The NCAA tournament is done. Time to speculate about next season. Things can and will change as the NBA draft takes shape and recruits settle on schools. With that in mind, here's a Top 25 to get the discussion started.
1. Kansas
2. Syracuse
3. Duke
4. Purdue
5. West Virginia
6. Wake Forest
7. Michigan State
8. North Carolina
9. Florida
10. Tennessee
11. Villanova
12. Ohio State
13. Pittsburgh
14. Texas
15. Florida State
16. Washington
17. Kentucky
18. Minnesota
19. Cal
20. Butler
21. Michigan
22. Texas A&M
23. Clemson
24. UCLA
25. Oklahoma State
(Just missed: Georgetown, Missouri, Louisville, Connecticut.)
There's ours. What's yours?
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I think Missouri deserves more respect. They are only loosing two guys really in Carrol and Lawerence, with Safford showing he can play in big game situations like he did in the dance as well as the big 12 championship the tigers should be fine. Also the development of Kim Englishes shot from beyond the arc has been huge this year and he should be a formidable replacement for Matt Lawerence.
You are correct, Dan!!! Mizzou will be a force next year. They have a deep bench! Some great up and coming stars, and a coach that knows how to put together a TEAM! I like Kansas too, but I think Mizzou should be up there!
Mizzou should be good. But when a team loses its top 2 scorers and best 3-point shooter, there's room for doubt.
I'm not sure why there's such a lack of respect for Mizzou, but I agree they shouldn't be overlooked. Mizzou has more than enough developing firepower and new prospects to make up for the loss of the three Seniors (i.e. Kim English for Matt Lawrence).
Their coach believed in the program enough to leave about $700,000 on the table when he opted to sign a contract extension to stay at Missouri. The Big 12 has several good teams but any analyst worth their salt should know to expect great things from this team.
Missouri, especially coach Anderson, does deserve credit. Whether they deserve ranking is far from certain. Big men who can score, defend AND run the floor are very hard to replace. With his own recruits now a majority, '40 minutes of hell' will be more of a reality, but who will fill the lane?
this list is outrageous. for starters how can you not have uconn in the top 25 even? their likely to be a top 25 team with kemba walker stanley robinson jerome dyson back from injury gavin edwards ater majouk finally gaining eligibability and a strong recruiting class and duke 3rd? hahaha i mean come on si put a little thought into these lists
I'm unsure Robinson is coming back. You can say that for several players on this list, but that was the thoght with UConn.
GO VOLS!!!
It's amazing. One man's decision to jump ship can decimate Memphis' standing. How sad.
Watch Memphis! "Josh" will squeeze every school in the country to get the dream team that coach Cal left behind.
Pretty optimistic take on who's coming back. Aldrich is a top 10 pick, he's as good as gone. So is Gerald Henderson. Boeheim has told Flynn to look at his draft status, I'd be surprised to see him back at Syracuse. And at least two of the Wake trio of Aminu, Teauge and Johson will be gone as well. I know everyone came back for that Florida team to win back-to-back titles, and everyone came back to UNC this year, but that's not going to happen with most kids most of the time. This list will be a lot different in June.
If DeRozan stays another year (he didn't show enough consistency to really be considered NBA ready), then USC should be up here as well. Agreed that Henderson and Flynn are as good as gone. No telling about Aminu, Teague, and Johnson however.
KU BABY! Jayhawks for 2010 all the wayyyyyyy (Collins is a beast)
KU overachieved this whole year....i know thats hard to say but a lot of people i know believe it....and next year will be a top 10 but their talent isnt that great....its just they have a lot of decent players who play together plus a couple stars....there will be at least 4 teams better than them next year.
Sorry Seth, but you are wrong. Kansas does what it does because Self knows how to build a team. There may be four schools next year with better talent, but none with a better team.
I would also point out that Kansas has "overachieved" for a least the last two years (they barely got a one seed in 07-08, and were widely believed to be the weakest of the ones). The persistence of that pattern probably is more indicative of a media under-estimation than of a team over-achievement.
I think you are wrong. Do you remember how LSU went to the Final Four in 2006 and returned everyone and i think added some great newcomers the next year and had a losing record? That shows that they won a lot of close games and caught a lot of good teams at the right time...proving they overachieved....case and point being that kansas won the Big 12 but didnt beat any of the top 3 teams when they were 100% healthy...griffin didnt play against them and i know texas and missouri had at least 1 guy out when they played them also. They had an easy bracket and only got to the sweet sixteen...Michigan State played one of the worst games they played all year and beat kansas...so when kansas doesnt get any further than the sweet 16 or elite 8 next year this will be an indication of over-achievement.
North Carolina won't even see the Top 25 after the preseason rankings, gaurenteed.
Please...whatever...#1 recruiting class and a big man nucleus...we will see the Top 25...and we have Roy Williams!
You never know with a young team it is up in the air. What I cannot believe is Michigan ST is not rated higher.
You guys that don't think Carolina will not be good next year....Wake up!! They will be a top 10 team all year......I also agree that Mich st should be higher..
duke fan obvioulsy.....carolina will easily be in the top 10 all year no matter who stays. This shows how many dumb asses can just get on here and post something.
Glad some of you see clearly. Michigan State should be at the top of this list.
Thank you for mentioning Kentucky. Looks like the 'Cats are back!!!!
embarrassing to put ucla 24th behind wash and cal. ucla returns some young players that received solid experience this year and of course howland brings in yet another top recruiting class. he will finally have two bigs to compliment holiday, lee, anderson, roll, etc. granted this team will be young but very athletic and will win the pac 10.
Where is Southern Cal? They were spotty this year but extremely young. They won the Pac-10 conferene chanpionship, have Floyd back and some of the top incoming freshman.
Look out for those rookies in WV!!
Where is Xavier at in the top 25....you have got to be kidding me!
Xavier lost its coach and arguably two best players in Raymond and Anderson. I'd say they have issues.
issues? they have derrick brown, jason love, dante jackson, kenny frease, jamel mclean, terrell holloway and brad redford coming back from a sweet sixteen team. Oh, and I forgot Jamal Crawford. no issues there.....this column is the only thing with issues.
Tenn and Fl in the top 10!?? This ain't football Dude. Pearl rode on Lofton's coat tails for 3 year!!!! Fl doesn't play anybody in their non conference schedule...gimme a break!!! UK is gonna be the team to beat next year in the SEC!!!!
The Vols return every starter from an underrated team and the Gators should also have everyone back plus a great recruiting class. Why wouldn't they be better than Kentucky since UK was worse this season?
Cats are still sleeping and Pearl has Cal's number no matter how many players Cal and World Wide Wes pay to play at UK. UK is still living in that dream world called The Rupp Hangover. UK lost those games in the last part of the SEC season for a reason....the players wore out and no depth was on the bench to replace the two man team of Gillespie.
Might be better ranking the coaches vs. the teams. Big 10 looks much tougher, MSU and Purdue are right there
No Xavier in the top 25? You really can't explain that.
Watch out for Arizona. with a new coach and possibly landing solomon hill, a 9th ranked center from florida and nic wise coming back. arizona could surprise everybody once again!
The Anaheim tourney in November is going to be awesome. West Virginia, UCLA, Clemson, Minnesota, Butler and a few others. Look for Butler to make a run with everyone returning from this year's team.
The Baylor Bears will break into the top 25 at some point next season. We have excellent guards and a big transfer from Michigan. We don't have the same expectations this year and that is good for BU.
This guy aint got a clue. Louisville will be in the top 10 before conference play begins next year.