Dukie V's Preseason Top 40

[Cuse_NYC]

http://espn.go.com/espn/dickvitale/story/_/id/11618040/kentucky-tops-dick-vitale-2014-15-top-40

We come in at 26. I'm not saying we're a top 10 team, but we're definitely a top 25 team. Gtown comes in at 38 btw...

 

[two3zone]

http://espn.go.com/espn/dickvitale/story/_/id/11618040/kentucky-tops-dick-vitale-2014-15-top-40 We come in at 26. I'm not saying we're a top 10 team, but we're definitely a top 25 team. Gtown comes in at 38 btw...

I'm ok with preseason 26. We'll be in the top 20 after the initial poll anyways. Let everyone sleep on is. That said I wouldn't be shocked being in the top 10 or outside the top 25 at the end of the year. Talent wise we have a great team, but were young and have questions on how we're going to score the basketball. It will be a fun year to watch.

 

[Col. Bleep]

I'm guessing this is the first time that Harvard has ever been ranked ahead of us.

Can't fault the ranking...this team is a big "?" that will need some time to jell.
And we don't hear Jim Boeheim saying the same things about Kaleb Joseph that he said about Tyler Ennis about being college ready.

We should get some sense of where we stand in about 6 weeks when we get either Iowa or Texas at MSG.

 

[SWFLCUSE]

As exciting as it is to look at preseason rankings, I only care where we rank when the season ends.

 

[reedny]

I don't think this is far off. As Waters pointed out, last year was the lowest offensive output in 50 years, and most of of the players who could put up points aren't around any more. I excited about our younger guys in the future, just not sure where the points are going to come from this year. Expect another year of defenses clogging the middle, putting one guy on TC and daring the rest of the team to shoot.

 

[Orange4]

2003 we weren't ranked in the top 25 to begin the season...just saying

 

[Gotothehole]

2003 we weren't ranked in the top 25 to begin the season...just saying

Ranked way to low. You cant tell me there are 25 team better than us. This team is going to ball

 

[realorange]

Ranked way to low. You cant tell me there are 25 team better than us. This team is going to ball

This team should ball but they've got to prove it.

 

[Orange4]

It's pretty crazy how similar this team is compared to 2003. Both had freshman point guards, both are very young unproven teams, both had 1 senior, and you can say McCullough is the best freshman we have got since Melo. Now all we need is Roberson to block a 3 point attempt in the national championship game and we are set. Not to mention both teams had this really good legendary coach.

 

[jordoo]

I don't think this is far off. As Waters pointed out, last year was the lowest offensive output in 50 years, and most of of the players who could put up points aren't around any more. I excited about our younger guys in the future, just not sure where the points are going to come from this year. Expect another year of defenses clogging the middle, putting one guy on TC and daring the rest of the team to shoot.

LOL really? you do realize that the "players who could put up points" were also very limited which was the problem last year. Tyler, BJ & Chris all have better offensive skills than last years forwards. Kaleb is more talented than Ennis but not as refined, although he will push the ball. Trevor, Mike & Rakeem are all a year older.

 

[RF2044]

http://espn.go.com/espn/dickvitale/story/_/id/11618040/kentucky-tops-dick-vitale-2014-15-top-40

We come in at 26. I'm not saying we're a top 10 team, but we're definitely a top 25 team. Gtown comes in at 38 btw...

I don't know about "definitely." Don't get me wrong--we could "definitely" get there, but some of the inexperienced players have some proving to do.

 

[Mano22]

LOL really? you do realize that the "players who could put up points" were also very limited which was the problem last year. Tyler, BJ & Chris all have better offensive skills than last years forwards. Kaleb is more talented than Ennis but not as refined, although he will push the ball. Trevor, Mike & Rakeem are all a year older.

Yeah not to mention our lack of offense (if you define offense as points scores) was due to Ennis slow and deliberate pace. We were amongst the slowest teams in college bball last year. This years team is MUCH better offensively.

 

[reedny]

LOL really? you do realize that the "players who could put up points" were also very limited which was the problem last year. Tyler, BJ & Chris all have better offensive skills than last years forwards. Kaleb is more talented than Ennis but not as refined, although he will push the ball. Trevor, Mike & Rakeem are all a year older.

We'll see. I like your optimism. But I think it's going to be ugly for a while. And if Coleman doesn't return, it could get real ugly -- they'll run at Rak with guards to goad him into fouls, and if he picks them up, which he does sometimes, we could have a RS frosh trying to learn the center position on the fly while another frosh is learning how to run the offense. Like I said, the future for our younger guys is bright .. just not sure we'll see much glow this year. I think Gbinje will take a step up .. he can shoot and create. And obviously Tyler and Chris will have to have a shockingly productive year for us to have any chance to make it into the top 20 once conference play starts.

 

[Gotothehole]

This was a sweet team can

We'll see. I like your optimism. But I think it's going to be ugly for a while. And if Coleman doesn't return, it could get real ugly -- they'll run at Rak with guards to goad him into fouls, and if he picks them up, which he does sometimes, we could have a RS frosh trying to learn the center position on the fly while another frosh is learning how to run the offense. Like I said, the future for our younger guys is bright .. just not sure we'll see much glow this year. I think Gbinje will take a step up .. he can shoot and create. And obviously Tyler and Chris will have to have a shockingly productive year for us to have any chance to make it into the top 20 once conference play starts.

This was a sweet 16 team. We have more talent on this roster. You can't tell this team can't make noise. Did you forget who our coach is?

• Hakim Warrick (19.8 ppg, 8.7 rpg)

• Gerry McNamara (17.2 ppg, 3.8 apg)

• Billy Edelin (13.8 ppg, 5.2 apg)

• Josh Pace (9.5 ppg, 5.3 rpg)

• Craig Forth (5.7 ppg, 5.8 rpg)

• Demetris Nichols (4.2 ppg, 2.2 rpg)

• Louie McCroskey (3.9 ppg, 2.2 rpg)

• Jeremy McNeil (3.0 ppg, 2.7 rpg)

• Terrence Roberts (2.1 ppg, 2.0 rpg)