is the SF position, Luol Deng might be able to step right in and contribute also Randolph has SF skills for his height, Duke can also start 3 guards instead.

Looks like another Championship for Duke next year

 

where is maryland? there freshman(sophmore's next year) now have a chance to shine and someone will step up for them. they have a good recruiting class coming in(highlighted by daryl strawberry's son).

 

booooo Duke lol...they have no 3 point shot w/o J.J. Reddick, he may not be attending next year....

 

JJ Reddick is for sure at duke next year

 

prove it....

 

i don't think he's even that great. he's good, but not that good.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting "pchotsauce":</div><div class="quote_post">prove it....</div>J.J. Reddick has not applied for a transfer and the Early Entry deadline for the NBA Draft has passed. He is forced to be a Blue Devil next season whether he likes it or not. There's your proof.

 

deleted

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting "go_duke21":</div><div class="quote_post">ok i disagree i think Duke will be number one at the end of the year.

they only lose 2 players in dahntey jones(SF) and casey sanders(PF/C), they are both immediatley replaced by McD's all americans Luol Deng(SF) and Kris Humphries(PF).
Duke will have excellent senior leadership from Chris Duhon and even from Nick Horvath, both have experienced deep tournament runs.
Duke will also have good guard depth, they will have Chris Duhon, Daniel Ewing, J.J Reddick, and Sean Dockery, and three of those are going to the USA National Team Trials
Most Importantly Duke will be very deep with big men, with Sheldon Williams, Micheal Thompson, Shavlick Randolph, Kris Humphries and Nick Horvath. they will never have to worry about foul trouble and all of them have good skills.
Duke's freshman from last year got a lot of playing time and experience and should be able to produce big time in the upcoming season

the only position Duke might be weak at is the SF position, Luol Deng might be able to step right in and contribute also Randolph has SF skills for his height, Duke can also start 3 guards instead.

Looks like another Championship for Duke next year </div>Duke will be great next season, but Michigan State and Connecticut will be better. Like I said, ESPN came out with their pre-rankings and everyone had Connecticut number one or number two next to Michigan State. The Blue Devils season depends on whether or not Chris Duhon can assume a leadership role at the point. They will also be weighing their season heavily on Freshmen and Sophomores. That would be alright if their Freshmen and Sophomores were LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony, but it is more like Luol Deng and Shelden Williams. Michigan State's backcourt is ten players deep. Any of those ten players could start on most division one teams. They have Kelvin Torbert who was the HS Player of the Year in 2001. They have their team leader and second leading scorer at the point, Chris Hill. They have their leading scorer Alan Anderson. They have the best shooting gaurd and probably the best HS player going to college tied with Deng, in Shannon Brown. They have High School All-American point gaurd, Brandon Cotton. They have a top 15 Sophomore based on ESPN and Nbadraft.net's rankings, in point gaurd Maurice Ager. They have their Senior leader who always averages somewhere from five to ten points a game, in Tim Bograkos. And those are all backcourt players. In the Frontcourt their main player is Paul Davis who is a preseason candidate for the Wooden Award, and is a preseason All-American. Now lets look at Connecticut. They have the man who is considered by just about everyone, the best player in the nation, Emeka Okafor. Then they have an All-American point gaurd with Ben Gordon. Then they have two other wing players that are soon-to-be-pro's in Dehnam and Taliek Brown. Sorry, but Duke is just a third ranked team in my mind. I would even have them lower, but the media over-hypes and overrates them so much that I know they will be ranked number three or four once the start of the season rolls around.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting "pchotsauce":</div><div class="quote_post">WHAT THE HELL R U TALKIN ABOUT? he got caught with weed....dummy</div>I know that, but that is not enough to get him kicked off of the team "dummy". I have read up on it.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting "sportsrock37":</div><div class="quote_post">where is maryland? there freshman(sophmore's next year) now have a chance to shine and someone will step up for them. they have a good recruiting class coming in(highlighted by daryl strawberry's son).</div>Maryland will be good, but not great. They may crack the top twenty-five on and off, but the main question on everybody's mind is whether or not John Gilchrist can run the point. He only averaged four and a half points and one and a half assists last season. You mentioned that they have DJ Strawberry, but DJ is barely a top one hundred recruit. He just has the name and the national television apearance working for him. Maryland is looking like they will have another season similar to last season. They might start off in the top 15, but in the end they are likely to be struggling for a top 25 spot. Which one of those top 15 teams are they better than?

 

deleted

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting "Spartanfan2003":</div><div class="quote_post"><div class="quote_poster">Quoting "pchotsauce":</div><div class="quote_post">WHAT THE HELL R U TALKIN ABOUT? he got caught with weed....dummy</div>I know that, but that is not enough to get him kicked off of the team "dummy". I have read up on it.</div>

can someone please post a link to the article that says he got caught with weed cuz i have searched all over the net and cant find anything, im not doubting u since there are 2 of u that say that he has been caught with weed, i just have never seen any articles about it......and DUKE will be #1 lol

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting "pchotsauce":</div><div class="quote_post">lol marijuana is illegal in school.....last time i checked....</div>

mariijuan is illegal everywhere not just school, lol, if Coach K wanted to he could probably kick him off the team or revoke the scholarship but JJ Reddick is going to the National team trials so i dont think anyone really cares so that means reddick will be at school

 

i think connetcate and duke will be number 1 and 2.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting "pchotsauce":</div><div class="quote_post">lol marijuana is illegal in school.....last time i checked....</div>PC, Marijuana is illegal, and Coach K could throw him off of his team, but he doesn't have too. You need to get your facts straight. He wasn't charged with possesion, he was just with a group of people smoking weed. Missouri gaurd Rickey Clemons struck his girlfriend, but he is still allowed to play basketball at Missouri. Go_Duke21, here is the link, http://www.chronicle.duke.edu/vnews/displa...3/3e8c2eaa0be1d

Here is a key quote from the article -

"Redick, a freshman, and four other individuals were mentioned, but no criminal charges were filed. Instead, the police referred the individuals to the Office of the Dean of Students."

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Duke will be great next season, but Michigan State and Connecticut will be better. Like I said, ESPN came out with their pre-rankings and everyone had Connecticut number one or number two next to Michigan State.</div>
can u link to your rankings i went to espn.com and i saw it said UConn was gonna have a good chance to win the championship but i didnt see any rankings. and why are u saying everyone if it is just espn that has the rankings? or do other sites have rankings?

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">They will also be weighing their season heavily on Freshmen and Sophomores. That would be alright if their Freshmen and Sophomores were LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony, but it is more like Luol Deng and Shelden Williams.</div>
Dukes freshman and sophmores are some of the best in the country, some of the sophmores started last year and all the others got major minutes so that isnt a problem especially since the college game is basically just made of of froshs and sophs. LBJ shouldnt even be brought up cuz he is going straight to the NBA and is a special player. im not gonna say that any of the Duke players are as good as Melo but some of them are close


<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Michigan State's backcourt is ten players deep. Any of those ten players could start on most division one teams. </div>
the backcourt has 10 players? :? so that leaves only a few in the frontcourt which is bad if they get in foul trouble...Duke doesnt have that problem.......dukes players could also start on most division one teams


<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Sorry, but Duke is just a third ranked team in my mind. I would even have them lower, but the media over-hypes and overrates them so much that I know they will be ranked number three or four once the start of the season rolls around</div>
no way are they overrated just wait and see

thank you for the link

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting "go_duke21":</div><div class="quote_post"><div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Duke will be great next season, but Michigan State and Connecticut will be better. Like I said, ESPN came out with their pre-rankings and everyone had Connecticut number one or number two next to Michigan State.</div>
can u link to your rankings i went to espn.com and i saw it said UConn was gonna have a good chance to win the championship but i didnt see any rankings. and why are u saying everyone if it is just espn that has the rankings? or do other sites have rankings?

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">They will also be weighing their season heavily on Freshmen and Sophomores. That would be alright if their Freshmen and Sophomores were LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony, but it is more like Luol Deng and Shelden Williams.</div>
Dukes freshman and sophmores are some of the best in the country, some of the sophmores started last year and all the others got major minutes so that isnt a problem especially since the college game is basically just made of of froshs and sophs. LBJ shouldnt even be brought up cuz he is going straight to the NBA and is a special player. im not gonna say that any of the Duke players are as good as Melo but some of them are close


<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Michigan State's backcourt is ten players deep. Any of those ten players could start on most division one teams. </div>
the backcourt has 10 players? :? so that leaves only a few in the frontcourt which is bad if they get in foul trouble...Duke doesnt have that problem.......dukes players could also start on most division one teams


<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Sorry, but Duke is just a third ranked team in my mind. I would even have them lower, but the media over-hypes and overrates them so much that I know they will be ranked number three or four once the start of the season rolls around</div>
no way are they overrated just wait and see

thank you for the link</div>

There are several rankings that they have come out with. CNNSI, and CBS did their rankings too. This was the only link that I still have. http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/ncaatourney0...tType=Columnist As you can see Digger didn't rank Duke in the top five and Andy and Dick had Duke at the fourth spot.

Michigan State has ten backcourt players and seven front court players. Some of their backcourt players (I didn't list these ones) are redshirted, and they will be on the team officially next season. I guess that if you wanted to get into it they have five great gaurds and a gaurd/forward. Alan Anderson is a point forward, so he will likley start at wing forward.

 

I made a few slight changes. Everybody happy?