Without a Lakers championship to celebrate (or a Sports Illustrated subscription to enjoy) I’ll take this time to look forward to the teams to watch out for in the 2008-2009 college basketball season. This week, I’ll tackle who I feel are the top five teams on paper going into next season. I planned on writing about my top five teams not in the top five to look out for, my top five teams who will remain relevant even with a key player loss and a few other topics, but I’ve decided to spread the wealth throughout the summer. With that being said, I present to you my pre-pre season Top 5
1.
If you’re a
Biggest Question: Will this team find a way to the tile game? I think so. This is the same core that fell apart against
Key losses: Quentin Thomas (SR) – if you really want to count him.
Notable Freshmen: Tyler Zeller (PF); Ed Davis (PF); Larry Drew (PG)
2.
One of the scary things about Pitt is that no one who doesn’t really follow college basketball knows who the real star of this team is. We’ve all heard about LeVance Fields (who may be my favorite point guard in the country) and DeJuan Blair – even Mike Cook got a considerable amount of love while healthy last season, but the return of Sam Young (18 points per, 6.3 rebounds per game and Big East Tourney MVP) has made Pitt one of next season’s favorites. The balance of Fields at the point, Young on the wings and Blair in the paint makes this one of the most complete teams in the nation. Since Cook will probably be back for another year because of another injury plagued season, Pitt will be very tough next season.
Biggest Question: Will Mike Cook be healthy? Cook can be the deal breaker with this team especially with Ronald Raymond and Keith Benjamin gone. The core of this team is going to have to carry them, and the load will be much lighter if Cook is healthy. Hopefully some of the incoming freshmen can contribute the way LeVance Fields did last season.
Key Losses: Ronald Raymond (SR), Keith Benjamin (SR)
Notable Freshmen: Nasir Robinson (SF); Travon Woodall; Ashton Gibbs
3. Notre Dame
Notre Dame is one of those schools people don’t pay attention to because they’re not a traditional basketball school, however, the fighting Irish feature the Big East’s best player in Luke Harangody (20.4 ppg, 10.6 rpg). Harangody will be back with the same solid backcourt in Troy Jackson (who has one of the best all around games in the nation) and McAlarney (who can score with the best of them) and a wealth of other solid role players. Notre Dame should be a top three team in the Big East this season and should play well into March.
Stay Hideous
-PB
(Word count to date: 27,592
76 days and 72,408 words to go)
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