2013-14 very early preseason Top 25 | Syracusefan.com

2013-14 very early preseason Top 25

Does anyone actually believe this? To me these lists are based off of recruiting and historical performance. I have a hard time believing North Carolina will be that highly ranked next year, especially when they will lose a ton to the draft. I think analysts just randomly put together these lists for people to read. As far as Kentucky goes this year showed nothing is guaranteed. Even with Nerlens they weren't improving this year.
 
Have no clue how a bunch of unproven freshman that are pushing out the last group of unproven freshmen could possibly be the greatest team ever assembled. Last year they were #3 preseason. I'll believe their greatness when I see it.
 
Unless Andrew Wiggins is a Lebron James like talent which I don't know, AND he decides to go Kentucky then maybe you can make that argument, but Jason King needs to with that talk right now. Look at this past year besides Smart at Oklahoma State and Nerlens Noel before his injury no other Freshman dominated in college basketball. Calipari can recruit all these top recruits, but unless they are college basketball ready or ungodly studs which I don't think any of Kentucky's 6 top 20 recruits are right now that statement is a joke. Wily Cauley-Stein has to improve, Poythress has to improve, and Wiljner has to do more than just shoot 3's. Unless Kentucky has another John Wall, Brandon Knight, or elite PG in this class this writer should and just make Kentucky number 1. My god, the Duke 1992 team, Florida 2007 teams actually won back to back championships and Jason King is calling a 2014 Kentucky arguably the greatest of alltime.
 
I can accept UK being a preseason #1, because the amount of talent they are bringing in is absurd. (I can also buy them not being #1, don't get me wrong). But best college team ever? Come on. With kids going pro early, there's pretty much no way a team in this era can match up with the best of the period when guys stayed 3-4 years.

Unless Kentucky has another John Wall, Brandon Knight, or elite PG in this class this writer should and just make Kentucky number 1
Expand...

Well they do have the top PG in the class.
 
Give it until after everyone declares for the draft then I'll pay more attention but looking at that list if Ennis and G are good I we will be right there next.
 
eao1115 said:
http://espn.go.com/mens-college-bas...25-2013-14-season-ncaa-men-college-basketball

They have Kentucky #1, calling them on paper "arguably the greatest college basketball team ever assembled." They have us #10, and UConn #14.

This board told me that UConn is relegated to obscurity forever, but ESPN for what it's worth has them as a preseason Top 15 team. I hope we're right and they're wrong.
Expand...

Hard to argue against the love for Kentucky, that is an absolute ridiculous recruiting class.
 
I dont understand the harrisons hype. Ive seen them play a few times, I am less than impressed.havent seen much of young so I cant comment. Marcus lee is d only. Randle reminds me of Anthony Bennett. Dakari is about as athletic as Brady heslip. I wont annoint the shitt until I see something.
 
SU2NASA said:
There are some UCLA teams that may disagree.
Expand...

Sorry, I left out a few key words... the article said, "from a purely talent standpoint." Those 1960s UCLA teams were legendary for their time, but today's athletes would run circles around them, in my opinion.
 
eao1115 said:
Sorry, I left out a few key words... the article said, "from a purely talent standpoint." Those 1960s UCLA teams were legendary for their time, but today's athletes would run circles around them, in my opinion.
Expand...

Maybe, but I don't think Dakari Johnson could check Kareem.
 
Knicks411 said:
I can accept UK being a preseason #1, because the amount of talent they are bringing in is absurd. (I can also buy them not being #1, don't get me wrong). But best college team ever? Come on. With kids going pro early, there's pretty much no way a team in this era can match up with the best of the period when guys stayed 3-4 years.



Well they do have the top PG in the class.
Expand...
I accept they have the top PG in the class but Archie Goodwin was the number 14 recruit in the country last year, and he didn't look ungodly this year. The top PG in the R ivals top 15 was Marcus Smart who had a great Freshman year, but wasn't John Wall in 2010 or Brandon Knight in 2011. For Paypal Cal's system to work these Freshman have to be ridiculously good. Look at the top 10 from last year
1. Shabazz Muhammad- solid player but wasn't special
2. Nerlens Noel- he was the 2nd best freshman behind Smart till he got hurt
3. Kyle Anderson- good player, but not elite in college as a frosh
4. Isaiah Austin- couldn't even lead Baylor to the tournament
5. Steven Adams- he looked raw and horrible for Pitt. Can't believe he is going to be a 1st round pick
6. Ricky Ledo- wasn't academically eligible for Providence
7. Anthony Bennett- this guy was the 2nd best freshman because of Noel's injury, and he couldn't lead UNLV past the 1st round.
8. Alex Poythress- average player at best for Kentucky and wasn't able to lead Kentucky to the tournament in a weak SEC and has to return for a Sophomore season.
9.Kaleb Tarczewski- I follow College basketball and even I have no clue what he did at Arizona, but it couldn't have been enough to declare for the draft.
10. Marcus Smart- best Freshman in college basketball for the 2013 season and he didn't lead Okie State beyond the first round.

My point is for Jason King to make such a stupid statement he made is a fracking joke let Kentucky earn it before you even say arguably. Unless Paypal Cal has the consensus number 1 pick in the draft a la Derrick Rose, John Wall, Anthony Davis I wouldn't even make them the odds on favorite. I hope Andrew Wiggins goes to Florida State and we compete against the Canadian Lebron James next year.
 
I do think it's pretty stupid to call them arguably the most talented team in college hoops history, don't get me wrong.

Has Pothyress announced anything yet? If he comes back, with Cauley Stein and Wiltjer, they will have the veteran talent to go along with incoming freshmen. It's probably pretty stupid to do any ranking at all the day after the season, but it gets clicks.
 
It's just ESPN (the fox news and MSNBC of Sports) wanting Kentucky to be good next year. They are biased. We should all know this by now.
 
Poythress stated he is returning for his Sophomore season. Cauley Stein will develop for sure, but he isn't a sure thing yet. Wiltjner is going to ride the pine next year he is returning, but with 6 of the 20 recruits in the country Wiltjner isn't going to play more than 10-12 mpg. I heard he was looking at a transfer to Gonzaga, but ruled against it and is staying at Kentucky.
 
Cusefan0307 said:
It's just ESPN (the fox news and MSNBC of Sports) wanting Kentucky to be good next year. They are biased. We should all know this by now.
Expand...

They may be biased, but let's be real here, they are bringing in a ridiculous recruiting class. If we were bringing in a class like that this board would be insane.
 
NKR1978 said:
Have no clue how a bunch of unproven freshman that are pushing out the last group of unproven freshmen could possibly be the greatest team ever assembled. Last year they were #3 preseason. I'll believe their greatness when I see it.
Expand...

they are going to be really good.
 
Knicks411 said:
Maybe, but I don't think Dakari Johnson could check Kareem.
Expand...

You're right - clearly Kareem would be the one huge advantage for UCLA. But if Kentucky slapped on a relentless press the entire game, I think a team from the 1960s would be overwhelmed by the speed and athleticism.
 
Kentucky will only be really good if their freshman guards are almost NBA ready. Look Calipari wins a lot when he has a PG. Derrick Rose, John Wall, Brandon Knight. If this freshman PG coming in next year is good Kentucky will win the national title. This year Kentucky struggled because Ryan Harrow and Archie Goodwin couldn't play a good PG and Kentucky struggled in the half-court. Kentucky had top 25 talent this year, but Calipari couldn't mold it because he doesn't develop players when their talent is ungodly and doesn't need his development like those 3 PGs he wins. Calipari isn't an idiot if you gave him a Brandon Triche type player he would develop him over 4 years but if he stuck him out their as a freshman and the team depended on him then his team would struggle like this year for Kentucky, but if the Triche type player stayed 3-4 years eventually he would be special, Calipari's teams will only go as far as the PG talent takes them.
Edit: hell Marquis Teague, and Darius Miller last year if Cal doesn't have PGs he can't win.
 
We're #10?

Would love to belve that to be true, but no way.
 
eao1115 said:
You're right - clearly Kareem would be the one huge advantage for UCLA. But if Kentucky slapped on a relentless press the entire game, I think a team from the 1960s would be overwhelmed by the speed and athleticism.
Expand...

I wonder about that. I don't doubt that the general level of athleticism has increased over time, but I guess the question is how much. (And if we want to go back to the original point of UK being the most talented team of all time or whatever, well you don't just need to point to UCLA. UNLV 90 was pretty damn great. 96 Kentucky. Etc. But I think this is a more interesting digression.)

Kareem is an outlier, to be sure, but he was a college freshmen in 1966. 22 years later, in 1988, as a 40 year old, he was a still a very effective player in the NBA, against the best athletes in the world. (In 1988, he played 30 minutes a game, averaged 18 points per 36 minutes, and shot 53% from the field). The athleticism of the game hadn't improved so much in that 22 year period that a 40 year old guy still couldn't hang with the best of the best. Now granted, he's an outlier, and he's 7 foot 3 or whatever.

But what about a guy like John Stockton? Stockton played in the NBA for 18 years, and was still an incredibly effective player, at the PG position, at age 40. Once again, the level of athleticism didn't change that much in 18 years where a 40 year Stockton couldn't be effective in the NBA.

I get that Kareem was in college 45 years ago or whatever it was, not 20 years ago. But that is still why I am a little skeptical that a team that was absolutely dominant 45 years ago would be overwhelmed by the athleticism of the players today. If players got that much more athletic that quickly, then I'm not sure you'd see guys who could play in the NBA for 15-20 years.
 
Teague was far from a great college PG though, and UK won with him.
 
Knicks411 said:
Teague was far from a great college PG though, and UK won with him.
Expand...
Teague was WELL above average and was polished as hell for college freshman. I have seen Teague playing minutes for Chicago this season and he will be a real solid NBA rotation guy and if he develops even better than that will be traded when Derrick Rose returns.
edit: Also, who is the consensus number 1 overall pick or dominant center who block/alter ungodly amounts of shots and make Kentucky's half-court unstoppable next year? For Kentucky to special beyond belief Andrew Wiggins has to go there and he has to be as good as the Canadian Lebron James label he has gotten.
 
Teague had a true shooting% below 50 last year and a pretty high TO rate. He's fine, but he's not anywhere close to Wall and Rose, or Knight for that matter. He was the worst PG Cal had in 5 years, prior to this year, and they won the title with him. PG is important, no doubt (every position is important), but it's not like you need an absolute super star to win a title.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

BillSU
    • Like
THE PORTALS TOP 25
2 3
Replies
52
Views
8K
ar inj
ar inj
sutomcat
    • Like
Orangeyes Daily Articles for Wednesday for Basketball
Replies
5
Views
697
Ozone!
Ozone!
sutomcat
    • Like
Orangeyes Daily Articles for Monday for Basketball
Replies
6
Views
612
Ozone!
Ozone!
sutomcat
    • Like
Orangeyes Daily Articles for Monday for Basketball
Replies
5
Views
589
Ozone!
Ozone!
sutomcat
    • Like
Orangeyes Daily Articles for Monday for Basketball
Replies
6
Views
571
Ozone!
Ozone!

Forum statistics

Threads
167,872
Messages
4,734,070
Members
5,930
Latest member
CuseGuy44

Share this page

Online statistics

Members online
229
Guests online
2,575
Total visitors
2,804
Totals may include hidden visitors.


Top Bottom