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College Basketball Rankings – January 3rd, 2010

January 3, 2011

TOP 25:

1. Duke (13-0)
Key Wins: Marquette, Kansas State, MSU, Butler, Miami
Key Losses:
Analysis: Duke cruised through most of December and got their first challenge in nearly a month from a solid Miami team tonight, but came out of the game remaining undefeated.
Last Week: #1

2. Ohio State (14-0)
Key Wins: Florida, FSU, South Carolina, Oakland
Key Losses:
Analysis: Nothing much new to say about the Buckeyes except that I’m looking forward to their Big Ten match-ups.
Last Week: #2

3. Kansas (12-0)
Key Wins: Arizona, UCLA, Memphis, USC, Cal
Key Losses:
Last Week: #3

4. Syracuse (15-0)
Key Wins: MSU, NC State, NDU
Key Losses:
Analysis: Syracuse opened Big East play with a win over Providence and a big victory over Notre Dame. With a #3 ranking in the RPI and a top 35 SoS mark, I can’t say they’re untested anymore.
Last Week: #5

5. Pittsburgh (13-1)
Key Wins: Maryland, Texas, UCONN
Key Losses: Tennessee
Analysis: The final score of the Pitt-UCONN game looked closer than it actually was. Pitt pretty much dominated from the opening tip, never gave up the lead, and made Kemba Walker work for every single one of his 31 points.
Last Week: #7

6. San Diego State (15-0)
Key Wins: Gonzaga, St. Mary’s,Wichita St., Cal
Key Losses:
Analysis: There’s something incredible about a team like San Diego State being ranked this high. If they can come out of conference play with a top 10 ranking, that would be quite the feat, one likely worthy of at least a #3 seed.
Last Week: #8

7. Connecticut (11-1)
Key Wins: Wichita State, MSU, Kentucky
Key Losses: Pitt
Analysis: UCONN really got exposed by Pittsburgh last week. No one thought this was a top 25 team in the preseason, let alone a top 5 team. Kemba Walker may wind up being a first team All-American, but his supporting cast looked awful against Pitt and one man can only do so much. Kemba is going to get his points, but UCONN is going to need to look more like a basketball TEAM if they plan on getting a top 4 seed in the NCAA tournament.
Last Week: #4

8. Georgetown (12-2)
Key Wins: NC State, ODU, Missouri, Utah State, Memphis
Key Losses: Temple, Notre Dame
Analysis: Obviously, I think Georgetown has been an underrated team so far. I still have Georgetown higher in my rankings than they were in the AP Poll last week before losing at Notre Dame. Here’s the thing, the Hoyas have lost to two good teams, but they also have more quality wins than just about anyone in the country (five); even with a loss this past week, Georgetown is still #1 in RPI, #3 in strength of schedule and 12-2 overall. Let’s be serious here.
Last Week: #6

9. Villanova (12-1)
Key Wins: UCLA, Temple
Key Losses: Tennessee
Analysis: The win over Temple was big and Nova figures to stay hot as they open with one of the easier stretches of any Big East team: vs. Rutgers, @ South Florida, and vs. Cincinnati.
Last Week: #9

10. Kentucky (11-2)
Key Wins: Washington, Notre Dame, Louisville
Key Losses: UCONN, UNC
Analysis: KU smoked Louisville on the road and could go undefeated in January against the far easier half of its SEC schedule.
Last Week: #10

11. Missouri (13-1)
Key Wins: Vanderbilt, Illinois, ODU
Key Losses: Georgetown
Last Week: #12

12. BYU (14-1)
Key Wins: Utah St., St. Mary’s, Arizona, UTEP
Key Losses: UCLA
Analysis: Big match-up on the road vs. UNLV this coming Wednesday.
Last Week: #13

13. Purdue (13-1)
Key Wins: Oakland, Virginia Tech, Michigan, N’western
Key Losses: Richmond
Analysis: Great start to Big Ten play for Purdue with a dismantling of Michigan on the road and another quality win over Northwestern at home.
Last Week: #14

14. Texas (11-2)
Key Wins: Illinois, @UNC, @MSU
Key Losses: @Pitt, @USC
Analysis: The Longhorns’ stock has risen the past couple weeks with wins over Michigan State and North Carolina on the road.
Last Week: #15

15. Texas A&M (12-1)
Key Wins: Temple, Washington, Arkansas
Key Losses: BCU
Last Week: #17

16. Notre Dame (12-2)
Key Wins: Cal, Georgia, @Wisconsin, Gonzaga, Georgetown
Key Loses: @Kentucky, @Syracuse
Analysis: Pretty break even week for The Fighting Irish with a big win over Georgetown and an expected loss vs. Syracuse on the road.
Last Week: #16

17. Kansas State (11-3)
Key Wins: Gonzaga, Virginia Tech, @WSU
Key Losses: @Duke, @Florida, UNLV
Analysis: KSU hit a bad stretch that finds them relatively underrated at the moment. This is still a top ten team and they should start creeping back up the rankings now that Jacob Pullen is back.
Last Week: #18

18. UCF (13-0)
Key Wins: Florida, @Miami
Key Losses:
Analysis: In my first edit of this post, I had Memphis and UCF switched, but when you compare resumes, UCF has the better wins and remains undefeated, even if Memphis has played a tougher schedule. Conference USA is shaping up to be surprisingly competitive.
Last Week: #23

19. Memphis (10-2)
Key Wins: Miami, @LSU
Key Losses: @Kansas, Georgetown
Analysis: Memphis heads to Tennessee to take on a struggling Volunteers team this coming Wednesday before diving into the C-USA schedule.
Last Week: #20

20. UNLV (12-2)
Key Wins: @Murray St., Wisconsin, @Virginia Tech, @KSU
Key Losses: @Louisville, UCSB
Analysis: Somehow the Running Rebels went unranked in the AP poll last week despite possessing three quality road wins, an 11-2 record, and a top 25 ranking in the RPI. What else do they want?
Last week: #24

21. Minnesota (11-3)
Key Wins: Siena, W.Kentucky, @UNC, @West Virginia, @St. Joe’s
Key Losses: Virginia, @Wisconsin, @MSU
Analysis: Minnesota had a tough week taking two losses on the road against two good opponents (MSU, Wisconsin) and come tumbling down the rankings this week.
Last Week: #11

22. Illinois (12-3)
Key Wins: @Maryland, UNC, @Gonzaga
Key Losses: @Texas, @Ill.Chicago, @Missouri
Last Week: #21

23. Washington (10-3)
Key Wins: Portland, @USC, @UCLA
Key Losses: @MSU, @Kentucky, @Texas A&M
Analysis: How close are the Huskies to being 13-0 right now? It’s not hard to imagine a scenario where UW wins the three games they lost; they were all pretty close up until the final minutes. Seriously, Washington could easily be San Diego State and if I had to bet between the two teams, I’d go with my Dawgs. As it is, UW has fought its way back into the top 25 by winning two of the toughest games on the PAC-10 ledger. They are also at #23 in the RPI and 29th in strength of schedule, so I’m not just being a homer here.
Last Week: Unranked

24. Louisville (11-2)
Key Wins: Butler, UNLV, @W.Kentucky
Key Losses: Drexel, Kentucky
Analysis: Losing to Kentucky at home isn’t great, but it’s not terrible either.
Last Week: #22

25. Michigan State (9-4)
Key Wins: Washington, Oakland, Minnesota
Key Losses: @UCONN, @Duke, @Syracuse, Texas
Analysis: When you look at some of the losses MSU has taken, it’s hard to say too many teams have played a much tougher schedule (even though the rank 29th in strength of schedule). MSU also has a measly #49 ranking in the RPI. I had this spot reserved for Wisconsin, but the Badgers couldn’t pull off the upset vs. Illinois on Sunday night.
Last Week: Unranked

DROPPED OUT:

19. West Virginia (8-4)
Key Wins: Oakland, Vanderbilt, VMI, Cleveland St.
Key Losses: Minnesota, @Miami, St. John’s, @Marquette
Analysis: West Virginia went from being a little underrated nationally to dropping its first two games of Big East play against a couple of the conference’s medium-talented teams.

25. Tennessee (9-4)
Key Wins: VCU, Villanova, @Pittsburgh
Key Losses: Oakland, @Charlotte, USC, Charleston
Analysis: The Vols continue their fall from grace with another loss, this time vs. Charleston, their third loss at home against a team they should be better than.

NEXT FIVE:

Butler (10-4)
Key Wins: @Siena, Stanford, FSU, @WSU
Key Losses: @Louisville, Evansville, @Duke, @Xavier

Florida (10-3)
Key Wins: @FSU, KSU, Xavier
Key Losses: OSU, @UCF, Jacksonville

Temple (9-3)
Key Wins: Georgetown, @Georgia, @Maryland
Key Losses: @Cal, @Texas A&M, @Villanova

Vanderbilt (10-2)
Key Wins: UNC, Marquette
Key Losses: WVU, Missouri

Wisconsin (11-3)
Key Wins: @BCU, NC State, @Marquette, Minnesota
Key Losses: @UNLV, Notre Dame, @Illinois

BUBBLE:

Arizona (11-2)
Key Wins: NC State
Key Losses: Kansas, BYU

Baylor (9-3)
Key Wins: ASU
Key Losses: Gonzaga, WSU, FSU

Boston College (11-3)
Key Wins: Texas A&M, Cal, Maryland, South Carolina
Key Losses: Yale, Wisconsin, RIU

Cincinnati (14-0)
Key Wins:
Key Losses:

Cleveland State (15-1)
Key Wins:
Key Losses: West Virginia

Gonzaga (10-5)
Key Wins: Marquette, Baylor, Xavier, OK St.
Key Losses: KSU, SDSU, Illinois, WSU, Notre Dame

North Carolina (9-4)
Key Wins: Kentucky
Key Losses: Vanderbilt, Minnesota, Illinois, Texas

Northwestern (9-2)
Key Wins: Georgia Tech
Key Losses: St. John’s, Purdue

Oklahoma State (11-2)
Key Wins: Murray St., Stanford
Key Losses: Virginia Tech, Gonzaga

Old Dominion (9-3)
Key Wins: Xavier, Clemson, Richmond, Dayton
Key Losses: Georgetown, Delaware, Missouri

Richmond (10-3)
Key Wins: Purdue, ASU, VCU
Key Losses: Iona, ODU, G-Tech

St. John’s (9-3)
Key Wins: ASU, N’western, WVU
Key Losses: St. Mary’s, St. Bonaventure, Fordham

St. Mary’s (12-2)
Key Wins: St. John’s, Texas Tech, Miss State
Key Losses: BYU, SDSU

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Weekly College Basketball Rankings 12/27

December 27, 2010

I’ve been sick this past holiday weekend, so I’m just doing a fast update today. No team-by-team analysis. I copied and pasted the rankings from my Word document, so I have every team’s important wins and losses listed as well. Last Week’s Ranking in brackets:

Top 25

1. Duke (11-0) [1]
Key Wins: Marquette, Kansas State, MSU, Butler
Key Losses:

2. Ohio State (12-0) [2]
Key Wins: Florida, FSU, South Carolina, Oakland
Key Losses:

3. Kansas (11-0) [3]
Key Wins: Arizona, UCLA, Memphis, USC, Cal
Key Losses:

4. Connecticut (10-0) [4]
Key Wins: Wichita State, MSU, Kentucky
Key Losses:

5. Syracuse (13-0) [5]
Key Wins: MSU, NC State
Key Losses:

6. Georgetown (10-1) [6]
Key Wins: NC State, ODU, Missouri, Utah State, Memphis
Key Losses: Temple

7. Pittsburgh (12-1) [7]
Key Wins: Maryland, Texas
Key Losses: Tennessee

8. San Diego State (14-0) [9]
Key Wins: Gonzaga, St. Mary’s,Wichita St., Cal
Key Losses:

9. Villanova (10-1) [10]
Key Wins: UCLA
Key Losses: Tennessee

10. Kentucky (9-2) [11]
Key Wins: Washington, Notre Dame
Key Losses: UCONN, UNC

11. Minnesota (11-1) [14]
Key Wins: Siena, W.Kentucky, UNC, West Virginia
Key Losses: Virginia

12. Missouri (11-1) [15]
Key Wins: Vanderbilt, Illinois
Key Losses: Georgetown

13. BYU (12-1) [18]
Key Wins: Utah St., St. Mary’s, Arizona, UTEP
Key Losses: UCLA

14. Purdue (11-1) [13]
Key Wins: Oakland, Virginia Tech
Key Losses: Richmond

15. Texas (10-2) [22]
Key Wins: Illinois, UNC, MSU
Key Losses: Pitt, USC

16. Notre Dame (11-1) [21]
Key Wins: Cal, Georgia, Wisconsin, Gonzaga
Key Loses: Kentucky

17. Texas A&M (11-1) [23]
Key Wins: Temple, Washington, Arkansas
Key Losses: BCU

18. Kansas State (10-3) [8]
Key Wins: Gonzaga, Virginia Tech, WSU
Key Losses: Duke, Florida, UNLV

19. West Virginia (8-2) [25]
Key Wins: Oakland, Vanderbilt, VMI, Cleveland St.
Key Losses: Minnesota, Miami

20. Memphis (9-2) [12]
Key Wins: Miami, LSU
Key Losses: Kansas, Georgetown

21. Illinois (10-3) [16]
Key Wins: Maryland, UNC, Gonzaga
Key Losses: Texas, Ill.Chicago, Missouri

22. Louisville (10-1) [unranked]
Key Wins: Butler, UNLV, W.Kentucky
Key Losses: Drexel

23. UCF (11-0) [unranked]
Key Wins: Florida, Miami
Key Losses:

24. UNLV (11-2) [unranked]
Key Wins: Wisconsin, Virginia Tech, KSU
Key Losses: Louisville, UCSB

25. Tennessee (8-3) [17]
Key Wins: VCU, Villanova, Pittsburgh
Key Losses: Oakland, Charlotte, USC

Dropped Out:

19. Baylor (8-3)
Key Wins: ASU
Key Losses: Gonzaga, WSU, FSU

20. Michigan State (8-4)
Key Wins: Washington, Oakland
Key Losses: UCONN, Duke, Syracuse, Texas

24. Florida (9-3)
Key Wins: FSU, KSU
Key Losses: OSU, UCF, Jacksonville

Bubble:

Boston College (10-2)
Key Wins: Texas A&M, Cal, Maryland
Key Losses: Wisconsin

Butler (9-4)
Key Wins: Siena, Stanford, FSU, WSU
Key Losses: Louisville, Evansville, Duke, Xavier

Old Dominion (9-2)
Key Wins: Xavier, Clemson, Richmond, Dayton
Key Losses: Georgetown, Delaware

Temple (9-2)
Key Wins: Georgetown, Georgia, Maryland
Key Losses: Cal, Texas A&M

Washington (8-3)
Key Wins: Texas Tech, Portland
Key Losses: MSU, Kentucky, Texas A&M

Washington State (10-2)
Key Wins: Gonzaga, Miss. St., Baylor
Key Losses: Kansas State, Butler

Notes:

-College basketball was mostly dormant this weekend, but the first half of the week saw a lot of top 25 teams taking losses, which lead to major shuffling in the rankings.

-What’s it going to take for Michigan State to fall out of the national rankings? They were #12 last week with 3 losses… what does 4 losses get you?

-Biggest losers of the week were Tennessee, Kansas State, and Baylor. Who knows what’s going on with the Volunteers, but at least KSU can point to the absence of their top two scorers. They are both on the verge of falling out of the rankings, but these are both teams I’d have a hard time betting against in March. Same goes for MSU. Baylor was a team I’ve had question marks about all season. Heading into this past week, they were ranked #15 in the national polls, but didn’t even crack the top 100 of the RPI. They’ve played three good teams and taken three losses. Consider them exposed.

-Biggest winners of the week were Texas and Butler. Texas knocked off Michigan State and Butler won the tournament in Hawaii, taking down Florida State and Washington State in the process. Texas could be as high as #12 in the national rankings and I wouldn’t be surprised if Butler found itself ranked again. Butler cracks the top 10 of the RPI and rank #3 in strength of schedule; not bad for a team that was having columns written about its dismal tournament chances a couple weeks ago. For now, Butler is good enough to be at the top of my bubble.

-When I updated my rankings in the middle of the week, I had Washington State @ #19. They’ve been impressive lately, but they got smoked by Butler on Christmas and cost themselves a top 25 spot. If they win that game, they probably get a national ranking.

-With Baylor, Tennessee, Illinois, and Florida all possibly exiting the top 25, there’s a chance Washington cracks the national rankings today. They were 27th in votes last week, and if four teams drop out, it’s likely they take a spot. Personally–even as a homer–I don’t think they deserve it. Much like Baylor, Washington has played against three good teams and lost all three games. One difference, Washington was in all three of those games until the last couple minutes. I still think UW is a top 15 team when it comes to talent and depth, but I’m basing my rankings on performance, not potential, and Washington has been disappointing so far.

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College Basketball Rankings 11/28/2010

November 29, 2010

Last week’s rankings in brackets:

TOP 25

1. Duke (6-0): Duke survived it’s first tests of the season edging a possible tourney team from Marquette and easily handling #4 Kansas State. [1]

2. Ohio State (5-0): Looking forward to seeing what these guys can do against a stretch of good teams. [3]

3. Pittsburgh (7-0): Panthers still cruising after a good start to the season. [4]

4. Kansas (6-0): The Jayhawks got their first test of the season and beat a good Arizona team, plus Josh Selby is eligible soon, so these guys are just going to get better. [6]

5. Kansas State (5-1): KSU took a pretty bad loss against Duke, but hey, that’s the number one team in the nation and Kansas State already has a couple good wins under their belt (Gonzaga, Virginia Tech). [4]

6. Connecticut (5-0): Talk about a statement. UCONN headed into last week unranked by everyone and projected to finish in the bottom half of the Big East by most publications. Apparently, Kemba Walker and Alex Oriachi disagreed; UCONN toppled a good Wichita State team, #2 Michigan State, and #9 Kentucky en route to winning the Maui Invitational and Walker looked like the most dominant player in the nation. I’ve never heard of an unranked team jumping this far up the rankings, but I can’t see how you can rank them lower. They are #1 in the RPI rankings, #1 in strength of schedule, and they’re still undefeated. I could see an argument for them being in the top 5. I can’t wait to see what the AP does with them tomorrow. [Unranked]

7. Michigan State (5-1): It’s interesting how these rankings work. Michigan State lost to unranked UCONN, which is going to plummet them from the #2 spot. But… starting tomorrow, losing to Connecticut isn’t going to be so bad. Go figure. The Spartans did bounce back by edging PAC-10 favorite Washington. [2]

8. Syracuse (6-0): Still waiting for this team to play someone good. I doubt this is a top 10 team. They’re playing very tight games against some mediocre schools. [8]

9. Florida (5-1): Gators jump up a few spots and got a decent win under their belt today (vs. Florida State). [12]

10. Memphis (5-0): Hmmm… is Memphis really a top 10 team? Hard to say, but they’ve beat two teams from major conferences and play Kansas, Georgetown, and Tennessee before entering conference play, so we’ll know for sure after that stretch. [13]

11. Kentucky (4-1): Like Michigan State, the Wildcats fell victim to The Kemba Walker Show this past week. However, also like Michigan State, they notched a win over Washington. Plus, Terrence Jones looks damn good… there was hype around him in the preseason, but he could wind up being an All-American and top 3 draft pick this year. [7]

12. Baylor (4-0): Undefeated, but untested. [14]

13. Illinois (6-1): Easy week for the Illini. [15]

14. Georgetown (6-0): Same for the Hoyas. [17]

15. Tennessee (5-0): I hate on the Volunteers every year and they consistently prove me wrong. I was hoping to drop them out of the Top 25 this week; instead they had the best week of any team not named Connecticut. The Vols are #2 in RPI rankings and #7 in strength of schedule. The AP had them #24 last week, but they should be right around here now. I was tempted to rank them even higher than this. [18]

16. Minnesota (6-0): Minnesota maintains after a surprisingly strong start. [19]

17. Villanova (5-1): Just when I bite the bullet and bump Villanova up my rankings, they get upset by Tennessee. [10]

18. Purdue (5-1): I wanted to believe that Purdue could survive as a top ten team without Robbie Hummel, but I felt an impending sense of doom surrounding this team. They hadn’t played anybody special and I thought Richmond might upset them and they did exactly that. Richmond’s a good team, but that’s a game Purdue needs to win. [9]

19. Gonzaga (3-2): The Zags took another loss, but salvaged their top 25 spot with a win over Marquette. [16]

20. Washington (3-2): As a Huskies fan, this was a heartbreaking week. After absolutely demolishing Virginia, the Huskies played a mediocre game against Kentucky and still hung in there until the last couple minutes. They followed that up with a solid showing against Michigan State and barely lost that one. Even though UW took two tough losses, they still showed they are a team to be reckoned with. They’ll climb back up these rankings soon enough. I hope! [11]

21. San Diego State (6-0): Maintaining… [23]

22. Missouri (5-0): I’m waiting for Missouri to lose a game so I can say “Ha!” but it hasn’t happened. Still, I refuse to move a team I don’t really believe in up the rankings until they beat someone worth talking about. [22]

23. Texas (5-1): The Longhorns nearly lost to Rice this weekend, but knuckled up for the win to hold their top 25 spot. [24]

24. BYU (6-0): BYU fell out of my rankings last week, but made it back after going 3-0 this week with wins over South Florida and a St. Mary’s team that I wanted to put here. [Unranked]

25. UNLV (6-0): UNLV has officially played their way onto the national radar with big wins over Wisconsin and Virginia Tech. [Unranked]

DROPPED OUT

Butler
North Carolina
Virginia Tech

NOTES

*Temple, a team that was in the top 25 in both the AP and ESPN polls, took two losses this week. They’ll be unranked tomorrow and I feel kind of smart.

*North Carolina won both their games this week, but they still drop out because they haven’t beaten anyone good, lost to two unranked teams, and, after last year, it’s time to show and prove for UNC.

*I wouldn’t be shocked to see Notre Dame ranked tomorrow. They have a pretty impressive early resume for a team no one was talking about, notching wins over California, Georgia, and Wisconsin already.

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College Basketball 2009-2010 ACC Preview

October 21, 2009

Okay, so I scrapped my idea of giving an analysis of the top 25 teams… instead, I’m going to give conference previews of the Big 6 (ACC, Big Ten, Big East, Big 12, Pac-10, and SEC). Standings and national ranks are courtesy of Athlon Sports. Analysis and awards are courtesy of me.

ACC

1. #5 North Carolina – Not many teams can overcome losing four players to the NBA draft, but the Tar Heels always have one of the best recruiting classes in the nation and this year is no different. John Henson is a top 5 recruit and Leslie McDonald, Dexter Strickland, and David & Travis Wear are all good enough to start on plenty of college teams. Ed Davis is back and is going to be a beast as a sophomore after playing second fiddle to last year’s studs… he will be a lottery pick in the next NBA draft. Deon Thompson will provide leadership and solid numbers and defensive whiz Marcus Ginyard is back after missing almost all of last year. So yes, the Heels lost plenty, but they are still loaded enough to win the ACC.

2. #13 Georgia Tech – Tech looks to be the most improved team in the nation after suffering through a 2-14 ACC debacle thanks to the signing of #1 recruit Derrick Favors and a solid returning core. Junior Gani Lawal (15.1 ppg, 9.1 rpg) is back after passing on the NBA draft. Iman Shumpert is a solid scoring guard and the rest of the recruiting class is nationally ranked. Going from last in the ACC to 13th in the nation is a pretty big leap, but GT just might have the parts to do it.

3. #18 Duke – Gerald Williams went pro and Elliot Williams transferred out, but Kyle Singler is back and he’s as good as anyone in the ACC. Even though Singler will be NBA ready after this season, Duke’s stud white boys have a tendency to stay four years, so I kind of expect him back for his senior year. John Scheyer will play the point this year and isn’t a bad scorer. Nolan Smith hasn’t progressed as expected and Miles Plumlee was irrevelant as a freshman last year and both players could be passed up by stud freshmen Ryan Kelly and Miles’ brother Mason. Duke isn’t as good as they were last year, but with Singler and a solid freshman class, they will be competitive in the ACC.

4. #22 Maryland – Almost all of the key components from last year’s squad that made it to the second round of the NCAA tournament return, but none more important than Greivis Vasquez, a stud that put up 17.5 ppg, 5.4 rpg, and 5.0 apg as a sophomore. Vasquez should compete with Kyle Singler and Ed Davis for Conference Player Of The Year and is a legitimate triple-double threat. The recruiting class is limited to two players, but both should find significant playing time. Vasquez is good enough to make Maryland the most underrated team in the ACC.

5. #24 Clemson – The Tigers lost three key players from last year’s squad, but return it’s most productive player in Trevor Booker (15.3, 9.7). Clemson is going to be young this year, but they don’t lack talent. A national ranking might be a bit overboard though.

6. Florida State – Toney Douglas and his 20+ ppg are gone, but 7’1″ center Solomon Alabi blocked 73 shots as a freshman and averaged 8.4 ppg and 5.6 rpg in 22.3 minutes; look for those numbers to improve with more playing time and experience. The Seminoles have a respectable squad and Athlon predicts them to make the tournament, but they look like a bubble team to me.

7. Boston College – BC returns everyone from a team that made the NCAA tournament last year… except their best player and leader Tyrese Rice. The Eagles didn’t sign any recruits, but they return a better core of players than FSU, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see them finish higher in the ACC.

8. Virginia Tech – The Hokies lost their top scorer but return a couple of solid juniors in Malcolm Delaney and Jeff Allen. The supporting cast is weak and the recruiting class is middle of the pack for the conference, so those two juniors are going to be shouldering a big load this season.

9. Wake Forest – No team was hurt more by the NBA Draft than the Demon Deacons; stars Jeff Teague and James Johnson both bolted. With that said, Wake was ranked as high as #1 nationally last year and return a more respectable team than some of the squads ranked ahead of them. Al-Farouq Aminu put up great numbers as a freshman and should be a lottery pick in the next draft. The recruiting class is weak, but I think Wake is underrated and I wouldn’t be shocked to see them finish as high as 6th in the conference.

10. Miami – The Hurricanes lost three starters, including All-Conference player Jack McClinton. Dwayne Collins is their only solid returner, but the recruiting class is decent. This should be a year of growing pains for Miami.

11. Virginia – Sophomore Sylven Landesberg is a proven stud after averaging 16.6 points and 6 rebounds per game in his rookie season. The Cavaliers also stole Tony Bennett away from Washington State and have some decent experience returning. It’s questionable whether or not that is going to be enough to make them competitive this year.

12. North Carolina State – NC State lost its three best players from a team that finished 6-10 in conference play last year. Outlook: not good.

All ACC First Team

Ed Davis, So., F, UNC
Al-Farouq Aminu, So., F, Wake Forest
Kyle Singler, Jr., F, Duke
Greivis Vasquez, Sr., G, Maryland
Sylven Landesberg, So. G, Virginia

Player Of The Year: Kyle Singler, Duke

Freshman Of The Year: Derrick Favors, Georgia Tech

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