[RalwarezParticipant]

Next season will be a thriller, all the first-rounders heading back to theyr colleges.

I´d say – there are definitely three super-teams next season:

1. North Carolina. Something we have not seen in years. John Henson, Tyler Zeller and James McAdoo on the paint. Harrison Barnes and Reggie Bullock on the wing. Kendall Marshall, Dexter Strickland, Leslie MacDonald and P.J. Hairston on he backcourt. (This makes 9-men-rotation without any weak link!) And furthermore… Justin Watts, Desmond Hubert and JAckson Simmons on the bench … just in case. There will be no problems ith points from the paint, blocking shots, rebounding, defending, transition-game, half-court-game, dribbling, 3-point shooting, toughness. They got everything. Special: everything.

2. Ohio State. Almost the same.. Jared Sullinger, Amir Williams, Nikola Kecman on the paint. (NC looks bigger, more versatile and more experienced though), DeShaun Thomas, LaQuinton Ross, Sam Thompson on the wing. Aaron Craft and Shannon Scott at point. And William Buford, Jordan Sibert at 2. That makes a 10-man pretty solid rotation, which has it´s leader at frontcourt (Sullinger), backcourt (Buford, Craft) and wing (Thomas). And Lenzelle Smith jr, Trey McDonald developing on the bench. Could there be any problems somewhere? 3-point shooting? maybe a little, as Buford is the only pure shooter on the team. Size? maybe a little… against North Carolina and Baylor. No problems with points from the paint, blocking shots (Williams), rebounding, defending, transition-game, half-court-game, dribbling, toughness. Special: toughness and aggressiveness.

3. Baylor. This team has size, which is absolutely amazing… haven´t seen something like that for years…. Perry Jones (6-11), Anthony Jones (6-10), J´mison Morgan (6-11), Quincy Miller (6-10) and Dragan Sekelja (7-0).  And Perry Jones, Anthony Jones, Quincy Miller are incredibly versatile and mobile. Very hard to defend. They lacked aggressiveness last year though. Plus – Fred Ellis, Quincy Acy on the wing, AJ Walton, Stargell Love, Deuce Bello at the backcourt. That makes a very tough 9-man rotation (Jones, Jones, Morgan, Miller, Ellis, Acy, Walton, Bello, Love) and leaves plenty to the bench as well. They may have experience different problems though: lack of aggressiveness at the paint, overall inexperience, toughness, leadership… But the talent of this team is something special. And size. And one more good thing – they got ride of Dunn – that means – 10 more quality shots per game.

4. Duke is Duke – Three Plumlee-brothers plus Ryan Kelly – they are a load on the paint. Austin Rivers, Seth Curry, Andre Dawkins – they sure can shoot the ball. Quinn Cook is a top notch playmaker. Michael Gbinije, Joshua Hairston, Alex Murphy on the wing. Plus – coach K. They will be an excellent rebounding and defencive team – as Duke always is. Do they have a weaknesses? Compared to previous three  -maybe. Their wing-position is theyr weakest spot – with Kyle Singler gone. They don´t have an instant replacement, both on offensive and defencive end. Barnes, Deshaun Thomas, Reggie Bullock, Quincy Miller, Quincy Acy can cause them problems. But overall -this year´s Duke team is top4 again, and not weaker than last year´s.

So. Who could be the 5th team in this fabulous 5 list? If terrence Jones and Brandon Knight will return, then kentucky, hands down. But if not?
– Pittsburgh? ( – Gibbs, Talib Zanna, Aaron Nwankwo, Khem Bhirch, Dante Taylor, Lamar Patterson, Travon Woodall, Nasir Robinson, J.J. Moore, Malcolm Gilbert, Durand Johnson -)? – – Connecticut? – (Oriakhi, Roscoe Smith, Shabazz Napier, jeremy Lamb, Tyler Olander, Jamal Coombs-McDaniel, Niels Giffey, Ryan Boatright- )
– Kansas? Arkansas? Anyone else?

Or maybe no-one else?

[sammybuckeye13Participant]

Are we sure David Lighty won’t be back at Ohio State again next year?

[Demarcus OnealParticipant]

 Lousiville could be good, Michigan will be a strong darkhorse if Darius Morris returns and Syracuse has a very strong team with Kris Joseph returning, with Scoop Jardine and a bunch of talented young guys, as long with Rakeem Christmas coming in to replace Rick Jackson

[GlenTaylorSucksParticipant]

Not the Spartans, but the Wolverines. I expect them to give Ohio State a serious challenge for the Big ten title next year. They return all of their starters, and the majority of their key players this year were freshmen and sophomores. They’ll only get better as time goes on. But, that said, I don’t think they’ll ultimately be a top 10 team. Just a dark horse suggestion.

[Demarcus OnealParticipant]

 Also how can Kentucky not be one of these fabolous 5 teams?

[B FreeParticipant]

Darius Morris has entered the draft and while he can still take his name out. But in a weak draft like this he could be a first rounder. And without him they are a buble team.

[B FreeParticipant]

I dont think teams full of one and dones (Kentucky) can be champs, it takes a combo of good veterans who can be leaders and top prospects.

[RalwarezParticipant]

Wolverines looked really great with Morris. Hope he comes back to develop his game. Kentucky without Terrence Jones and Knight will be vulnerable at the paint – Eloy Vargas was´nt much of a factor loast year. Anthony Davis and Kyle Wiltjer are extremely talented, but have very little experience at the position and lack the bulk – compared to NC frontline, OSU and Duke frontline (and many others). Kentucky´s backcourt and wing may be the best on the country, but cannot win the title, if you can´t rebound, defend interior zone, and handle the physical play. That´s my opinion.

Nevertheless – my personal opinion is – with Jones and Knight – Kentucky is locked fabulous 5 team. Without them – not so much. Then either Pitt or UConn

[ProudGrandpaParticipant]

Are we sure David Lighty won’t be back at Ohio State again next year?

If you are serious, you are a moron, like a great number of Ohio State fans.

If you are joking, I totally agree with you.  It seems like that guy has been there since, well, since Bismack Biyambo was born.

[ItalyscoutParticipant]

the 5th is kansas

special team,players and special GROUP

[Snubs15Participant]

Kentucky has to be up there. Just because they have a bunch of one and dones doesnt mean they wont be dominant next year.

[FastAndFuriousParticipant]

Also you left out a player for BAylor who is def going to play next year…..5’8 JUCO National Player Of The Year…Pierre Jackson

[providencefriars1Participant]

How can you say that Ohio St. hasnt lost a lot? Diebler was one of the best if not the best 3point shooter in college this year and Lighty provided another scorer and veteran presence. Lighty stroked it from deep too, he shot 43% from 3pt range. I wouldnt give Ohio St top 5 status, but certaintly top 10.

I agree UNC and Duke are definitly in the top 5, it is also pretty safe to throw Baylor in there to. Kentucky should be in there as well. Some teams that could get that 5 spot are Kansas, Michigan(with morris), UConn, Vanderbilt just to name a few.   

One team I would not even consider is Pittsburgh. They are losing Gibbs(?), Brown, Wannamaker, and Mcghee who were their 4 best players. Khem Birch is a great addition but they already had good big man depth with Robinson, Taylor, and Zanna. This team is a year or two way.

[OhCanada-Participant]

Its Kentucky…

[TRC1991Participant]

what about vandy?? jenkins, taylor, ezeli, tinsley, thats a darn good team

[RUDEBOY_Participant]

Yeah, i’m expecting a great college basketball season next year..not only those teams you mentioned..But also teams like Syracuse,Kentucky,Vandy,UCLA, Miss.State,Florida,Memphis,Florida State and even though Kansas lost the Morris twins they’re going to be a top 25 club…

Another thing is there will be alot of teams that will have so much depth and experience… Now (EXPERIENCE)thats a word he hardly hear these days in college basketball…

[Dale WorthingtonParticipant]

Other elite teams:

1) Vanderbilt (called them a potential Final Four team for next year and received some flack…as Taylor said, all the key pieces are coming back).

2) Louisville (everyone coming back minus Knowles. They’re gonna have the best depth in the nation next year. The Ville also has a strong recruiting class.)

3) Michigan (Morris has to come back though)

4) Syracuse

5) Memphis

Sleepers:

1) Wazzu (Klay Thompson has to come back though)

2) Harvard (everyone coming back)

3) Temple

4) Belmont

5) NC State

6) Gonzaga (Not really a sleeper but they’ll be much better next year)

7) St. Mary’s

 

[providencefriars1Participant]

Detroit is another major sleeper they have Ray Mccalum who was a highly touted freshman and Eli Holman who is a PF who averged 12 and 9  while shooting 60% the past two seasons.

[omphalosParticipant]

I’m very interested to see what Will Barton and Memphis do with another off-season to get stronger/work on their games. They gave the Wildcats a run for their money, and I like what I see from that team, should be fun to watch.

[RUDEBOY_Participant]

Eli Holman should’ve came out this year..Not that many people talk about him..But he’s very underrated..With a lot of top prospects going back to college…He could’ve slipped into the late 1st round this year…

[ProudGrandpaParticipant]

They’re not just a one-man show.  That other guy is going pro.  What’s his name…?

[providencefriars1Participant]

Holman has good size for a 4 at 6’10” 255.  Another player like that is Jarrod Jones from Ball St. He averged 15 and 8 this year and has nice size at 6’9”.

[ProudGrandpaParticipant]

Thanks for showing the love to the Midwest mid-majors like Ball State and Detroit.  I agree with you on both counts.  Detroit could beat out Butler if Mack leaves and Ball State is also a MAC contender.

[cward23Participant]

If UNC has a weakness its three point shooting. Despite Bullocks rep he didn’t shoot that well before he got hurt. Barnes shoot 34percent, and Who knows if P.J is gonna shoot as well in college against better comp than he did in H.S.

As a team they shot 32 percent

Baylor lost Dunn which was 20 something points a game and they weren’t that good last year, they do add Miller but he won’t be replacing that 20ppg by his self. They are gonna have to make a big jump to be a top 5 team when they weren’t even a top 40 team last season

Kentucky Does have vets (liggins if he comes back and Miller along with lamb). Its still a question mark if Davis Gilchrist, teague, and Wiltjer can do on the college level what they did on the H.S level but on potential alone they rival UNC top 4 guys and from what i read they are the clear cut favorite to be ranked number two without Knight and Jones.

1.UNC
2.UK
3.Duke
4.Pitt
5.between Cuse and Ohio St

[providencefriars1Participant]

There are tons of guys like Holman and Jones, unheralded from non power conferences. I’ll name some more to keep an eye on:

Drew Gordon, New Mexico

Andrew Nicholson, Bonaventure

Alex Young, IUPUI

Dario Hunt, Nevada

Chase Stanbeck, UNLV

Damian Lillard, Weber St

Troy Gillenwater, New Mexico St

Micheal Glover, Iona

Cameron Moore, UAB

 

[oden07Participant]

unc could run the table next year because all of those players will be even better and I think harrison barnes will get better and win the naismith and will be an absolute monster.

[UNITEDweRISE31Participant]

florida anyone? sharp shooter real deal beal, kenny boynton, erving walker, and a superb athlete in patric young

[JNixonParticipant]

Look out for the Washington Huskies and the UCLA Bruins.

[Author]

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