NCAA College Basketball Rankings, Projections, etc....

Minutes: 10 teams that can win it all
Pat Forde www.espn.com
Good article by forde on college hoops.

Forty names, games, teams and minutiae making news in college basketball (outspoken Facebook accounts subject to cancellation in Lawrence, Kan.):
First things first: There should be renewed hope in Evanston, Ill., today. If the Saints can make the Super Bowl, Northwestern (1) can make the Big Dance. All things are now possible.

Ten that can win it all
By the end of January, the best teams have pretty well identified themselves, so The Minutes has settled on nine solid potential national champions. And one flier. And left one blueblood out. Here's the list (RPI numbers taken from Joe Lunardi's InsideRPI):

Kentucky (2). Why the Wildcats can win it: Having the best talent is a nice place to start. Having a coach who has been to two Final Fours* helps as well (*not that he got to keep them). Kentucky is big, athletic and nasty -- and is 5-0 in games decided by five points or fewer or in overtime. UK is remarkably adept at winning the close ones, despite its youth. That youth is also a reason why the Cats have room to get even better.

Why they might not: They're the least-tested team on this list, so far having faced just one team in the RPI top 40 and five in the top 100. The early schedule featured several big-name opponents that have slumped. There will be several teams more seasoned come March.
Record against RPI top 50: 2-0.
Record against RPI top 100: 5-0.

Kansas (3). Why the Jayhawks can win it: They have an elite, big-shot-making point guard (Sherron Collins) and a center who can control the paint against just about anyone (Cole Aldrich). They have an armada of athletic parts in between (Xavier Henry, the Morris twins, Tyshawn Taylor, Brady Morningstar, etc.). They also have a coach with a recent national championship ring.

Why they might not: The Jayhawks sometimes forget Aldrich is alive, and he sometimes fails to remind them. (He's averaging just seven field goal attempts per game.) It is reasonable to wonder where Taylor's head is, after he injured himself fighting a KU football player in the fall and then allegedly griped about his role on Facebook last week -- before his page disappeared into the ether.
Record against RPI top 50: 6-1.
Record against RPI top 100: 8-1.

Texas (4). Why the Longhorns can win it: They have size and athleticism comparable to Kentucky and Kansas, and perhaps even more depth. Damion James is a future pro who presents a matchup problem to just about everyone. Backcourt depth and quickness can wear down opponents.

Why they might not: Rick Barnes has never inspired the utmost confidence, and his team's shaky two weeks at the top of the polls makes The Minutes wonder how it will handle the pressure of March and April. Avery Bradley, J'Covan Brown and Jordan Hamilton have jacked up 516 shots among them -- which means a lot of the offense is in the hands of occasionally fickle freshmen.
Record against RPI top 50: 3-2.
Record against RPI top 100: 6-2.

Michigan State (5). Why the Spartans can win it: Seven players in the rotation were key parts of their 2009 run to the national championship game, and guard Kalin Lucas apparently has gotten the leadership message his coach sent a while back. Izzo is as good a coach as there is in the country, and you know his teams will rebound and defend until the last dog dies. Their 7-0 Big Ten start shows that Sparty is locking in right on time.

Why they might not: Michigan State doesn't have anyone taller than 6-foot-8 in the regular rotation, which could eventually create a problem despite the surplus of biceps in Izzo's lineup. The Spartans also could find themselves a step slower than some elite competition.
Record against RPI top 50: 2-1.
Record against RPI top 100: 7-3.

Purdue (6). Why the Boilermakers can win it: Given Michigan State's obsessive drive to reach the Final Four in its home state last year, the same dynamic could work in Purdue's favor in Indianapolis this year. The Boilers' big three of Robbie Hummel, E'Twaun Moore and JaJuan Johnson can play with anybody's. Chris Kramer is an annoyance to any and all guards. And coach Matt Painter said Monday that injured point guard Lewis Jackson -- the missing ingredient thus far for the 16-3 Boilers -- is very close to being ready to play.

Why they might not: There remains a chance that Jackson will never be 100 percent, or that he'll choose to redshirt this season. ("He has to understand that if he gets knocked out after two games, that's his year," Painter said. "That's his season. We have to paint a couple worst-case scenarios for him so he understands.") Purdue's three-game losing streak earlier this month was enough to instill doubt. And it might be a lot to ask for a group of players and a coach who have never been to a Final Four to jump up and win it all.
Record against RPI top 50: 3-2.
Record against RPI top 100: 7-3.

Villanova (7). Why the Wildcats can win it: Another team flush with Final Four experience after last year's run to Detroit. Nova might have the best collection of guards in the country, led by the clutch-shooting All-American Scottie Reynolds. Jay Wright's team already has four Big East road wins, including at Louisville, where they rallied from 17 points down to win going away. The return of Reggie Redding from first-semester disciplinary action rounds out a talented rotation.

Why they might not: Nova is (again) undersized, which leaves it open to being challenged inside and can lead to excessive fouling and chronic foul trouble. Might be too Reynolds-reliant, especially at crunch time.
Record against RPI top 50: 4-1.
Record against RPI top 100: 8-1.

Syracuse (8). Why the Orange can win it: Wes Johnson gives them an elite-level player, which is a necessity. Their 2-3 zone is even more effective than usual -- long and active outside and very difficult to penetrate. It's not Jim Boeheim's first rodeo. They're shooting a remarkable 53 percent as a team. Like Villanova, they're 4-0 on the road in the Big East.

Why they might not: A bit underwhelming at point guard, and turnover-prone as a team. (Twenty-two percent of their possessions end in turnovers, according to Ken Pomeroy's numbers.) Stop The Minutes if you've heard this before, but Syracuse isn't great at the foul line (65 percent).
Record against RPI top 50: 4-1.
Record against RPI top 100: 12-1.

Georgetown (9). Why the Hoyas can win it: Greg Monroe is playing like the budding star he was billed to be out of high school in 2008. He didn't play well against Syracuse, but the 6-11 sophomore is a solid scorer, an aggressive rebounder and an underrated passer. Monroe has capable co-stars in leading scorer Austin Freeman and fellow guard Chris Wright. The Hoyas take good shots and make them -- and John Thompson III has loosened the reins a bit. His team scored more than 70 points in five straight Big East games before Monday, something it hasn't done since 2007, when Georgetown made the Final Four.
Why they might not: This is a six-man rotation -- if someone gets hurt, the Hoyas are toast. Thompson might be too dogmatic for his own good, often refusing to alter the system to fit the situation. The Hoyas don't foul much, but they don't get to the line much, either, averaging just 19 free-throw attempts per game. The way they played at Syracuse on Monday -- at least in the final 35 minutes -- didn't inspire visions of April splendor in Indianapolis.
Record against RPI top 50: 4-3.
Record against RPI top 100: 8-4.

West Virginia (10). Why the Mountaineers can win it: This typical Bob Huggins team is tough, thick, athletic and willing to maul opponents on the offensive glass. They have a clutch shot-maker in Da'Sean Butler and a next-level talent in Devin Ebanks. Point guard Joe Mazzulla, out virtually all last year with injury, is gradually rounding into table-setting form and is starting to provide a solid complement to sophomore Truck Bryant.

Why they might not: A typical Bob Huggins team usually flames out well before the Final Four -- his one and only visit was in 1992. Ebanks can be a high-maintenance, hit-or-miss guy -- seven turnovers against Mississippi, 22 points and 17 rebounds three nights later against Seton Hall. Butler was 14-for-47 in the Mountaineers' three losses.
Record against RPI top 50: 3-2.
Record against RPI top 100: 8-3.

Now, the flier:
BYU (11). Why the Cougars can win it: Impressively efficient offensive team that shoots extremely well from the field (55 percent from 2-point range, 41 percent from 3) and phenomenally from the foul line (77.4 percent, best in the nation). They take care of the ball, too, and play better-than-suspected defense. Guard Jimmer Fredette might be the most underrated player in the country. (You'll read more about him below.) They've already played 10 road or neutral-site games, winning nine of them.
Why they might not: Can a school that hasn't won an NCAA tournament game since 1993 suddenly jump up and win six? Doubtful.
Record against RPI top 50: 2-0.
Record against RPI top 100: 8-1.

And the one left out:
Duke (12). Why the Blue Devils can't win it: We've seen this movie before. Duke blazes impressively out of the gates, is confronted by its limitations (size, depth or athleticism) in the latter third of the regular season, then hits the wall in March. The Devils haven't won more than two games in an NCAA tournament since 2004, despite having No. 1 seeds twice and No. 2 seeds twice as well.
This is yet another good Duke team, with yet another set of apparent flaws. The big men (the young Plumlee brothers, Lance Thomas, Brian Zoubek) are still nothing special. The leading men, Jon Scheyer and Kyle Singler, are still overworked. (Scheyer hasn't played fewer than 36 minutes in a game since December, and Singler has gone the full 40 in each of Duke's last two games.)
The Minutes will believe Duke might have a chance to win it all when it sees the Blue Devils actually advance past the Sweet 16 for the first time since Chris Duhon was in uniform.

Out-of-body experience
Just about everyone who has ever played the game has had a moment at some level of play, however brief, when they were touched by the basketball gods: when you couldn't miss. You're always open, the basket is huge, the ball is coming off your hand as if trailing stardust on its way through the net, and Ashley Judd (13) is cheering every time you score.
For the gifted, that moment recurs frequently. For everyone else, you take it where you can find it, and you never forget it.
The patron saints of the career game: Harold Jensen, Villanova, 1985. Jensen was an unremarkable guard when he went 5-for-5 from the field and 4-for-5 from the line in Nova's epic 66-64 upset of Georgetown in the national title game. Just three games earlier, Jensen had gone 0-for-5 in the Wildcats' Sweet 16 win. He clearly picked his spot well for a career game.

This year's career-game nominees:

John Hart (14), Purdue. When the desperate Boilermakers visited Illinois last week, they were on a three-game losing streak and Hart was on a six-game DNP streak. But when Painter trashed the normal rotation and put the freshman guard in, the career 1.7 ppg scorer responded with 14 vital points in 18 minutes.
"When you go 14-0 [as Purdue did to start the year], you don't really want to mess with anything," Painter said. "… When we lost three straight, I thought it was time to give that next guy in line a shot at it.
"I think it really put some guys on alert. I like a set rotation, but I also like guys to feel some uncertainty. If it made guys feel the hair stand up on their necks and play harder, great."

Jamel Jackson (15), Seton Hall. There is no team shooters like to see coming more than defense-optional VMI -- but Jackson was an extreme case. He made 12 of 15 3-pointers against the Keydets and 14 of 17 shots total, scoring 40 points. He also had six assists and four steals. Since then, Jackson has scored a total of 28 points, three assists and one steal in 10 games. His season average is 6.5 points per game.

Dorenzo Hudson (16), Virginia Tech. Seton Hall was on the receiving end of a career game from Hudson, a junior who averages 12.8 points per game but erupted for 41 on the Pirates in Cancun. Hudson made just nine field goals but established residency at the foul line, making 20 of 21 free throws. In five games since then, he's shot a total of 13 free throws.

Jimmer Fredette (17), BYU. The previously mentioned Fredette has been an important Cougar for three seasons, but what he did against Arizona on Dec. 28 dwarfed his previous production. Fredette scored a school-record 49 points (on the road), hitting nine 3s and adding seven rebounds and nine assists.

Dominique Jones (18), South Florida. The underexposed junior guard knows his way to the hoop -- he'd had eight career 30-point games before Saturday. But what he did against Providence was extraordinary. Jones dropped 46 points on the Friars, tied for the third-highest single-game total in the nation this year. The fact that Jones added 10 rebounds, eight assists and three steals probably makes it the premier stat line in South Florida history, and one of the best in Big East history.

Rotnei Clarke (19), Arkansas. Bombarded Alcorn State for 51 in the season opener, still the highest single-game total in the nation this year. Clarke is a deluxe shooter with a quick release, which is how he hit 13 3s against the winless Braves. But Clarke can be stopped -- Kentucky just handcuffed him, holding him to 2-for-9 shooting from 3-point range.

And one career-moment nominee, following in the tradition of NC State's Lorenzo Charles in 1983:

Mustafa Abdul-Hamid (20), UCLA. The junior, a former walk-on, had spent his entire career filling out the layup line until the Bruins wound up short of talent and healthy bodies this season. Suddenly, a guy with 45 career points wound up with the ball in the final seconds against Washington last week, with UCLA down one. Abdul-Hamid squeezed off the winning jumper from the top of the key as time expired, vaulting from zero to hero in a flick of the wrist.

Rescuing the rookies

Not everyone can be John Wall. Some talented freshmen nationwide are feeling the grind of conference basketball -- precisely when their teams need the most out of them. A few frosh who need to elevate their play:

Lance Stephenson (21). He leads Cincinnati in scoring, but something strange happened to him during the Bearcats' key loss at Louisville on Sunday. Stephenson scored 12 points in the first 6 minutes and 2 seconds, almost single-handedly staking his team to an early 11-point lead. He scored zero in the next 33:58, and Cincy lost by 8. Stranger than that, he did not take a shot in the final 23 minutes -- and it wasn't as though he was sitting with foul trouble. Stephenson played 30 minutes. Whether his teammates quit looking for him or Stephenson quit trying, it was an odd performance that raises questions going forward.

The entire freshman class at North Carolina (22). The Tar Heels' touted quintet of freshmen -- John Henson, Dexter Strickland, Leslie McDonald, and brothers David and Travis Wear -- are combining to contribute just 18.8 points, 9.5 points and 4.6 assists per game. Fab Five they ain't. Henson in particular has been slow to adapt to the college game; he has a total of five points and seven turnovers in ACC play.

Brandon Paul (23). The Illinois guard opened his career with consecutive 20-point games, then had another 20-point night at Clemson in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge. But he's made just 13 of 52 shots in Big Ten play, and just three of his last 18 from 3. (He's just part of a struggling team that has lost three straight games. Illinois coach Bruce Weber said Monday that the team had a players-only meeting that he hoped might help turn things around.)

Michael Snaer (24). The Florida State guard has been a consistent contributor to a team that is steadily building a solid NCAA résumé -- but it would help if the guard stopped turning the ball over. Snaer has two assists and 11 turnovers in ACC play, and the overall numbers are 18 assists and 41 turnovers.

Keith "Tiny" Gallon (25). The Oklahoma wide-body has yet to record an assist in conference play. His minutes have been curtailed in the Sooners' past three games, and he's averaged just five points and five rebounds in that time. Gallon fouled out in 16 minutes in Saturday's loss at Texas Tech.

Avery Bradley (26). He's been a distinct positive for Texas, but even great talents can hit a midwinter wall. After hitting 9 of 10 3s in wins over Arkansas, Colorado and Iowa State, he's made only 2 of 11 in three games since then. And he's committed more turnovers (5) than assists (4) and made just three of his last nine free throws.

Solomon Hill (27). Arizona has shown signs of life, winning three Pac-10 road games already, but if it wants to contend in that wide-open league, it could use a bit more from Hill. The 6-6 forward had six double-figure scoring games in nonconference play but has not scored more than six in a league game as Sean Miller has whittled down his minutes.

Coaching pressure gauge
The Minutes watched Kentucky hand Arkansas its worst-ever SEC loss Saturday and left Rupp Arena wondering how the Razorbacks got so bad. The program stagnated in the final years under Nolan Richardson and did not get any better in five years with Stan Heath -- but John Pelphrey (28) has not done much to reassure the fan base that a return to glory is imminent.
Full disclosure: There are few people in college basketball The Minutes has enjoyed more than Pelphrey, having known him since he was a heady, overachieving forward at Kentucky in the late '80s and early '90s. But given his 3-17 record in Arkansas' last 20 SEC games, it seemed fair to inquire about Pelphrey's job security.
Arkansas media members believe he will be back next year for a fourth season. That's fair. After all, he's the only Arkansas coach to win an NCAA tournament game this century. After that, though, it will be time to produce.
With that in mind, The Minutes has identified one coach in each of the power-six conferences who may not have the luxury of waiting until next year to show their bosses something:

ACC -- Sidney Lowe (29), NC State. His league record over three-plus seasons stands at a dismal 17-37, with zero NCAA tournament bids. Lowe's predecessor, the much-pilloried Herb Sendek, looks like Dean Smith by comparison.
Big 12 -- There might not be a coach fully on the griddle in this league, but Nebraska's Doc Sadler (30) could use a reversal of fortune over the next six weeks. Sadler has improved the Cornhuskers' league record by one game every year -- from 6-10 to 7-9 to 8-8 -- but this year has started 0-4 in Big 12 play. The school's first NCAA bid since '98 doesn't seem likely this year.
Big East -- Fred Hill (31), Rutgers. This honor would go to Jerry Wainwright at DePaul, but they've already whacked him. Hill will be next. His Scarlet Knights are 0-7 in the league and are a gruesome 8-51 in his tenure.
Big Ten -- Ed DeChellis (32), Penn State. Time to find out whether they actually care about basketball in Happy Valley. If they do, DeChellis is probably a short-timer; he's into his seventh season without an NCAA bid in sight. With guard Talor Battle returning from last year's NIT champions, there was some hope -- but an 0-7 Big Ten start has extinguished it.
Pac-10 -- Ernie Kent (33), Oregon. Kent has taken the Ducks to their best NCAA performances since the Tall Firs won the first tournament in 1939 -- but there hasn't been much good in between those high points. After making the final eight in 2002, Oregon went 32-40 in the league over the next four years. Since making the final eight in '07, the Ducks are 13-30 in the Pac-10 -- and that's despite recruiting assistance from the world's greatest "person of influence," William Wesley.
SEC -- Jeff Lebo (34), Auburn. Zero NCAA bids his first five years, little hope for one here in year six. With a new arena scheduled to open next season, there figures to be a new coach working in it.

Minutes crush of the week

Who among us cannot love a 6-foot-7, 310-pound 3-point shooter? Wrap your arms (partway) around Milwaukee's Round Mound from Downtown, James "Big Lumber" Eayrs (35) -- a fan favorite for obvious reasons.
In 52 games as a Panther, Eayrs has hoisted 222 3-pointers, making 70. He might be the most rotund perimeter shooter since Dwight "Fat Flight" Stewart was jacking jumpers for Arkansas in its mid-'90s heyday.
Like many big men, Eayrs is a point guard trapped in an offensive tackle's body. He said he grew about five inches one year in high school, and the pounds came with the inches until he'd outgrown the backcourt.
But the fact is, this is the slimmer, trimmer Eayrs, who is averaging 12 points and 6.2 rebounds for the 12-9 Panthers. He used to be Bigger Lumber -- up to around 350 pounds during his high school days in Roseville, Minn. Eayrs started trimming down as a senior and continued to do so at junior college in North Dakota. Now, he says, he eats prudently but still has an abiding weakness for Chipotle burritos.
"I'm still a fanatic for those," he said. "That's the one thing I can't give up."
He's also a fanatic for the Minnesota Vikings -- which made Monday a pretty miserable day to be living in Packers territory, where most didn't mind seeing Brett Favre throw a season-ending interception while wearing another uniform.
"I'm crushed," Eayrs said. "That was terrible. I'm hearing it from everyone, especially the coaching staff. They're diehard Packer fans. I'm going to hear it for a couple more weeks."
Hopefully that won't affect Eayrs' shooting. It surely won't affect his eating.


Twitter star

Ohio State walk-on Mark Titus (36), who can be found on Twitter under his nom de blog, Clubtrillion. Titus is the humorous bench jockey who writes a blog titled Club Trillion (a trillion being what someone's box score looks like if they play one minute and record zero statistical contributions). He brings some of that same wit to Twitter. Among last week's tweets:
"I want to wish a happy birthday to my good friend Greg Oden today. I hope your next 40 years are just as much fun as your first 40 were."
And this Sunday night, from the diehard Vikings and Cubs fan:
"Two most painful days in my life as a sports fan were caused by S. Bartman and G. Hartley. I'm more athletic than both of them. This blows."

Coach who earned his comp car this week

Georgia's Mark Fox (37) took over a struggling program and hasn't seemed to notice that the Bulldogs are supposed to be terrible. Fox's team drilled No. 8 Tennessee on Saturday and upset rival Georgia Tech a couple of weeks ago. In between, UGA played Kentucky closer than anyone else has to date in the SEC, and they lost close games to Ole Miss and Mississippi State. At this rate, Georgia has a shot at a wholly unlikely .500 league record.

Coach who should ride the bus to work this week

Air Force's Jeff Reynolds (38) is riding a 21-game losing streak in Mountain West Conference regular-season games. The Falcons haven't come closer than nine points yet this season, as the school's relative halcyon days from 2003 to '07 recede further from view.

The Minutes' non-obvious game of the week

Harvard at Cornell (39), Saturday in Ithaca, N.Y. Seriously -- an Ivy League game absolutely worth monitoring. The Big Red are No. 41 in the RPI. The Crimson are No. 59. It is not inconceivable that the league could be gunning for two teams in the Big Dance. But with that far from certain, and given the Ivy League's lack of a postseason tournament, the two meetings between these teams will be critical in deciding who gets the automatic bid to the NCAAs.

Buzzer-beater

When thirsty in the ugly, lousy-weather town of Newport Beach, Calif., The Minutes highly recommends a visit to the Yard House (40) in the Fashion Island shopping compound (for lack of a better term). It boasts the world's largest selection of draft beers, and it might not be a hollow boast. And yes, they do come in yards, which are occasionally more easily spilled than sipped -- but they're fun to try.

AP Top 25 Jan. 26th, 2010
No. School Record Points Prev
1 Kentucky (65) 19-0 1625 2
2 Kansas 19-1 1519 3
3 Villanova 18-1 1503 4
4 Syracuse 20-1 1455 5
5 Michigan State 17-3 1324 6
6 Texas 17-2 1307 1
7 Georgetown 15-4 1124 12
8 Duke 16-3 1120 7
9 West Virginia 15-3 1113 11
10 Purdue 16-3 977 13
11 Kansas State 16-3 960 10
12 Brigham Young 20-1 894 14
13 Gonzaga 16-3 847 15
14 Tennessee 15-3 837 8
15 Temple 17-3 707 16
16 Wisconsin 16-4 635 18
17 Pittsburgh 15-4 599 9
18 Mississippi 15-4 411 22
19 Connecticut 13-6 286 27
20 Ohio State 14-6 270

21 Vanderbilt 15-3 264 26
22 Georgia Tech 14-5 194 19
23 New Mexico 18-3 180 28
24 Baylor 15-3 157 25
25 UAB 17-2 125 29



Projecting the NCAA Field of 65:
by Jordan Schwartz www.cbssports.com

The four No. 1 seeds are easy to pencil into the draw with Kentucky, the lone undefeated team remaining in the country, followed by three one-loss teams—Syracuse, Kansas, and Villanova.
But it gets a little more difficult from there with several top 10 schools dropping games this past week.
As always, I am not trying to guess how teams will finish the year; I am simply seeding them based on their current resumes.
I like to break teams down into three categories:
"Wallflowers" are bubble teams because everyone wants to get into the Big Dance, but not all have the guts to ask a girl out onto the dance floor.
Elite teams are safely in the field—"Dancing with a hottie"—and in the middle are the schools that are "Dancing with their sister."

ACC
Dancing with a Hottie: Duke (3 seed)
Dancing with Their Sister: Wake Forest (6), Georgia Tech (6), Clemson (8), North Carolina (8)
Wallflowers: Florida State (10), Maryland (11), Virginia Tech (12), Virginia (16th out)
It's been quite a down year for the ACC so far. When the season began, not many could've imagined that North Carolina would be trailing first place Maryland and Virginia by two games in the final week of January.
Along with the Tar Heels, which are riding a three-game slide, Georgia Tech (lost at Florida State) and Clemson (fell to the Yellow Jackets and Duke) are also struggling.
The bubble is littered with Atlantic Coast Conference squads. FSU, Maryland, and Va Tech all held strong this past week by going a combined 5-0.
Virginia could've jumped into the field with a win at Wake Forest, but will instead have to settle for at least getting its first mention in my projections this season.
The Cavs lead the ACC after running off eight in a row with nice wins over UAB and Georgia Tech, but ghastly non-conference losses to South Florida, Stanford, Penn State, and Auburn leave UVA far from a bid.

Big East
Dancing with a Hottie: Syracuse (1), Villanova (1), Georgetown (2), West Virginia (2)
Dancing with Their Sister: Connecticut (5), Pittsburgh (5)
Wallflowers: Seton Hall (11), Louisville (ninth out), Cincinnati (10th out), Notre Dame (13th out)
Georgetown's impressive win at Pittsburgh—one of two Panthers losses this past week—not only helped to drop Pitt three seeds, but it also sets up a huge showdown between the Hoyas and Orange at the Carrier Dome on Big Monday. The winner will walk out holding great position for a top seed.
Connecticut pulled off one of the bigger shockers of the week when it handed No. 1 Texas its second consecutive loss.
The Huskies entered the contest having dropped three of four and without the services of head coach Jim Calhoun, who missed the game for medical reasons. But UConn scored 54 in the second half to jump back into the national spotlight.
Seton Hall also experienced a resurgence by beating Louisville and Pittsburgh to get back into the draw. All five of the Pirates' losses are to teams that I have in the field, and SHU has four top-50 victories.
Marquette is removed from consideration after becoming DePaul's first conference victim in two years.

Big Ten
Dancing with a Hottie: Michigan State (2), Purdue (3), Wisconsin (4)
Dancing with Their Sisters: Ohio State (8)
Wallflowers: Northwestern (12)
Ohio State's defeat at West Virginia not only reasserts the Big East's dominance over college basketball, but it also dropped the Buckeyes, who are now a dismal 1-5 on the road.
Northwestern lost at Ohio State but beat Illinois to barely hang on to one of my last at-large spots in the bracket. The Wildcats recently beat Purdue, and really haven't had a bad loss all season.

Big XII
Dancing with a Hottie: Kansas (1), Texas (2), Kansas State (3)
Dancing with Their Sister: Oklahoma State (7), Baylor (7), Texas A&M (8)
Wallflowers: Missouri (12), Texas Tech (13)
Oklahoma State was the big riser this past week, beating Colorado before winning at Kansas State, which must've been suffering a hangover following its enormous victory over Texas. The Cowboys are ranked 24th in the RPI.
Missouri's loss at Oklahoma has the Tigers on the brink of missing the field, but that was their first defeat in 10 games and Mizzou is 3-2 against the top 50.
Texas Tech grabs my last at-large spot after beating Iowa State and OU. The Red Raiders don't have any top-50 victories, but they also don't have any bad losses, and their computer numbers are strong (RPI 33, SOS 37).

Pac-10
Wallflowers: California (9), Washington (first out), Arizona State (15th out)
With the Pac-10 shaping up to be a one-bid league, I'm not even sure why I continue giving this conference its own space. Cal is in first place but is 0-4 against the top 50. Washington drops from the field after being swept at the Los Angeles schools, and Arizona State just lost at home by 19 to Arizona, which is 10-9.

SEC
Dancing with a Hottie: Kentucky (1), Tennessee (3)
Dancing with Their Sister: Vanderbilt (4), Mississippi (6)
Wallflowers: Mississippi State (9), Florida (11)
Mississippi State's loss at Alabama drops the Bulldogs a few seed lines, while Chandler Parsons continues to single-handedly keep Florida in the field, sinking his second game-winning trifecta in three weeks to beat South Carolina on Saturday.

Mid-Majors
Dancing with a Hottie: Temple (4), Gonzaga (4)
Dancing with Their Sister: BYU (5), New Mexico (5), Butler (6), UAB (7), Xavier (7)
Wallflowers: Dayton (9), Northern Iowa (9), UNLV (10), Cornell (10), Old Dominion (10), Rhode Island (11), Siena (12), St. Mary's (second out), Northeastern (third out), VCU (fourth out), William & Mary (fifth out), Charlotte (sixth out), Richmond (seventh out), San Diego State (eighth out), Wichita State (11th out), Harvard (12th out), Tulsa (14th out)

The Atlantic 10 continues to be one of the best conferences in the nation. Xavier bounced back from a loss at Temple to knock off Rhode Island. It was the Musketeers' fourth top-50 win of the season, and they have excellent computer numbers (RPI 13, SOS 2).
Charlotte, meanwhile, is quietly moving up the ranks and finds itself just outside the field after reeling off three straight wins, including a 12-point victory at fellow wallflower Richmond. The 49ers only have two top-100 wins, but all five of their losses have come against teams that should be dancing.
Northern Iowa didn't deserve to be ranked this past week, and it quickly showed why with a nine-point loss at Wichita State. Just because you have a great record, doesn't mean you're a great team. The Panthers' best win is over Siena, and their strength of schedule is 91st.
The Colonial had an interesting week. VCU and Old Dominion both beat William & Mary to move into a first-place tie with Northeastern, which has won 11 in a row, including a sweep of Virginia Commonwealth.

Automatic Bids
13 seeds: Louisiana Tech, Oakland, Kent State
14 seeds: Murray State, College of Charleston, Weber State, Pacific
15 seeds: Sam Houston State, Coastal Carolina, Morgan State, Arkansas State
16 seeds: Stony Brook, Lehigh, Campbell, Quinnipiac, Texas Southern

Ohio State's Evan Turner

Turner perseveres through tough times
great article from www.espn.com
Lost in her own grief on the night her son committed suicide, Barbara Moll reached for the ringing telephone and heard the sound of her own pain in the voice of a 16-year-old boy.
He was so overwrought, she could barely make out what he was saying, sobbing so hard it took her a minute to figure out who it was that was calling.
Nearly five years to the day later, Moll flips on the television and sees that same boy. He is the picture of strength and confidence, a chiseled 6-foot-7 point guard turning NBA scouts' heads and breaking college opponents' ankles.
But Moll immediately can see past the glory of today to the pain of yesterday.
Evan Turner wears No. 21 at Ohio State. It's the same number Barbara's son, John, wore in the last season of his life.
"He told me he tried to get that number in his junior year of high school when he moved up to varsity, but couldn't," Moll said. "So when I saw him at Ohio State, I knew."
In the first two weeks of the college basketball season, no one has skyrocketed out of the gate quite like Turner. Debuting with a triple-double against Alcorn State -- only the second in the history of the Buckeyes program -- he has posted a double-double in every game thereafter and is averaging an eye-popping 21.8 points, 14.8 rebounds and 6.0 assists per game.
To watch him play is to see effortlessness, a kid who is blessed with a buffet menu of skills. In last week's Coaches vs. Cancer Classic, Turner literally made the Madison Square Garden crowd "Ooh" and "Aah" when he left a Cal defender flat-footed.
To meet him is to discover a rarity, a considerate and polite old soul who lacks the pretentiousness and peacock preening that ordinarily comes part and parcel with the talent. When Turner's face graced the cover of various preseason magazines, he snatched up a handful to show his family; not to brag but because, as he put it, "It was the strangest thing in the world."
To hear his story is to understand why he is the way he is. This is not a silver-spooned athlete who dribbled his way through life without scars, indifferent to the people around him. He suffered and endured and worked.
On Dec. 11, it will have been five years since John Moll ended 16 years of a troubled life by stepping in front of a train. Nearly every year since, Turner has called Barbara Moll at least three times -- on Mother's Day, on John's birthday and on the anniversary of his friend's death.



"Some days it's hard," Moll said. "I look at Evan, and I think about John. He'd be 21 now, maybe in college. But as the mother of a troubled boy, who had hopes and dreams for her son that he didn't achieve, it helps to live vicariously through someone like Evan. He's a unique person, an outstanding young man, and that has nothing to do with the way he plays basketball."
Turner's mother, Iris, will tell you that on the day her son was baptized, something miraculous happened. It was a sensation she can't describe, just a feeling that her second son was destined to do something special.
Perhaps it was the simple miracle that Turner lived long enough to be baptized that made Iris believe he would leave a mark. The first 12 months of Turner's life were filled with such fear and anxiety, illness and hospitalizations, that Iris didn't even christen him until his first birthday.
"So many times, I thought he wasn't going to make it," Iris said as she watched her son play at the Garden. "People walk up to me now, strangers with articles or just to tell stories, and tell me how much they look up to my son, and I think, 'How far can this go?' For the first year of his life, I kept asking, 'Lord, when is he going to get better?'"
A strapping 10-pound baby at birth, Turner had chicken pox, pneumonia, asthma and measles before he celebrated a birthday. When a measles epidemic swept through Chicago in the winter of 1989, Iris found her baby so ill he couldn't even cry. She called a doctor who, presumably figuring she was exaggerating, suggested she come to the office. Guided instead by her mother's instincts, Iris took him to the emergency room.
"Doctors took one look at him and just took him away," Iris said. "They had tubes and machines and everything there in a second. He nearly died."
Turner survived the measles but had severe breathing problems. Surgery to remove his adenoids and tonsils eventually eased the struggles, but for the first year of his life, Turner slept on his mother's chest every night because when she put him on his back in his crib, he would almost stop breathing.
Continuing through his Job-like childhood, Turner survived being hit by a car as a 3-year-old (his mother saw him flip in the air and land on his head, but Turner walked away with just a concussion and stitches).
He also struggled to speak as a toddler. Saddled with oversize baby teeth and a difficult overbite, he was capable of talking, but only his older brother, Darius, could understand him. Even Iris would turn to Darius for interpretation and translation from the boy who called her "Bobba" because he couldn't say "Momma."



"I don't know what he would have done without Darius," Iris said of her two boys' special bond.
When Evan Turner was a sickly child, his mother Iris probably didn't think she'd be watching him play big-time college basketball one day.
Intense speech therapy helped Turner, but the sting of special classes and the frustration of not being understood left Turner reserved and insecure. "I'd be yelling, 'Darius, what does he want? What does he want?' and poor Evan would get so frustrated, he'd say, "Oh, nebber minb [mimicking the way Turner spoke]."
"I'm still shy, but I'm not insecure anymore," Turner said. "I just know how to hide it better. When I was little, I just didn't like being around big groups of people. I would just go outside by myself and play basketball. It was almost therapeutic."
Turner doesn't remember when he started playing basketball, but he references vintage film of his going at Darius on a Fisher-Price hoop when they were barely old enough to walk. He also vividly remembers sitting in his room as an eighth-grader, playing March Madness 2003.
"You could create your own team and of course, I made myself the best player on the team," Turner said. "I'm in my room, and Dickie V is yelling on the game, 'He's a PTPer, a diaper dandy, baby,' and my brother walked in. He said, 'You better make that happen someday.'"
Turner took the first step toward realizing his brother's charge at St. Joseph's High School in Chicago.
That's also where he met John Moll. The two had crossed paths on the summer circuit before and they became friends when Moll, whose life had been a series of trials, enrolled at St. Joseph's. Moll was more of a showboat than Turner, a kid who asked his parents whether he could let his hair grow, then let it get to 1970s Afro proportions.
Turner didn't know a lot about Moll's problems. He didn't know that middle-school experimentation with drugs made him both physically and verbally abusive to his parents; didn't know that his biological mother was a schizophrenic who gave him up for adoption; didn't know about the stay in a youth home for much of their freshman year. He just knew he was a funny kid, a tough defender and one heck of a point guard.
In retrospect, no one knew what was going on in Moll's head, not his parents or even the host of professionals who were working with him.
"He had counselors, psychiatrists, even a probation officer that he saw every week. And to a person, they said suicide was never on their radar screen with John," Barbara Moll said. "The only people more surprised than my husband and I were the professionals. No one saw this coming."
So when Turner found out that his friend and teammate had killed himself on that December day in 2004, he was destroyed.
"I was really worried about Evan at that point," Iris said. "He was in so much pain."
Said Turner: "It's not that I didn't accept it; I just didn't appreciate what it meant. His locker was right next to mine, and I remember thinking, 'He's never going to use that locker again.' I'd look at his desk and realize he wasn't going to sit in it. I kept thinking he'd come back. It took me a long time to really understand what it meant."



Turner doesn't know what compelled him to call Barbara Moll that night. His mom didn't suggest it. No one did. He just picked up the phone.
The conversation was brief, but it was the start of many. Even through tragedy, Barbara Moll still attended all of St. Joseph's games in that 2004-05 season, as well as the team banquet. She followed Moll's classmates through their final two years of high school and watched Turner develop into a bona fide Division I player who earned his own praise despite the constant attention heaped on fellow Chicago senior Derrick Rose.
Moll attended the Ohio State-Northwestern game in Evanston last season, and this year she signed up for Facebook, figuring it would be an easy way to keep in touch with Turner and another former teammate of Moll's, Mike Capocci at Northwestern.
Next year? Next year, she doesn't know what she'll do if Turner jumps to the NBA.
She's not alone.
Unlike a lot of parents who eagerly await their son's entrée into the NBA, Evan Turner's mom is nervous.
"As my mother would say, 'I'm happy he's living his dream,' but I worry because it is getting so close," Iris said. "It's a lot of responsibility."
But if anyone seems well-suited for the adjustment, it is Turner. He admits to being selective about his circle of friends and cautious with his decisions, all good traits for the NBA life.
And despite a breakout two weeks, he remains humble. Not only is he unimpressed with himself, he is downright stunned when you suggest that some eighth-grader could be sitting in his room, playing a video game, pretending to be Evan Turner.
"People show me magazines, and I think, 'Is that really me? On a magazine?'" Turner said. "It's just crazy. It's all kind of funny to me."
Turner is -- as Barbara Moll learned on the evening of Dec. 11, 2004 -- a good kid.
"I'm still stunned that he made that call," Moll said. "Adults don't want to make that call, and here he was, just 16. He amazed me. He still amazes me."

Ncaa College Basketball Weekly Round-Up

Player Of The Week: John Wall, Fr., G, Kentucky
www.espn.com
Wall ushered himself into Kentucky lore with his game-winning shot to beat Miami (Ohio) 72-70 in his first collegiate game. He finished the game with 19 points, shooting 10-of-14 from the free throw line. But Wall didn't stop there. He scored 21 points in each of Kentucky's next two games -- wins over Sam Houston State and Rider -- including 11 assists in the win over the Broncs.
You could see his game develop over the course of the week, even if Kentucky's defense faded. Wall committed a combined 11 turnovers in his first two games, but had only two in the win over Rider. The Wildcats won all three of their games last week and Wall was a major player in each of them.

The rest of the rotation this week:

DeMarcus Cousins, Fr., F, Kentucky: Yes, one of those other freshmen faces on the Wildcats made himself known this week with 27 points and 18 boards in the Wildcats' close call against Sam Houston State. He followed it up with 18 points, six rebounds and five blocks in UK's win over Rider.

Jeremy Hazell, Jr., G, Seton Hall: The Pirate that doesn't get the pub scored 33 points in Seton Hall's impressive 89-79 road win at Cornell.

Scotty Hopson, So., G, Tennessee: He was supposed to be a big-time shooter last season. It looks like it just took a year. He cooled down a bit against DePaul on Sunday, but Hopson scored 25 points in each of Tennessee's two wins against UNC-Asheville and East Carolina, shooting a combined 10-of-12 on 3s.

Quincy Pondexter, Sr., F, Washington: He is perhaps the Huskies player with the most pressure to produce, and Pondexter hasn't disappointed thus far. The forward scored 30 points and grabbed 15 boards in an 80-70 win over San Jose State.

A.J. Slaughter, Sr., G, Western Kentucky: Slaughter put up 30 points, including five 3s, in the Hilltoppers' 69-65 win over Milwaukee.

Lucca Staiger, Jr., G, Iowa State: Staiger scored 32 points and made 10 3s in a 90-70 win over Drake.

Durrell Summers, Jr., G, Michigan State: He scored 21 points and grabbed 11 boards in the Spartans' gritty 75-71 win over Gonzaga.

Klay Thompson, So., G, Washington State: Flying way under the radar, Thompson scored 37 points on 15-of-20 shooting in Washington State's 89-70 win over IPFW.

Chris Warren, Jr., G, Ole Miss: Back from a knee injury, he scored 27 points in an 86-74 win over Kansas State in Puerto Rico.

Bryce Webster, Jr., C, Cal State Fullerton: Grabbed 14 rebounds in the Titans' 68-65 upset win at UCLA in double overtime.

Rodney Williams, Fr., F, Minnesota: The freshman has already established himself as a key contributor for a Gophers' squad facing off-court issues. Williams scored 17 points, grabbed six boards and had four steals in a 76-51 win over Utah Valley.

Marqus Blakely, Sr., F, Vermont: Despite being sick and sitting out 15 minutes, Blakely still managed to total 17 points, nine rebounds, five blocks and four steals in the Catamounts' 77-71 comeback win at Rutgers on Sunday.


Team Of The Week: Syracuse
Last week: Beat No. 12 Cal 95-73; beat No. 4 North Carolina 87-71.
Syracuse was picked to finish sixth in the Big East, but that shouldn't have been a shocker. The Orange lost Jonny Flynn, the nation's top point guard, to the NBA, along with major contributors Paul Harris and Eric Devendorf. No one knew if Wesley Johnson would have difficulties after sitting a year after transferring from Iowa State or if Scoop Jardine (who didn't play last season due to injury) or Brandon Triche could handle replacing Flynn.
Well, all those questions were answered in New York as Syracuse dominated Cal and North Carolina at the 2K Sports Classic benefiting Coaches vs. Cancer at Madison Square Garden. The Orange certainly don't lack for excitement without Flynn. Johnson, who scored 25 points and grabbed eight rebounds against the Tar Heels, is a star, and the rest of the Orange players are more than capable of making shots, running the break and finishing. But most importantly, the Orange zone is active, long and disruptive, meaning this team can win the Big East this season, let alone make the NCAA tournament.


Missed Opportunity
Northern Iowa: The Panthers lost to DePaul 60-52 in the Virgin Islands at the Paradise Jam tournament, missing out on an opportunity to play Tennessee in the next round. That's significant since UNI needs power-rating points to bolster its profile come March.

Cornell: The Big Red had started the season with great road wins for an Ivy League team at Alabama and UMass. But neither of those teams will be in the NCAA tournament. Seton Hall might be, and the Big Red missed their chance to secure a win over a Big East team when they lost at home to the Pirates, 89-79.

Richmond: The Spiders will have plenty of chances for major wins, with games against SEC teams Mississippi State, South Carolina and Florida coming up. But losing at William & Mary 78-71 makes you pause.

Oregon State: The Beavers now have to mount a PR campaign and win some significant games after losing two games in the first two weeks to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on a neutral court followed by a disastrous loss at home to Sacramento State.

Rider: The Broncs get plenty of points for winning at Mississippi State 88-74 in their season-opener. But they lost some of that mojo by getting blitzed at Virginia, 79-46.

Siena: Look, the Saints can't win every road game. But they may regret their 73-69 loss at Temple. The Owls are a possible NCAA tourney bubble team and would have been a great road win for Siena. The Saints are down to three more significant games outside the MAAC that may get them noticed -- St. John's in Philadelphia and at Georgia Tech and Northern Iowa.

Penn State: The Nittany Lions whiffed twice in Charleston, S.C., with losses to UNC-Wilmington, 80-69, and Tulane, 63-60. Not good for a team that might find itself fighting for a bid come March.


New Names To Remember
D.J. Richardson and Brandon Paul, Illinois: This stud freshmen duo is going to be the talk of Champaign all season.

Reginald Delk, Louisville: He wasn't discussed much in the offseason but he might be one of the better scorers in the Big East. He scored 20 points in just 22 minutes in the Cardinals' 96-66 win over Arkansas.

Ashton Gibbs, Pittsburgh: He has more than held his own in replacing Levance Fields. Gibbs averaged 21 points a game in the Panthers' two wins this week and has committed just one turnover through three games this season. He will be the go-to player for the Panthers this season.

Chris Johnson, Dayton: The Flyers aren't just about Chris Wright. Johnson led Dayton with 19 points and seven boards in a 63-59 win over Georgia Tech in Puerto Rico.

Andre Dawkins, Duke: He could still be in high school but arrived at Duke early. He scored 20 points for the Blue Devils in a 104-67 win over Radford, with six 3s. The Blue Devils made 18 3s in the game.

Elliot Williams, Memphis: He's leading the Tigers in scoring at 21 points per game and is doing a wonderful job as a leader on this squad.


Shout-Outs
Miami: The Hurricanes won the Charleston Classic with the win over South Carolina in the final Sunday night. Miami coach Frank Haith said he had a team that could compete at a higher level in the ACC. So far he's proving to be quite prophetic. The addition of Villanova transfer Malcolm Grant and fresh-face frosh Durand Scott will pay off for this squad.

Villanova: The Wildcats won the Puerto Rico Tip-Off Classic. They were tested quite a bit in three days and came through to show they can be an elite team. Those wins against Dayton and Ole Miss -- maybe even the tight one versus George Mason -- will look just fine in March.


Seattle: Cameron Dollar, in his first season in charge of Seattle in its return to Division I, picked up a nice win over Fresno State at home 85-84 and followed it up with a 91-87 victory over Big Sky favorite Weber State. Elgin Baylor was in the house for the Fresno win. It was the first time he'd seen his alma mater play since his college career ended in a 1958 NCAA title-game loss to Kentucky.




Wesley Johnson has transformed from a lightly regarded recruit who went to prep school and then Iowa State to a star at Syracuse and possible lottery pick who spent Friday dropping 25 points and eight rebounds on North Carolina. Just think, if Johnson had only been adopted by rich white people, then we could've made his story into a major motion picture. As it is, we're left with The Blind Side.
College Basketball Weekly Wrap-Up
www.cbssportsline.com
Best game of the weekend: I'm starting with Villanova's 79-67 win over Ole Miss in the title game of the Puerto Rico Tip-Off -- not because it was a great game, per se, but because it was a great performance by the Wildcats. They hung 52 points on the Rebels in the second half Sunday and looked very much like a team capable of returning to the Final Four. They're strong and experienced in the backcourt, solid up front and aided greatly by the addition of Taylor King, the Duke transfer who is an early candidate for the Big East's Sixth Man Award considering he's coming off the bench and averaging 10.8 points and 7.6 rebounds.

Worst game of the weekend: Rider won at Mississippi State on opening night, and suddenly everybody thought an upset at Kentucky might be possible, too. Instead, all we got Saturday was a 92-63 beatdown delivered by the Wildcats. The game was never close, a total letdown for folks who cheer for underdogs. But the good news is that it provided a fresh YouTube entry for John Wall, the freshman point guard who finished with 21 points and 11 assists while demonstrating how a between-the-legs-crossover-dribble at the free throw line can create an easy layup. Click this link and check it out, if you want. It's at the 1:09 mark, and it's ridiculous.

Win to brag about: It's unclear how good Saint Mary's is without Patrick Mills, but I know it's tough to go into McKeon Pavilion and leave with a victory either way, proof being how the Gaels were 32-2 at home the past three years. So Vanderbilt's 72-70 victory at St. Mary's late Friday was impressive, however you look at it. And yes, Vandy fans, I know I'm probably going to regret picking the Commodores fifth in the SEC Eastern Division. Honestly, I'm already regretting it (although Lance Stephenson could make me look less stupid if he somehow leads Cincinnati past the Commodores in the first round of the Maui Invitational).

Loss to hide from: Once upon a time, Jeff Capel signed a contract at VCU that required him to return to the Siegel Center with his new team if he ever left the Rams to coach at another college. On Saturday, Capel made good on that clause and took his Oklahoma Sooners to Richmond. The result was an 82-69 loss in which Willie Warren missed all eight of his 3-point attempts. And now that the terms of that contract have been fulfilled, I'm certain you'll never see Capel coach at VCU again.

Player(s) who deserve improper benefits: Mark Fox left a better team behind at Nevada than the one he inherited at Georgia, and a lot of that is because of the duo of Armon Johnson and Luke Babbitt. In Saturday's 112-99 win over Houston , Johnson got 22 points, 12 assists and seven rebounds while Babbitt had 14 points, three assists and 17 rebounds. Graded on the against-Tom-Penders curve, those numbers aren't as mindboggling, I know. But Johnson and Babbitt are probably still the two best players in the WAC, and plenty good enough to start at Georgia.

Player who should lose his scholarship: Edwin Ubiles averaged 12.1 field goal attempts per game last season while leading Siena to 27 wins, and those numbers are connected. The simple formula is Ubiles plus offensive aggressiveness equals victory. So you can imagine my disappointment -- considering I ranked Siena in the preseason while neither the AP nor coaches poll did -- when I realized Ubiles had just six field goal attempts in Saturday's 73-69 loss at Temple. Those numbers are connected, too.

Why I'm smarter than you think: I picked Washington to win the Pac-10 despite California being the overwhelming favorite in the league's official media poll. Obviously, I could still end up wrong. But it's worth noting Friday's loss to Ohio State dropped the Bears to 2-2. And though I'm well aware Theo Robertson's injury has played a role in Cal's struggles, is there any debating that Cal wouldn't again be the overwhelming favorite if the league's official media poll was updated today?

Why I'm dumber than I think: I thought the people who believed Syracuse could somehow be as good or better without Jonny Flynn, Eric Devendorf and Paul Harris were silly. Turns out, I was wrong. This Orange team can absolutely be as good as that Orange team, and it might end up better. All it took to convince me was Friday's 87-71 win over North Carolina in the championship game of the 2K Sports Classic.

Three things you should know before you go

1. UCLA starter Nikola Dragovic did not play in Friday's 75-64 victory over Cal State-Bakersfield after he was charged with felony assault for his involvement in an incident last month at a concert in Hollywood. Ben Howland has suspended Dragovic indefinitely, meaning it's unclear whether he'll play in the 76 Classic this week. But it has already been determined that Dragovic will not play Monday night against Pepperdine.

2. Miami notched a nice win over South Carolina in Sunday's championship game of the Charleston Classic, but it came with an asterisk because USC's Dominique Archie injured his right knee (while landing after a dunk) and missed the final 33 minutes. The Gamecocks were ahead by seven points when Archie left; they lost 85-70.

3. Michigan State's 90-60 blowout of Valparaiso on Sunday pushed Tom Izzo into a tie with Jud Heathcote atop the school's all-time list for wins. Both men now have 340. Izzo can pass Heathcote on Friday when the Spartans play Florida in Atlantic City.

On tap: On Monday, the Paradise Jam ends with a championship game between Tennessee and Purdue. On Tuesday, a pair of in-state rivals trying to build at-large resumes battle when Florida State meets Florida. On Wednesday, LSU and Connecticut play in the first game of the NIT Season Tip-off. On Thursday, the first round of the 76 Classic is headlined by Minnesota-Butler.

Final thought: I wrote a column last April explaining how I was less concerned about Stephen Curry's future than Davidson's because history suggests programs typically return to their rightful place when a transcendent player departs. I cited what happened when Hank Gathers and Bo Kimble left Loyola-Marymount, what happened when Doug Christie left Pepperdine, what happened when Keith "Mister" Jennings left East Tennessee State, etc. The point was that though North Carolina, Kansas and other power-league programs can endure losses and simply reload, it's much more difficult to maintain success outside of the BCS for pretty much everybody except Gonzaga, Memphis and Xavier.

2010 College Basketball Top 50 Recruits and Signings

MAXPREPS TOP PLAYERS:
Select Sport Season:
Boys Basketball Winter 09-10Winter 08-09 Select Category:
2010 Players to Watch2011 Players to Watch2012 Players to Watch2013 Players to Watch

RNK NAME POS HT/WT SCHOOLS
1. Brandon Knight
Pine Crest (Fort Lauderdale, FL) G 6-4/185
Joined LeBron James and Greg Oden as only juniors to earn Gatorade National Player of the Year as a junior.
2. Jared Sullinger
Northland (Columbus, OH) P 6-9/280 Ohio State
Whether it be high school or AAU ball, always in the lead for a successful team.
3. Will Barton
Brewster Academy (Wolfeboro, NH) G, W 6-6/165 Memphis
Scorer will prep at Brewster Academy after leading Baltimore's Lake Clifton to state title in Maryland last year.
4. Harrison Barnes
Ames (IA) W 6-6/190
Blue chipper led Little Cyclones to perfect season, state title as a junior.
5. Reggie Bullock
Kinston (NC) W 6-7/190 North Carolina
Blue chip guard hails from same high school that produced Jerry Stackhouse.
6. Joshua Smith
Kentwood (Covington, WA) P 6-10/280 UCLA
Broke the hearts of Washington fans with commitment to Bruins.
7. Perry Jones
Duncanville (TX) 6-11/220 Baylor
Blew onlookers away at Las Vegas Center Stage event with athleticism and shooting touch.
8. Fabricio De Melo
Sagemont (Weston, FL) P 7-0/270 Syracuse
Brazilian burst on summer circuit scene after sitting out at Sagemont as a junior.
9. Deshaun Thomas
Bishop Luers (Fort Wayne, IN) W, P 6-7/220 Ohio State
Averaged 30.3 points, 15.1 rebounds per game for Indiana 2A state champions.
10. Tristan Thompson
Findlay Prep (Henderson, NV) F 6-10/235 Texas
Has No. 1 player potential but needs to dial in the consistency.
11. Joe Jackson
White Station (Memphis, TN) G 6-0/170 Memphis
Arguably the top scoring guard in the class of 2010.
12. Terrence Jones
Jefferson (Portland, OR) P 6-9/220
Stock soaring with each stop on the summer circuit.
13. Kendall Marshall
O'Connell (Arlington, VA) G 6-3/175 North Carolina
Cemented elite status at NBA Players Association Top 100 Camp.
14. Josh Selby
Lake Clifton (Baltimore, MD) G 6-1/180
Recent decommitment has several powerhouse programs circling.
15. Ray McCallum
Detroit Country Day (Beverly Hills, MI) PG 6-1/170
Led loaded Country Day squad to 24-2 record, state title game as junior.
16. Jelan Kendrick
Wheeler (Marietta, GA) G, W 6-6/185
Athletic, smooth point forward-type led Westlake to 22-7 record as a junior before deciding to move on to defending state champion Wheeler.
17. C. J. Leslie
Word of God Christian Academy (Raleigh, NC) P 6-8/190
Thriving this summer after forming dynamic duo with John Wall at Word of God.
18. Doron Lamb
Oak Hill Academy (Mouth of Wilson, VA) G 6-4/185
New York City native will be Oak Hill Academy's go-to scorer next winter.
19. Kyrie Irving
St. Patrick (Elizabeth, NJ) PG 6-1/175 Duke
Elite guard prospect will see plenty of time in spotlight as senior playing for powerhouse St. Patrick program.
20. Cory Joseph
Findlay Prep (Henderson, NV) PG 6-3/180
Native of Canada looking to lead Findlay Prep to second straight national championship.
21. Tobias Harris
Half Hollow Hills West (Dix Hills, NY) P 6-8/230
Returning to Half Hollow Hills West after standout junior year at Long Island Lutheran.
22. Dwight Powell
IMG Academies (Bradenton, FL) P 6-10/210 Stanford
A long, skilled post player that could be on the verge of putting it all together and becoming an elite prospect.
23. Keith Appling
Pershing (Detroit, MI) G 6-3/175 Michigan State
Capped junior season with 49-point performance in state championship game.
24. Trey Zeigler
Mt. Pleasant (MI) G, W 6-5/185
Son of Central Michigan head coach Ernie Zeigler knows how to put the ball in the basket.
25. Dion Waiters
Life Center Academy (Burlington, NJ) PG 6-4/215 Syracuse
Forms a potent 1-2 punch with 2011 star Michael Gilchrist for travel circuit club Team Final.
26. Roscoe Smith
Oak Hill Academy (Mouth of Wilson, VA) P, W 6-8/190
Long scoring wing could really blow up this winter at Oak Hill Academy.
27. Dwayne Polee
Westchester (Los Angeles, CA) W 6-6/180 USC
Length and athleticism give him the presence of a 6-10 player at times defensively.
28. Daniel Bejarano
North (Phoenix, AZ) W 6-5/200 Arizona
Wing put up 23.0 points, 10.1 rebounds per game as junior.
29. Jereme Richmond
Waukegan (IL) W 6-6/190 Illinois
Leads the way for a nice 2010 haul for Bruce Weber at Illinois.
30. Terrence Ross
Montrose Christian (Rockville, MD) G 6-5/185 Maryland
Transferred to Montrose from Jefferson (Portland, Ore.), where he played with Terrence Jones.
31. Bryce Jones
Taft (Woodland Hills, CA) G, W 6-5/175 USC
After sitting out due to tranfer rules at Taft last year, was extremely impressive at July's adidas Super 64.
32. Andre Stringer
Forest Hill (Jackson, MS) PG 5-10/160 LSU
Mississippi loaded with talent, but Stringer was a step above the rest as a junior averaging over 25 points per game.
33. Phil Pressey
Episcopal (Dallas, TX) PG 5-10/155 Missouri
Son of former NBA guard averaged 18.3 points and nearly 10 assists per game as junior.
34. Patric Young
Providence (Jacksonville, FL) P 6-9/225 Florida
Rebounding machine impressive at Reebok camp in Philadelphia this summer.
35. Tarik Black
Ridgeway (Memphis, TN) P 6-8/235
Muscling his way up the rankings with a very solid summer.
37. Michael Cobbins
Palo Duro (Amarillo, TX) P 6-8/200 Oklahoma State
District player of the year also an outstanding student.
38. Luke Cothron
Macdonald Academy (Red Springs, NC) P 6-8/220 North Carolina State
More than a dozen major conference college programs actively courting big man.
39. Ryan Harrow
Walton (Marietta, GA) G 6-1/150 North Carolina State
After first team Class AAAAA All-State honors as junior, reputation really soaring this summer.
40. Joshua Hairston
Montrose Christian (Rockville, MD) P 6-8/200 Duke
Face-up four man in the mold of recent Blue Devil forwards.
41. J. T. Terrell
West Charlotte (Charlotte, NC) G 6-2/175 Wake Forest
Streaky scorer lands at West Charlotte after playing at Burlington Cummings as a junior.
42. Allen Crabbe
Price (Los Angeles, CA) G 6-4/175 California
A star performer on the summer circuit with Compton Magic Black.
43. Terrell Stoglin
Santa Rita (Tucson, AZ) G 6-1/180 Maryland
Averaged 23.3 points per game as junior.
44. Terone Johnson
North Central (Indianapolis, IN) G 6-3/190 Purdue
Another exciting addition for Matt Painter's Boilermakers.
45. Taran Buie
State College (PA) PG 6-2/170 Penn State
Headed to State College early for final year of high school ball.
46. Charles Hankerson Jr.
Coral Reef (Miami, FL) G 6-5/215 Alabama
Well-built wing led Coral Reef to 6A state title.
47. Ian Miller
United Faith Christian Academy (Charlotte, NC) G 6-1/175 Florida State
Leonard Hamilton pulling together very solid 2010 class.
48. Phillip Taylor
Wheeler (Marietta, GA) PG 5-9/160 Florida International
Scoring point guard thrilled about the prospect of playing for Isiah Thomas.
49. Kendall Williams
Los Osos (Rancho Cucamonga, CA) PG 6-3
Posted 22.8 points per game as junior.
50. Jordan Sibert
Princeton (Cincinnati, OH) G 6-4/180 Ohio State
Helped lead Princeton to a 25-2 record, state championship game appearance as a junior.



Some Top Signings Ncaa College Basketball
www.si.com
LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) -- Kentucky coach John Calipari has added another top recruit. The Wildcats signed 6-foot-5 small forward Stacey Poole Jr. on Wednesday during the beginning of the fall signing period.
Poole averaged 17.3 points as a junior last year for Providence High in Jacksonville, Fla. Poole is the son of former University of Florida star Stacey Poole Sr., who still ranks fourth on the school's all-time scoring list.
Poole is rated the fourth-best small forward in the Class of 2010 by Rivals.com.
Calipari said Poole will play multiple positions with the Wildcats and said his defensive ability and work ethic should help him fit in with the Wildcats. Calipari said he hopes to add more players during the fall signing period.

Iowa signs four
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) -- Iowa has signed prep basketball players Ben Brust, Cody Larson, Devyn Marble, and Zach McCabe to national letters of intent.
Brust is a point guard from Illinois who averaged 27.5 points per game last season.
Larson, a 6-foot-9 forward from Sioux Falls, S.D., was a first-team all-state pick in 2008-09.
Marble, a 6-foot-5 wing player, is the son of former Hawkeyes legend Roy Marble.
McCabe was a teammate of current Iowa post player Brennan Cougill. McCabe is from Sioux City and helped lead Bishop Heelan to a state title last season.
Hawkeyes coach Todd Lickliter praised his latest recruiting class for its skills, versatility and basketball knowledge.
Wednesday marks the start of the early signing period for recruits.

Ohio State signs one of the top recruiting classes
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- A six-player recruiting class, dubbed by some analysts as the best in the nation, has signed with No. 16 Ohio State.
The centerpiece is 6-foot-9 power forward Jared Sullinger from Columbus' Northland High School. The brother of former Ohio State player J.J. Sullinger is joined by his high school teammate, 6-6 small forward J.D. Weatherspoon.
Deshaun Thomas, a 6-7 native of Ft. Wayne, Ind.; and Lenzelle Smith, Jr., a 6-4 guard from Zion, Ill.; also became Buckeyes on the first day for the signing of Division I national letters of intent.
Rounding out the class are guards Aaron Craft from Findlay Liberty-Benton and 6-4 Jordan Sibert of Cincinnati.
Coach Thad Matta said all six are versatile players who come from winning programs that have won or played for state championships.

Isiah Thomas signs 3 recruits to play for FIU
MIAMI (AP) -- Isiah Thomas' first recruiting class at Florida International already appears to be the best in school history.
Thomas got three players to sign letters of intent Wednesday, including 6-foot-8 forward Dominique Ferguson -- who originally committed to Kentucky and was ranked among the nation's top 50 prospects by multiple recruiting services.
Thomas called it "a special day."
DeJuan Wright, a 6-foot-4 guard who will transfer in from Gillette (Wyo.) Junior College, also signed. So did 6-foot-3 guard Richaud Pack of Birmingham, Mich.
Wright committed to FIU on the day Thomas was hired.
All three players will be eligible next season for FIU.

Izzo: Recruiting class fits Michigan St. program
EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) -- Michigan State coach Tom Izzo says his latest recruiting class fits a program with five Final Four appearances in 11 seasons.
The Spartans on Wednesday signed guard Keith Appling from Detroit Pershing, center Adreian Payne from Dayton Jefferson in Ohio, swingman Russell Byrd from Blackhawk Christian in Fort Wayne, Ind. and forward Alex Gauna from Eaton Rapids.
The 6-foot-2 Appling was the 2009 Associated Press Class A Player of the Year in Michigan. The guard averaged 23.9 points, six assists and five rebounds and led his team to a state title with 49 points.
The 6-foot-10 Payne averaged 15 points, 12 rebounds and four blocked shots. The 6-foot-7 Byrd averaged 19.1 points and 8.3 rebounds, and the 6-foot-9 Gauna averaged 16.5 points and 10.5 rebounds.

Arizona star signs with Jayhawks
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) -- No. 1 Kansas has signed Royce Woolridge, a 6-foot-3 shooting guard from Phoenix who averaged almost 29 points per game last year.
The Jayhawks announced the signing Wednesday.
Playing for Sunnyslope High School in Phoenix, Woolridge made 50 percent of his field goals and was 34 percent from behind the 3-point arc as a junior. He also averaged 2.5 assists and 2.1 steals last year.
Woolridge verbally committed to Kansas in 2008. He was ranked the No. 31 shooting guard by Rivals.com. and led his high school to a 24-5 record last year.
Woolridge is the son of former Notre Dame and NBA player Orlando Woolridge.

Michigan signs NBA All-Star Tim Hardaway's son
ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) -- Michigan's men's basketball coach John Beilein says the son of five-time NBA All-Star Tim Hardaway has signed a letter of intent to play for the Wolverines.
Tim Hardaway Jr. is a 6-foot-5-inch forward from Palmetto High School in Miami. He averaged 23.4 points, 11.0 rebounds, 5.2 assists and 1.8 steals last season.
Beilein also announced Wednesday Michigan has received a letter of intent from 6-9 forward Evan Smotrycz from New Hampton Prep in New Hampton, N.H. He averaged 14.0 points, 8.0 rebounds and 3.0 assists last season.

Washington signs Desmond Simmons
SEATTLE (AP) -- Washington has signed Bay Area high school standout Desmond Simmons to a letter of intent.
Coach Lorenzo Romar said Wednesday the power forward reminds him of energetic former Huskies team leader Bobby Jones.
Simmons is expected to enroll in time for the 2010-11 season.
Romar says the 6-foot-7 Simmons has mental and physical toughness and a "motor (that) is always running."
Simmons scored 31 points and 19 rebounds for Salesian High School of Richmond, Calif., in the Northern California championship game last spring.
He will join former Utah prep scoring leader C.J. Wilcox as additions next season. Romar has announced Wilcox will redshirt as a freshman this season.

Illini sign three in top 100
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) -- A year after signing a class of recruits that helped pushed Illinois back into the Top 25 this season, Illini have signed three players considered to be among the country's 100 best.
Forward Jerome Richmond, guard Crandall Head -- the younger brother of former Illinois standout and current Indiana Pacer Luther Head -- and center Meyers Leonard signed letters of intent Wednesday indicating they'll join the 23rd-ranked Illini next season, Illinois basketball spokesman Derrick Burson said.
Coach Bruce Weber was not available for comment. He delayed a news conference to discuss the signings until Thursday because of Veterans Day, Burson said.
The 6-7 Richmond is from Waukegan High School in Waukegan. College sports Web site Rivals.com calls him the 36th best player among college recruits this year.
He'll be joined by Crandall Head, a 6-5 shooting guard from Rich South High School in Richton Park. Rivals.com considers him No. 81 on the list of the top recruits. Luther Head was part of the Illini team that went to the 2005 NCAA championship game, losing to North Carolina.
Leonard is a 7-0 center from Robinson High School in Robinson. He is No. 39 on Rivals' list of top recruits.
The Illini, who start play Friday against Southern Illinois-Edwardsville, added four top recruits to this season's team: guards D.J. Richardson, Joseph Bertrand and Brandon Paul and forward Tyler Griffey.
Richardson and Paul are both expected to get serious minutes this season and, combined with returning junior Demetri McCamey, Mike Davis and Mike Tisdale, a part of the reason Illinois is in the Top 25 and considered one of the Top Big Ten teams.

Texas signs top 10 recruit
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- Texas has signed forward Tristan Thompson of Brampton, Ontario, to play for the Longhorns starting in the 2010-2011 season.
Thompson plays at Findley College Prep in Henderson, Nev. The 6-foot-9, 240-pounds forward is ranked as a top 10 recruit by some recruiting services.
He played 21 games last season at St. Benedict's Prep Academy in New Jersey before transferring to Findley, where he played five games with current Texas freshman Avery Bradley.

South Carolina has impressive showing, signs five
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) -- South Carolina coach Darrin Horn signed five players for next year, a class that one recruiting service lists among the country's top 10.
The Gamecocks announced Wednesday they had signed guards Bruce Ellington, Brian Richardson and Eric Smith; and forwards Damontre Harris and RJ Slawson.
Scout.com put South Carolina No. 10 in the country. Rivals.com had the Gamecocks signees at No. 12.
The 5-foot-10 Ellington is considered one of the top point guards in the country. He averaged 28.5 points, 8.2 rebounds and 3.7 assists his junior year at Berkeley High.
Harris, a 6-9 forward from Fayetteville, N.C., was rated as the country's No. 5 center according to ESPN.com.
Horn said his second full signing class moves South Carolina closer to where he wants it to be.

Tulsa signs 3, including top Texas prospect
TULSA, Okla. (AP) -- Conference USA favorite Tulsa signed three basketball players on Wednesday, including a top Texas high school prospect.
Tulsa coach Doug Wojcik signed guards Jordan Clarkson of San Antonio and Tim Peete of Memphis, Tenn., along with forward Blondy Baruti of Mesa, Ariz.
Clarkson has led Wagner High School to a 67-12 record the past two seasons and the 6-foot-4 guard is rated by one recruiting service as the fourth-best prospect in Texas. He averaged 20 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists per game as a junior.
The 6-foot-4 Peete has helped Memphis Central High School to 72 wins the past three seasons. He averaged 14.4 points per game last season.
Baruti, a 6-foot-9 native of the Congo, was a high school teammate of current Tulsa guard Donte Medder. Baruit averaged 10 points and 8 rebounds per game in his first season of high school competition.

Penn State signs star's brother
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) -- Penn State has signed touted high school guard Taran Buie to a letter of intent.
The 6-foot-2 Buie is very familiar with Happy Valley -- his half-brother is Penn State junior and point guard Talor Battle.
The Nittany Lions say they landed one of the most highly sought-after recruits in the basketball program's history.
Buie led his high school team in Albany, N.Y., to a state title and two straight undefeated regular seasons. He and his family moved over the summer to State College, where he will play his high school senior year.
Scout.com listed Buie as the No. 28 shooting guard prospect in the country, while Rivals.com listed him at No. 32 at point guard.
Battle and Buie would play together for Penn State next year.

Tide's Grant signs 2 out-of-state players
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) -- Alabama coach Anthony Grant has signed two out-of-state players in the early signing period.
Grant said Wednesday that Kansas point guard Trevor Releford and Florida guard/forward Charles Hankerson Jr. have signed to play for the Crimson Tide next season.
He said both come from great high school programs and know what it takes to be successful.
Releford was rated the No. 11 point guard prospect nationally by Scout.com. He led his team to the 5A state championship game as a junior, averaging 18.6 points and 6.3 assists.
Hankerson is also rated a four-star prospect after averaging 21.6 points and six rebounds a game to lead Coral Reef High School to its first state title.

Cottrill signs with West Virginia
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) -- Guard Noah Cottrill has signed a letter of intent to play basketball at West Virginia.
WVU coach Bob Huggins announced Cottrill's signing Thursday.
Cottrill is a senior at Logan High School. He averaged nearly 26 points per game last season at Mountain State Academy in Beckley and spent his first two years at Poca High School.
Cottrill made news after his freshman season when he gave a verbal commitment to the Mountaineers.

2009 College Basketball Pre-Season Top 25

1. Kansas: The Jayhawks are, like I said, talented. But they are also accomplished -- proof being how they won 27 games (including 14 in the Big 12) last season. Remarkably, every relevant player from that team returns except Morningstar, who, well, you know.

2. Kentucky: If you read me much, you know I'm a sucker for talent. That's why Kentucky is this high, and please don't send any e-mails telling me that I'm stupid for ranking an NIT team second. Yes, the Wildcats went to the NIT last season. But, perhaps you heard, they have since changed coaches and rebuilt the roster, and now they have three possible lottery picks (John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins and Patrick Patterson) and a team that is -- here's that word again -- talented enough to give John Calipari his first national title.

3. Michigan State: Five of the top six scorers from a team that played for the national title are back, including All-American Kalin Lucas. I'm most interested to see whether Delvon Roe -- who was hampered by a bad knee last season -- can return to the prospect I watched on the summer circuit during his high school years. That guy was a pro. It would be a shame if he never reaches that potential.

4. Texas: Is it possible to lose A.J. Abrams -- and his 16.6 points per game -- and improve? Yes, if the guy replacing him is Avery Bradley, a hard-working, defensive-minded physical specimen who has made quite the impression on the Texas staff to date.

5. North Carolina: It seems crazy that a program could lose Tyler Hansbrough, Ty Lawson, Wayne Ellington and Danny Green and still be ranked in the top five. But this is UNC under Roy Williams, and the cupboard is never bare. The only concern is at point guard, where Larry Drew is the option, but only by default.

6. Villanova: Jay Wright lost some key players from his Final Four team, among them Dante Cunningham, Dwayne Anderson and Shane Clark. But Scottie Reynolds, Corey Fisher, Corey Stokes, Reggie Redding and a heralded recruiting class are enough to produce another 30-win season.

7. Connecticut: Stanley Robinson not entering the NBA Draft was a huge development for the Huskies. He'll now team with Kemba Walker, Alex Oriakhi and a healthy Jerome Dyson to help Jim Calhoun continue his Hall of Fame career.

8. Purdue: Robbie Hummel's back problems never allowed Purdue to find its grove last season, and yet the Boilermakers still won 27 games and advanced to the Sweet 16. All five starters return from that team. If healthy, an Elite Eight should be the minimum goal.

9. West Virginia: The Mountaineers have endured some off-court issues, but such things have rarely prevented Bob Huggins from excelling. This season will be no different. WVU is talented enough to make a Final Four with Devin Ebanks and Da'Sean Butler, plus a healthy Joe Mazzula.

10. Duke: The transfer of Elliot Williams cost the Blue Devils a guard and some athleticism. But Kyle Singler, Jon Scheyer and Nolan Smith are good enough to keep the Blue Devils in the top 10.

11. Butler: This is a serious roster with serious talent, a team perfectly capable of riding Gordon Hayward, Matt Howard and Shelvin Mack to a surprise Final Four provided Butler can do enough in the nonleague portion of its schedule to secure a high seed.

12. Washington: The Isaiah Thomas/Abdul Gaddy backcourt should be tremendous. It will be the reason the Huskies challenge for another Pac-10 title despite the loss of Jon Brockman and Justin Dentmon.

13. Clemson: The Tigers made up for the unexpected loss of Terrence Oglesby when they added USC signee Noel Johnson in June. He'll team with Trevor Booker, Demontez Stitt and fellow freshmen Milton Jennings and Devin Booker (Trevor's younger brother) to push Clemson back into the NCAA tournament, where Oliver Purnell will advance this time, I guarantee.

14. Tennessee: Last season's Vols didn't play with the energy or urgency the nation had come to expect from a Bruce Pearl team. This ranking is based on that changing, and on Bobby Maze becoming a more reliable point guard.

15. Oklahoma: Jeff Capel's stellar recruiting class is what will keep OU near the top of the Big 12 despite the loss of Blake and Taylor Griffin. Class of 2009 standouts Tommy Mason-Griffin and Keith Gallon provide a nice supporting cast for All-American Willie Warren, who should post huge numbers as a sophomore, then be a lottery pick (kind of like a certain Sooner did last season).

16. Minnesota: The status of Trevor Mbakwe remains unclear because of an assault charge in Florida. But he is practicing and will likely play, in which case Tubby Smith will have a big man who averaged 16.3 points and 13.2 rebounds in junior college last season.

17. Dayton: Brian Gregory's team returns the core of a roster that advanced to the second round of last season's NCAA tournament. While Xavier adjusts to the losses of Sean Miller and Derrick Brown, the Flyers must take advantage and let Chris Wright lead them to an A-10 title.

18. Ohio State: The departure of B.J. Mullens should be inconsequential, especially if Evan Turner plays like a lottery pick. A healthy David Lighty will help Thad Matta compete with Michigan State and Purdue at the top of the Big Ten.

19. Michigan: Manny Harris and DeShawn Sims provide an excellent one-two punch, and John Beilein still knows how to coach. It should be a fun year for the Wolverines, who should make the NCAA tournament and advance again.

20. California: Mike Montgomery has a core of Jerome Randle, Patrick Christopher, Theo Robertson and Jamal Boykin. He'll use it to challenge for a Pac-10 title and return to the NCAA tournament.

21. Siena: The Saints are your classic experienced and accomplished non-BCS team. There's probably a ceiling on how far they can advance. But they should have no problem making another NCAA tournament with four starters back from a team that won 27 games.

22. Louisville: It has been a wild offseason for the Cards, specifically coach Rick Pitino. But Samardo Samuels and Jerry Smith are back, and freshman Peyton Siva is expected to make an immediate impact.

23. Illinois: Yes, this is the sixth Big Ten school listed in the Top 25 (and one). So the league should be in for a good season provided the teams don't spend too much time beating up on each other.

24. Georgetown: The Hoyas were overwhelmed by their schedule last season and never recovered. That won't happen again thanks to the return of Greg Monroe, who could've been a lottery pick but instead opted for a sophomore year of college.

25. Gonzaga: It's obvious I think the Zags' reserves are more talented than the rest of the WCC's starters. Assuming I'm right, Mark Few will get another league title and hover around the Top 25 (and one) all season.

Kentucky Basketball 2009-2010 Recruiting Class

Good articles from Kentucky Basketball and their 2009-2010 recruiting class
Not even a month into his tenure, John Calipari already has made astounding progress. No, not talking Kentucky recruiting here.
Talking Twitter.
Calipari already has 60,551 people following his Internet alerts, and he's hit the "update" button 195 times. He hasn't yet gotten a signed letter of intent from Raleigh, N.C., point guard John Wall, so he hasn't had to figure out a way to squeeze that particular exclamation into 140 characters, but it's coming.
So, OK, this really is about recruiting. And coaching. And remaking the Kentucky program so fast Twitter is the ideal device to signal the Wildcats' ascent. In some ways, it's also a representation of why Calipari was able to walk into his office at the Craft Center on April 1 and transform a team that did not reach the 2009 NCAA Tournament into an early No. 1 for 2010.
As much as any coach in college basketball, Calipari embraces what is current. The modern circumstances of recruiting made it possible for him to assemble the nation's top recruiting class -- Wall, point guard Eric Bledsoe, center DeMarcus Cousins and forward Darnell Dodson to go with early signees Daniel Orton and Jon Hood -- in such a short period of time.
A half-dozen years ago:
A signed letter of intent was not as easy to escape as colleges have allowed it to become. Now, a player who signs early and wants a release because of a coaching change can be allowed to compete immediately at another school. That's how Dodson, a top junior college shooter, followed Calipari to UK after signing early with Memphis.
Nobody would have asked for the sort of escape clause Cousins, rated No. 3 in the class by Scout.com, wanted after committing to UAB. Because his request wasn't granted, Cousins remained a "free agent" and eventually committed to Memphis, then opted for UK after Calipari changed schools.
A player with Wall's ability would not have been available to anyone in Division I. Wall is ranked No. 1 by Rivals.com. He'd have placed himself on the NBA's early entry list directly out of high school. Calipari might have gained a commitment -- like from Kendrick Perkins and Amare Stoudemire -- but never would have coached him.
"The last time I've seen this much collective excitement was when Kentucky was winning in '03," said Matt Jones, who runs a UK-centric website and hosts the nightly Louisville Sports Report on WBKI-TV. "But this is even more, because unlike that team the fans know this team will have NBA lottery picks, those kinds of players.
"I just had lunch with some UK types, and they're all ready to buy their Final Four tickets."
Lots of Kentucky fans are wondering not whether this is the best recruiting class of the year (it is) but where it ranks with the best ever assembled (pretty doggoned high).
It is not the Fab Five, which Michigan assembled in 1991: three top 10 prospects in Chris Webber, Juwan Howard and Jalen Rose plus two other exceptional talents, Jimmy King and Ray Jackson, who started as freshmen.
But anybody else in the argument -- North Carolina 1993, Duke 1997, Ohio State 2006 -- has some new company.
"When you look at the first three kids, it's as good as any threesome," said recruiting analyst Van Coleman of Hoopmasters.com. "They're all going to be pros. It's going to be the other kids who have the chance to lift it into one of the best ever."
The excitement regarding Wall's commitment comes with a catch, however. Success must be immediate. He will not play a second season with the Wildcats, so he has to make them substantially better in 2009-10. It worked for Calipari when he signed Derrick Rose at Memphis, and the similarities between Wall and Rose have many expecting those kinds of results. Their games and circumstances are not identical.
With star forward Patrick Patterson back from a short excursion into the NBA draft, this team will have stronger veteran leadership than those Tigers. If Jodie Meeks comes to his senses and returns, the Wildcats will have a much more dangerous 3-point attack.
But this team will be significantly younger. Cousins, Orton, Dodson and Bledsoe have not played in Division I, and they will be important rotation players. Neither has Wall, although the lack of experience in so many spots might mean he won't have to measure himself the way Rose did early on with the Tigers.
"I think John Wall is the most difficult guard in America to check," Scout.com recruiting analyst Dave Telep said. "I don't think that's going to change much from high school to college. He's a major problem for 99 percent of the defenders he's going to face."
Wall will need to adapt to being a part of something bigger than himself and being challenged by consistently high-level competition. That'll be new to him. He'll be the finest talent in college basketball next season, but becoming the most significant player will be a greater challenge.


Kentucky's loaded -- with expectations

Tuesday, May 19, 2009 8:42 PM
Filed Under: Recruiting, 2009-10 season previews
Kentucky’s recruiting class for the ages is in place. Now the real challenge begins.
Kentucky added John Wall, the nation’s top recruit, to a class that already featured three other five-star recruits. Throw in a new coach who’s won 137 games in the last four seasons and it’s enough to make Big Blue Nation throw up their hands and shout Hallelujah!
That salivating is from hoops pundits around the country who are proclaiming Kentucky the team to beat in 2009-10. They may not be wrong.
Incoming freshmen Wall, DeMarcus Cousins, Daniel Orton, Eric Bledsoe and Jon Hood will team with junior forward Patrick Patterson and possibly senior guard Jodie Meeks (if he withdraws from the NBA draft) to form one of if not the most talented rosters in the country.
It’s a little scary to see just what John Calipari can do when it comes to recruiting at a premier program.
"I think right now everybody’s on notice," Scout.com reporter Dave Telep told the Raleigh News & Observer. "This is old school Kentucky right now, and the rest of the country has been served notice. This is the real deal. These guys are coming after players, they're getting guys, and they have a powerful product to sell."
The only thing scarier than the loaded roster? The sky-high expectations heaped upon the ‘Cats.
You won’t hear Calipari or the players complain. Even some of the local writers aren’t worried about it. But those expectations are very real, and very daunting.
Kentucky missed the NCAA tournament for the first time in nearly 20 years last season. It hasn’t been to the Final Four since 1998 or won an SEC title since 2004. And North Carolina is just five wins shy of passing Kentucky on the all-time list (don’t scoff, that one matters to the Kentucky faithful).
All of that stuff piles up. Next year, if the Wildcats start to struggle, it’ll get hairy in Lexington. How will the young roster hold up to criticism? How much leeway will fans give the new coach if UK doesn’t win enough?
Don’t misunderstand – Kentucky’s going to be good next season. It could be the nation’s best team.
But if the ‘Cats do cut do reach the Final Four or even win it all, they’ll have earned it because winning under massive expectations isn’t easy.
An experienced, talented North Carolina team had similar expectations heaped upon it this season, and managed to live up to them. Other schools – UNLV in ’91, UNC in ’94, Arizona in ’98 or Duke in ’99 – were similarly talented, but fell short.
One thing’s for sure: I’m excited to see what Kentucky can do.