2013-14 very early preseason Top 25

[strumpfasaurus]

Keep in mind the two greatest threats to Kentucky were dethroned from injury (Harrison Barnes) and Chuck's (Fab Melo.)

 

[Deano]

Hard to argue against the love for Kentucky, that is an absolute ridiculous recruiting class.

What do you expect when $$$ is involved. Really wish that POS Cal would get a NBA gig so the NCAA would be rid of his cheating a@@.

 

[cpatrocks]

Well Russ Smith just said he's going pro so that UL prediction might be a little optimistic.

Do you think he'll be the only one to leave 'ville early?

 

[cpatrocks]

..and since when are RAK, BMK and Coleman forwards? Nice job ESPN.

 

[NKR1978]

We're #10?

Would love to belve that to be true, but no way.

I'm torn. I generally tend to be an optimist, but there are so many question marks plus a lack of depth a guard that kind of scares me. If Ennis is as advertised and some Silent G can contribute then we're definitely a top 20 team. If Cooney and Coleman work hard this summer and step up their games, then I could see us top 15. If CJ becomes an All-American and some of the other freshmen grow and make solid contributions, then I could see us top 10 by the end of the year.

This could be the kind of team that takes some lumps early and gels by late January.

 

[Rocco]

UK is going to get hit with the luxury tax next year. Way over the cap. Oh wait.

 

[dollarbill44]

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.

This^^^

 

[MikeSU02]

This^^^

Yup, exactly.

That statement is ludicrous. And, there are really no skilled big men coming into D1 anymore at all. They are still a work in progress.

Any team with Kareem is better than any team now. And I mean any team. You can take the UK all stars from all of Calipari's era and give Kareem and an average group of guys and no one could stop Kareen. Literally. He lost two games in his career, one to Houston due to an eye injury and another to USC playing stall ball with no shot clock.

For people to think any of these UK teams are in contention for greatest ever is a sad statement about the college game today.

 

[rstone7727]

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.

I like the hype surrounding UK, they only have one direction to go...

 

[Alsacs]

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/story/22036310
Jeff Goodman has Syracuse at 11 and does a way better job analyzing than that idiot King.

 

[SoBeCuse]

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.

Yep. Teague was very steady and solid for UK. Much like Ennis could be. We forget how brilliant Rose/Wall/Knight were as talents.

On those Top 10 recruits. I will say that Poythress at times looked like a dominant PF. He had motor issues and they had bad guards at running the team.

Adams showed signs of being a force. He had a few double-doubles and showed he could be a force on the offensive boards. He could be better in the NBA. Pitt's guards never got him the ball.

 

['72 Orange]

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.

Those UCLA teams of the late 60's early 70's had their own davastating 2-2-1 press. They could clearly disrupt any team by playing aggressively knowing that Kareem or Walton was back playing goal tender. While today's elite players have some freakish abilities, I would clearly give the edge to UCLA in terms of coaching & discipline which IMHO offset those abilities and anything that Cal could muster. Would be very interesting to see!

 

[Orangemen]

We're #10?

Would love to belve that to be true, but no way.

I feel like I've read this post every preseason since the 2010 season.

College ball is down, we'll be very good.

 

[sufandu]

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.

They need to replace "arguably" with "potentially". Six months ago Kentucky was a top 5 team. We saw how that worked out.

 

[weedsportwarriors]

Yup, exactly.

That statement is ludicrous. And, there are really no skilled big men coming into D1 anymore at all. They are still a work in progress.

Any team with Kareem is better than any team now. And I mean any team. You can take the UK all stars from all of Calipari's era and give Kareem and an average group of guys and no one could stop Kareen. Literally. He lost two games in his career, one to Houston due to an eye injury and another to USC playing stall ball with no shot clock.

For people to think any of these UK teams are in contention for greatest ever is a sad statement about the college game today.

I did a search and can't find this guy Kareem who played for UCLA. The funny thing is he looks very similiar to another guy named Lew Alcinder.

 

[Upstate]

Unless Andrew Wiggins is a Lebron James like talent

He kind of is. It's scary what he can do out there.

 

[PoppyHart]

Kentucky next year is the best team assembled "on paper" in terms of high school rankings. Whether they prove worthy of that comment on the court is a long shot, but not unfathomable.

 

[JarHeadJim]

#9 in USA today http://www.usatoday.com/story/sport...he-ncaa-basketball-top-25-in-2013-14/2061989/

 

[PoppyHart]

There are no Hoyas to be found though, which is nice.

Putting aside their postseason struggles, this is a poor prediction by King to not even have them in top 40. They lose only one player, albeit a stud, but get back Whittington, and bring in Josh Smith and others. Not many teams will have the continuity that they have from the outset.

 

[JarHeadJim]

#5 from NBC http://m.nbcsports.com/content/way-too-early-preseason-top-25

 

[Eric15]

#5 from NBC http://m.nbcsports.com/content/way-too-early-preseason-top-25

With the size of the font, I feel like that article is screaming at me. But I love the respect, though.

 

[wadegarrett]

Seems like all these Pre-Season ranking descriptions all leave out Silent G.

 

[Madbiker]

All of these rankings for SU seem overly optimistic to me. Teams that make the FF and Elite 8 usually get a halo effect the next year in the preseason polls so that should help us. Given the inexperience and question marks in our backcourt, the #15-20 range seems more realistic.

 

[billsin01]

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.

People need to chill out. Seriously. First of all, yes this is an article just to get clicks but that's how the world works these days. And why won't college basketball fans enjoy trying to get an early jump on who the best teams will be? I mean, it's not like in-season rankings are remotely accurate so why is everyone so irate over these projections.

And, in case people haven't been keeping track, not only is Cal 260-40 in his last 8 seasons, but freshmen have been a central part of a lot of championships in the past decade or so. Cal did it with a bunch in '12, Michigan just missed with three prominent frosh, even our own title came with GMac, Edelin and Melo leading the way. This stuff happens a lot. If you're waiting for freshmen to prove themselves, you're being rational but you're also not going to be very accurate with many predictions.

It's a fun article that talks hoops. Save the media vitriol for something that actually matters.

Edit: Though I do agree with most that the notion that a team will be the best ever is generally absurd, especially given that guys leave after a year these days.

 

[IthacaMatt]

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.

And also you have to factor in that pure basketball skills have declined remarkably in the past 20-30 years. Players just do not shoot or pass as well, and the ball handling skills of players are surprisingly bad. Today's game favors players who are built like linebackers and safeties. Muscle bound guys who have real basketball skills are relatively rare.