Your Pre-Season Top 5 Teams.

Discussion in 'Men's College Basketball' started by Courtking, Nov 14, 2004.

  1. Courtking

    Courtking Courtking

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    A thread like the top 5 player one, only with your top 5 teams. I'll start:

    1: Wake Forest

    Chris Paul entering into his sophmore season should be better then ever, pair him up with Justin Gray in the backcourt and with Eric Williams down low Wake should be a force in the ACC and NCAA.

    2: North Carolina:

    All 5 starters from last year are returning to Chapel Hill along with a diaper dandy in Marvin Williams. Mccants should lead the ACC in scoring, Felton in assits, and Sean May in boards. Expect UNC to go to the final four.

    3: Kansas

    As a senior Wanye Simion should be the nations best big man this year. Pair him up with Aaron Miles at the point and high flyer JR Giddens at the 2, Kansas should have a very speacial year.

    4: Illinois:

    Illinois has one of the best backcourts in the country with Deron Williams and Dee Brown, and with James Augustine in the post Illinois will not disapoint. Dee Brown should have an all-american type year.

    5: Uconn

    They lost college player of the year Emeka Okafor, they lost Ben Gordon, they lost Taliek Brown so why are they here? Answer: Charlie Villanueva. Rudy Gay. Josh Boone. Big time talent once again for Uconn, sophmores Villanueva and Boone are one of the youngest and most talented low post players in the country. Rudy Gay has the ability to play SG. The only question for this team is PG, Taliek Brown who has lead Uconn to one of the best records the last 4 yeard is out and they will need someone to fill that whole.

    Near Miss: Georgia Tech, Syracuse, and Arizona

    Final Four Predictions:

    North Carolina/Kansas/Uconn/Syracuse

    Championship:

    North Carolina vs. Uconn
     
  2. S.Livingston14

    S.Livingston14 JBB JustBBall Member

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    I think Georgia Tech is better than Illinois. IMO Illinois is slightly over rated. They deserve to be a near miss not a number 4 spot. Besides Dee Brown they only really have role players. Georgia Tech has a solid team nucleus with a good balance of stars(Jarret Jack, B.J Elder), and role players(Will Bynum, Luke Schensher). I do agree with you that Wake Forest is a better team then UNC, but they will not go as far down the road as UNC. I like how you considered Rudy Gay a contributing factor to UConn's future success. Here is a story that shows how much I believe in Rudy Gay. I was at Chammps Bar and Grill and I was watching the thing on UConn basketball, and it showed Rudy playing in high school, and I started to chant his name and everyone was staring at me. How little they know...
     
  3. CUSA Fan

    CUSA Fan JBB JustBBall Member

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    Illinois overrated? Not even slighty.

    <u>1. Wake Forest </u>
    This team returns every player from the previous season except for one. With the best backcourt IMO of Gray and Paul, this team will be great. Levvy, Williams, and Daneluis will be dominating the boards with Gray and Paul doing the scoring.

    <u>2. Kansas</u>
    The only thing Bill Self has to worry about is trying to find enough playing time for everyone. Langford, Miles, Simien, and Giddens will lead the way. This team, I feel, will finish the season by winning the NCAA Championship.

    <u>3. North Carolina</u>
    The other great ACC team, North Carolina, will finish with a very good record. The trio of May, Felton, and McCants will be very effective.

    <u>4. Illinois</u>
    The backcourt of Dee Brown and Deron Williams is the best in the nation next to Paul and Gray. The one man fastbreak wil continue his great all around play and Williams will be in the running for the Big 10 POY.

    <u>5. Syracuse</u>
    The core of this team is still intact. Hakim Warrick is still there, who is one of the preseason favorites for National POY. Gerry McNamara is also still there who is one of the best shooters in the nation.
     
  4. STC

    STC JBB JustBBall Member

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    1. Kansas
    2. North Carolina
    3. Wake Forest
    4. Syracuse
    5. Illinois

    I will go into why later, but that is my top 5.

    I would like to have UNC at #1 with all there players back, plus a top 10 recruit, Marvin Williams, but last years lack of defense and there ineffective ability to close out games makes Kansas my preseason #1 team.
     
  5. Bobcats

    Bobcats JBB JustBBall Member

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    1. Kansas
    2. Wake Forest
    3. North Carolina
    4. Syracuse
    5. Georgia Tech
     
  6. N4S

    N4S BBW Member

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    St. Joe's play in Kansas on tuesday, this game will proably let us know if SJU still has some skills.
     
  7. CUSA Fan

    CUSA Fan JBB JustBBall Member

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    They definitely don't. Not with West and Nelson gone. But we'll see. Kansas should have no problem with them.
     
  8. bbwSwish

    bbwSwish Harder. Better. Faster. Stronger.

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    <u>My Top 5</u>
    1) North Carolina
    2) Wake Forest
    3) Oklahoma State
    4) Syracuse
    5) Kansas
    <u>
    Sports Illustrated's Top 5</u>
    1) North Carolina
    2) Oklahoma State
    3) Wake Forest
    4) Kansas
    5) Georgia Tech
     
  9. BigBlueFan

    BigBlueFan BBW Member

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    1. Oklahoma St.- This is my surprise team this year to cut down the nets come March. They've got Joey Graham, John Lucas, Ivan McFarlin, and Daniel Bobik all returning to this already strong State team who just missed the final four last year.

    2. Kansas- They got all the weapons with Langford, Simien, and Miles all will be playing in their last season, and it should be a good one.

    3. North Carolina- Possibly the strongest all around team in the nation, They got one of the best recruits in the nation in forward Marvin Williams. They should make an appearance in the final four this season.

    4. Georgia Tech- Another ACC team tops the top 5. Tech had a great season last year on their way to the national championship in which they lost. They also didn't lose anyone from their starting lineup except for Marvin Lewis, this team should be ready to go.

    5. Kentucky- No, not a homer pick. They are young and dangerous, with only 2 returning starters, and the rest are freshman and sophmores. They'll start out slow, but will quickly rebound and make an Elite 8 apperance.
     
  10. Voodoo Child

    Voodoo Child Can I Kick It?

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    1. Michigan State - Yes, I have a huge fan bias. However, they're ranked #10 in the nation in the preseason polls, so this pick isn't so outrageous. They had a really bad year last year due to a lack of a strong starting point guard, but we solved that by the addition of Drew Nietzel, the best high school player in all of Michigan. Chris Hill should also be a lot more comfortable playing the point this year after having two years of experience now. If Michigan State hadn't had so much of a dissapointing year last year then I guarantee that they would be #1 in every preseason poll. They return three major seniors: Chris Hill, Alan Anderson, and Kelvin Torbert. These three guys are players who were once though of as future first round picks but have all had problems adjusting to the college level for some reason or another. This is their last year at State, and if they all play to their fullest potential then maybe putting the Spartans at #1 isn't such a crazy pick at all. Not to mention that they still have two legitamite Player of the Year candidates in Shannon Brown and Paul Davis, as well as one of the nation's best sixth men in Maurice Ager (assuming he does bench this year).

    2. Georgia Tech - I really like Georgia Tech. They have arguably the best backcourt in the nation with Jarrett Jack, BJ Elder, Will Bynum, and Isma'il Muhammad (all serious pro prospects). They also now have a lot more options in the post with the emergance of Luke Schenscher. They also brought in power forward RaSean Dickey, a top 30 high school recruit. Just tonight the Yellow Jackets crushed Alabama State by 37 points.

    3. Kansas - This pick is pretty obvious. Just about everything that needs to be said about them has been said in this thread. When you consider Langford, Miles, Simien, Kaun, Giddens, Giles, and Robinson, it's hard to argue against the Jayhawks being a top three team. However, teams like Missouri and Michigan State showed us last year that you can have all the talent in the world and not be a successful team if you don't have great team chemistry. It should be interesting to see how this new-look Jayhawk team looks. They've got the same core with Langford, Simien, and Miles, but they're lowpost anchors, Graves and Padgett, are now gone. Kaun, Giles, and Robinson are all new players to Kansas and should change the way their offense is run as well.

    4. North Carolina - I don't really want to argue ranking them this low, because I know this forum has a million UNC homers. However, I will say that having the best prospects doesn't mean that you have the best team. I don't even see them sticking around in the top five for very long. Again, I don't want to turn this thread into a UNC debate, so please don't argue this point.

    5. Wisconsin - I was shocked when I saw how low the Badgers were ranked in preseason polls. Sure, they lost Devin Harris, but they gained Shariff Chambliss, Alando Tucker, and Brian Butch. For those of you who weren't registered on JBB when I wrote that absolutely huge thread on Wisconsin basketball, Chambliss is an incoming transfer from Penn State who lead the Lions in scoring and should be a major force for the Badgers. Tucker was their team leader and shouldered most of the scoring load before Devin Harris emerged, but was injured all of last season. He's just as good as Harris is, and one of the major reasons Harris probably put up the stats he did was because without Tucker he was pretty much the only offensive option. Tucker should come back and resume his role as the best player on the Badgers this season. Butch is a Freshman coming off a red-shirt year. He wasn't injured and he wasn't red-shirting because he wasn't good enough either. In fact, Butch was a High School All-American in 2003. He was only red-shirting to add more weight and get a feel for the college game. Butch, along with Seniors Wilkinson and Morley, should give the Badgers one of the top frontcourts in America. Then you add in the fact that they're bringing in a top 50 High School recruit in Greg Stiemsma (7-0, 250) and you have to feel pretty good about the Badgers this year with or without Harris.
     
  11. CUSA Fan

    CUSA Fan JBB JustBBall Member

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    That's way too biased in my opinion. Michigan St. at #1 and Wisconsin at #5? Come on. I love Louisville and Memphis, but I didn't rank the 2 in the top 5.
     
  12. Courtking

    Courtking Courtking

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    Actually I think Michigan State will surprise some people, but won't be top 5 teams.Also Wisonsin lost a big part of their team in Devin Harris in the NBA Draft. I would place Michigan State somewhere from 7-12 and Wisconsin around 12-15, I don't think they will both be top 5 teams.
     
  13. CUSA Fan

    CUSA Fan JBB JustBBall Member

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    Well yeah, I think both teams will be good, but preseason ranking them in the top 5 is what I don't get.
     
  14. Voodoo Child

    Voodoo Child Can I Kick It?

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    <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">That's way too biased in my opinion. Michigan St. at #1 and Wisconsin at #5? Come on. I love Louisville and Memphis, but I didn't rank the 2 in the top 5.</div>

    Yes, I know Michigan State at #1 is biased. I said that in my post. So?

    Wisconsin isn't the least bit biased. I don't like Wisconsin, I'm not going to Wisconsin, and I don't like any of their players. Just because they are in the Big Ten it doesn't mean I am biased towards them. In fact, a lot of times I root against Wisconsin as they're a rival of Michigan State's. If I was just putting them in there because I wanted another Big Ten team in the top 5, then why wouldn't I have just put Illinois?

    <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Actually I think Michigan State will surprise some people, but won't be top 5 teams.</div>

    Hmm... Michigan State surprising people and not being a top 5 team? Well, they're ranked #10 right now, so how much of a surprise will it really be if they only move up a few spots. Being #1 or #2 shouldn't really come as a big surprise to most people either. If they had a consistant point guard last year, they would have been the #1 team, and now they return every one of their players.

    <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Also Wisonsin lost a big part of their team in Devin Harris in the NBA Draft.</div>

    People always think that Devin Harris was the only reason Wisconsin was good. Well, before Devin Harris Wisconsin made it to the Final Four with no big time All-American and won the Big Ten Championship years before Harris came as well. In fact, Harris was only a bigtime player for them for one consistant year. It's not like Harris was their only option either. Mike Wilkinson was one of the top 6 or 7 players in the Big Ten last year. Have you even ever heard of him? Before last season, Alando Tucker was just as important to the Badgers as Harris, but then he got injured. Have you ever heard of him? They've got a High School All-American Center, an All-Big Ten transfer, a top 30 High School recruit, and return just about everyone that matters.

    BTW - It looks like I was right about North Carolina. They're struggling with Santa Clara. This is why I hate North Carolina fans. They're usually a bunch of brats who could never actually get into North Carolina but just like the team because they're a good team that's hyped up on ESPN every year. Then they put way too much stock in preseason rankings and regular season results and do nothing but brag to and annoy the hell out of anyone who isn't a UNC fan but then watch as their team gets their ass kicked in the NCAA tournament. Hell, just a few years ago, UNC lost to Penn State in the NCAA tournament. Penn freakin State.
     
  15. CUSA Fan

    CUSA Fan JBB JustBBall Member

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    I just don't see how you can put Wisconsin at #5 over Illinois, Wake Forest, Connecticut, OK.State, and others. I don't get it. Wisconsin is down towards the 15-20 range.
     
  16. Voodoo Child

    Voodoo Child Can I Kick It?

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    <div class="quote_poster">Quoting J-Roc:</div><div class="quote_post">I just don't see how you can put Wisconsin at #5 over Illinois, Wake Forest, Connecticut, OK.State, and others. I don't get it. Wisconsin is down towards the 15-20 range.</div>

    That's just what you see from reading Sports Illustrated, ESPN, USA Today, etc. Don't let them tell you where Wisconsin will be ranked. I know you don't know how good Chambliss, Wilkinson, Butch, Tucker, and the gang are. Hell, I didn't either until I did a lot of research on them this summer. They have better incoming talent than anyone else in the nation. Devin Harris was not the whole team. In fact, they had more success in the years before Harris than they did with him. They're my surprise team.

    <div class="quote_poster">Quoting S.Livingston14:</div><div class="quote_post">I think Georgia Tech is better than Illinois. IMO Illinois is slightly over rated. They deserve to be a near miss not a number 4 spot. Besides Dee Brown they only really have role players.</div>

    James Augustine and Deron Williams are role players? They're both going on to become pro players in the next few years. In fact, I know a few people who would argue that Williams and Augustine are better than Brown. He's not the only player on that team. Seldomly in college basketball do you ever have a team that's completely fueled by one player. It's really different from the NBA in that regaurd. If the Spurs lost Duncan, then they'd be sunk, but if Illinois lost Brown they'd still be a top 25 program. The same thing goes for Wisconsin. The Badgers only lost Devin Harris and brought in the best incoming talent in the nation. Yet people look at Harris, only one player, leaving and automatically assume they're not going to be half as good as they were last year, when they're actually going to be better. I agree that Georgia Tech is better, but it's not because Illinois has no supporting talent.
     
  17. mike18946

    mike18946 JBB

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    Voodoo Child you are settling yourself up for dissapointment again, you picked them in the top 5 last year and everything went downhill very fast. However I do think they will be a top 10-14 team this year.

    I'm real high on Shannon Brown so I will be rooting for them to do better this year, for your sake.

    People may not agree but I feel Duke are being underrated this year, they always find a way to win and I expect them to be at least in the top 5-7 by the end of the season.

    Teams like Wake and Georgia Tech will be in the top 3, with basically all their core back you only only expect them to keep improving. Chris Paul is the best point guard in the nation and they have two very good guards in the backcourt. As long as Eric Williams stays out of foul trouble they will be a threat inside too.

    I'm expecting better things out of Arizona this year, that is a truely talented team with an hall of fame coach. Shakur and Stoudmaire could have great season or thats what they at least expecting.
     

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