SI.com Preseason Power Ranking

[dukeblue1206]

Just thought I would blow my own horn. Luke Winn wrote a story last week about Duke next year and I wrote him about how I thought Duke would be different on defense next year, and he used what I said in his story this week for the Duke being #1 in the Power Ranking. The name Stephen is me. Sorry, I was just so shocked to see my name in print like that. Never thought that would happen. Guess he thought I made a good point. Here is the link to the Power Rankings.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/201...tml?eref=sihp#

[Big Pappa]

Just thought I would blow my own horn. Luke Winn wrote a story last week about Duke next year and I wrote him about how I thought Duke would be different on defense next year, and he used what I said in his story this week for the Duke being #1 in the Power Ranking. The name Stephen is me. Sorry, I was just so shocked to see my name in print like that. Never thought that would happen. Guess he thought I made a good point. Here is the link to the Power Rankings.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/201...tml?eref=sihp#

Congrats on the publicity and not a half bad little blurb. It is pretty ridiculous that he doesn't mention Kyle's name one time in the entire article. I'm not sure how you leave a pre-season POY candidate off of the number 1 team in your rankings.

[dukeblue1206]

Yeah not to mention Kyle is a little bizarre. Kyle seems to get overlooked in a lot of articles. I wonder if he will get overlooked on the preseason All-America 1st team? I would hope not, and Nolan should at least be on 2nd team IMO.

Him having the Heels at #10 may be a little high as well with them having no depth in the front court. I guess that is why they play the games. It will all be sorted out, just not soon enough for me!!

[Double DD]

I don't see what's so bizarre. He mentioned Singler multiple times in the article about Duke he did last week. And this was just a short blurb for his power rankings anyways. He doesn't mention Robbie Hummell in his paragraph on Purdue either because there was no need to shoehorn his name into the conversation.

[Slackerb]

LOL at UNC at #10 preseason.

Did these guys watch them last year?

[ChicagoCrazy84]

LOL at UNC at #10 preseason.

Did these guys watch them last year?

LOL indeed. Again, they are speculating so much on Harrison Barnes' impact, but I don't think they will be close to a top 10 team this season. Top 25 sure, but they're still a year away.

[kong123]

LOL indeed. Again, they are speculating so much on Harrison Barnes' impact, but I don't think they will be close to a top 10 team this season. Top 25 sure, but they're still a year away.

No one thought Duke would win the championship this year either. In fact, Duke was picked 9th in the preseason ranking. Why were they picked so high, the existing players like Z have never produced the way they needed to. So, while you say that UNC is weak and will not challenge in the ACC, you felt the exact opposite for your team last year. If the UNC players make an improvement the way that Z did this year and HB makes the impact many people believe he will make, then UNC can be a force. I sold Duke short last season and I had to swallow the bitter pill of this years championship. UNC will probably not win a NC, but I believe they will challenge for the ACC regular season.

[Duvall]

No one thought Duke would win the championship this year either. In fact, Duke was picked 9th in the preseason ranking. Why were they picked so high, the existing players like Z have never produced the way they needed to. So, while you say that UNC is weak and will not challenge in the ACC, you felt the exact opposite for your team last year. If the UNC players make an improvement the way that Z did this year and HB makes the impact many people believe he will make, then UNC can be a force. I sold Duke short last season and I had to swallow the bitter pill of this years championship. UNC will probably not win a NC, but I believe they will challenge for the ACC regular season.

Of course, Duke challenged for the ACC regular season last year, and won the ACC championship, whereas this year's UNC team...didn't. Last year's Duke team had players like Scheyer and Singler that had already shown that they could play at a high level, which this year's UNC team...doesn't.

[Jaymf7]

I read his comment as suggesting that Duke should NOT extend next year, despite the added depth, because we were so successful this year playing more conservatively. I disagree. While I agree our numbers were great this year, I think they can be just as good (or better when TOs are factored in) next year if we pressure.

Lack of guard depth last year forced the more conservative approach. With it, we were able to keep 3PT % down in part due to size -- with Nolan the only player under 6' 5" getting lots of time. Next year, we will have the bodies to play denial, but at times will not be as tall (particularly if the Plums get into foul trouble and Kyle needs to slide to the 4 for signiticant periods). Accordingly, 2 major reasons for our more conservative style will be less in play.

The problem with the overplay has been containing quick guards. The VCU screenshot the SI guy used (likely on purpose to support his point) brings back terrible Maynor memories. The aggressive approach should work for us this year because we will have more athletic guards to apply the pressure and more athletic bigs behind them to erase mistakes. As such, we should be able to apply substantially increased pressure, create more turnovers, and also maintain something close to the defensive efficiency we saw last year.

Last year's defense worked great for that team. No reason we cannot improve upon it by adapting to the new personnel on next year's team.

[airowe]

The higher they're ranked, the farther they have to fall. I've said it a million times on here, I respect Barnes as a talent, but small forwards are not a big part of roy's offense. If roy stays true to his word on the recruiting trail and plays Barnes strictly on the wing, he won't be as dangerous as people are making him out to be. I could see him being more effective as a PF in the right lineups and if Zeller continues his pattern of missing half the season he just might have to. I don't see how you can expect such big things from this team as they are put together. We'll see how much of a detriment Marcus Ginyard was to that team last year.

Props on the shouout to the OP and you did make a good point on the extension of pressure D. Even though I wasn't crazy about the comparison between the VCU game and the Butler game, a switch back to our defenses of old will lead to more possessions, higher points totals, and a more appealing style of play to recruits. We should be a very entertaining team to watch next year and I don't disagree with the #1 ranking

[roywhite]

No one thought Duke would win the championship this year either. In fact, Duke was picked 9th in the preseason ranking. Why were they picked so high, the existing players like Z have never produced the way they needed to. So, while you say that UNC is weak and will not challenge in the ACC, you felt the exact opposite for your team last year. If the UNC players make an improvement the way that Z did this year and HB makes the impact many people believe he will make, then UNC can be a force. I sold Duke short last season and I had to swallow the bitter pill of this years championship. UNC will probably not win a NC, but I believe they will challenge for the ACC regular season.

Huh?

Not many predicted a national championship for Duke last year, but nearly everybody here thought Duke would be good and should be a favorite for the ACC race.

It's fine for you to pull for your team; most fans here are not counting them out but don't see them jumping back to top rankings or a conference championship so soon after last year's debacle.

[Devilsfan]

That #10 ranking should have been when considering solely the ACC Conference, IMO. Also didn't we lose the VCU game with our "extended" D and didn't the VCU guards get to the basket at will that game?

[brevity]

The higher they're ranked, the farther they have to fall.

Exactly! Would you rather UNC started at #20 and slipped off the charts quickly, or started at #10 so you could savor their gradual demise?

[gumbomoop]

Didn't want to start new thread, but FYI:

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-bask...efending-title

[flyingdutchdevil]

Didn't want to start new thread, but FYI:

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-bask...efending-title

I like Katz. I like his writing, I like his objective take on basketball, and he isn't Forde.

[ElSid]

Didn't want to start new thread, but FYI:

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-bask...efending-title

Love it. Love that he's in the gym nearly vomiting already. I'd be doing the same if I had a clear goal like this. Hope the rest of the team is doing something similar.

[GODUKEGO]

I hope that he is right with the Blue Devils at #1 and UNC and Kentucky not in the top 15.

http://nmsn.foxsports.com/cbk/story/...2010-11-051010

[DoubleDuke Dad]

No one thought Duke would win the championship this year either. In fact, Duke was picked 9th in the preseason ranking. Why were they picked so high, the existing players like Z have never produced the way they needed to. So, while you say that UNC is weak and will not challenge in the ACC, you felt the exact opposite for your team last year. If the UNC players make an improvement the way that Z did this year and HB makes the impact many people believe he will make, then UNC can be a force. I sold Duke short last season and I had to swallow the bitter pill of this years championship. UNC will probably not win a NC, but I believe they will challenge for the ACC regular season.

In the words of the former chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, Alan Greenspan, it appears that UNC supports may be experiencing irrational exuberance when it comes to their expectations for next year’s team.

[Jaymf7]

Also didn't we lose the VCU game with our "extended" D and didn't the VCU guards get to the basket at will that game?

Agreed. He is saying that we should not extend because we played better defense this year by taking less chances. Our 2010 team will be very different from the 2007 team, though. We will have very quick guards and multiple shot-blocking big men. We should be able to pressure and still cover the lane.

[Big Pappa]

LOL indeed. Again, they are speculating so much on Harrison Barnes' impact, but I don't think they will be close to a top 10 team this season. Top 25 sure, but they're still a year away.

I agree they won't be close to the top this year but they have to opportunity to be 3rd or 4th in the league. I don't see them being a year away though because HB will be gone after this year.

With the Wears leaving and Graves graduating they will be back to where they were this past year; even with McAdoo coming in.