Duke ranked 11th in MBB preseaon poll

[lavell12]

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=3080217

In the first coaches poll the Devils are the 11th ranked team in the nation.
Tar Heels are the pre-season number 1.

[Wander]

A little bit overrated for both of them.

[hurleyfor3]

That would work out to a three or four seed. A fair expectation.

[Clipsfan]

A little bit overrated for both of them.

I'm hoping that it's only overrated for one of them, and that the other is underrated before all is said and done.

[Wander]

Well, I'm only talking about this as a starting point for the beginning of the season, not a projection as where everyone will end up.

Overall, I'd say UNC, Duke, and Gonzaga are a little overrated, and Marquette, Texas, and Arizona are more than a little overrated. And Butler definitely deserves to be ranked - their omission doesn't make any sense at all.

[lavell12]

How does a team lose two starters, brings in nobody new and didn't even make the final four last year the number 1 team?

[crote]

How does a team lose two starters, brings in nobody new and didn't even make the final four last year the number 1 team?

Last year's team featured freshman with a lot of upside (Lawson and Ellington) who are back and presumably better, and the loss of Wright is offset by Thompson and Stevenson. At least, that's the rationale I've heard. You could make a pretty good argument for six or seven different teams to be number one.

Me, I'm bullish on the Vols.

[VaDukie]

Here's question I have: if every sportswriter says that Thompson is a 'sleeper' and a guy who should not be overlooked, is he really overlooked anymore?

[Indoor66]

Last year's team featured freshman with a lot of upside (Lawson and Ellington) who are back and presumably better, and the loss of Wright is offset by Thompson and Stevenson. At least, that's the rationale I've heard. You could make a pretty good argument for six or seven different teams to be number one.

Me, I'm bullish on the Vols.

IMO, Vols have one serious problem - Pearl.

(I just don't care for him - no real good reason.)

[ArtVandelay]

I don't really care all that much what the preseason ranking is. I suspect we'll follow a similar pattern as last year - our ranking will go up with the relatively weak early schedule, and then we'll fall back down to earth during the ACC season.

The Heels will be very good this year, no doubt. As somebody already said, you can make a case for any number of teams, so I have no problem with them at #1. I think Kevin Love (who makes a strong case for ROY along with Gordon at Indiana) and UCLA will be tough to beat this year. As will Kansas, if Rush comes back healthy.

Also, talk about West Coast bias, eh? 3 ACC teams to 6 Pac-10?

[Wander]

Also, talk about West Coast bias, eh? 3 ACC teams to 6 Pac-10?

Well, the Pac-10 looks to be the stronger conference, so it makes sense. Though as I've said I do think Arizona is overrated.

[crote]

Also, talk about West Coast bias, eh? 3 ACC teams to 6 Pac-10?

Who would you swap out? The Pac-10 looks stronger this year.

[SilkyJ]

How does a team lose two starters, brings in nobody new and didn't even make the final four last year the number 1 team?

I echo crote's assessment. Lawson was one of the better PGs in the country last year, and should improve. As should ellington. Not to mention Hansblahblah is 1st team All-american and legit contender for POY.

Last year's team featured freshman with a lot of upside (Lawson and Ellington) who are back and presumably better, and the loss of Wright is offset by Thompson and Stevenson. At least, that's the rationale I've heard. You could make a pretty good argument for six or seven different teams to be number one.

Me, I'm bullish on the Vols.

YES! Thank you, I couldn't agree more. They were my sleeper team last year and they were sooooo young (loved that guy Dane Bradshaw. Consummate glue guy) They will be REALLY good this year. They have good players at EVERY position and are REALLLY deep. Last year I think lofton averaged like 25mpg.

[JasonEvans]

I will guarantee you that at some point Memphis will be the nation's #1 team. Once everyone else starts battling their conference foes in January and February, Memphis will be waltzing through the unimpressive Conference USA with ease piling up easy win after easy win and leaping over the teams ranked ahead of them.

Also worth noting that virtually all their tough opponents come to Memphis to play. Their toughest road opponent is at Cincinnati. They play Georgetown, Arizona, Gonzaga, and Tennessee at home. They have neutral site games with USC and in the pre-season 2K Sports College Hoops Classic. Heck, even in the 2K Sports thingy they get a good break with both UConn and Kentucky on the other side of the draw. Memphis' semi-final opponent figures to be Oklahoma.

If Memphis loses more than maybe 2 or 3 games all year, it will be quite surprising. You can pretty much pencil them in for one of the number one seeds right now.

--Jason "Coach Cal cheats -- just check the Rose family's bank account" Evans

[ACCBBallFan]

The USA/ESPN coaches poll is pretty consistent with the tabulation I have been doing of all the pre-season polls I could find. Coaches seem to agree that top 3 in ACC are not very geographically dispersed. Decimals after ACC teams are one writer's picks some time ago before Dickey was suspended.

1 - 800.01 UNC ACC
2 - 778 UCLA P10
3 - 765 Memphis CUSA
4 - 729 Kansas B12
5 - 687 Louisv BE
6 - 671 G-town BE
7 - 659 Tenn SEC
8 - 604 Mich St B10
9 - 570 Indiana B10
10 - 547 Wash St P10
11 - 527 Marquette BE
12 - 493.03 Duke ACC
13 - 480 So Cal P10
14 - 421 Stanford P10
15 - 420 Oregon P10
16 - 386 Texas B12
17 - 351 Arizona P10
18 - 341 Gonzaga WCC
19 - 344 Kentucky SEC
20 - 315.04 NC St ACC
21 - 298 Pittsb BE
22 - 282 Alabama SEC
23 - 278 Arkansas SEC
24 - 262 Ohio St B10
25 - 261 Tx A&M B12
26 - 249 K-State B12
27 - 248 Syracuse BE
28 - 237 Villanova BE
29 - 208 UCONN BE
30 - 206 MS St SEC
31 - 203 S I U MVC
32 - 191 Florida SEC
33 - 189 Butler Hor
34 - 167 Xavier A10
35 - 159.06 Clems ACC
36 - 149 Davidson Southern
37 - 145 Wash P10
38 - 133.02 GA Tech ACC
39 - 130 Notre Dame BE
40 - 112 Wisc B10
41 - 101.05 UVA ACC
42 - 96 W. VA BE
43 - 86 Illinois B10
44 - 59.07 MD ACC

[Wander]

I will guarantee you that at some point Memphis will be the nation's #1 team. Once everyone else starts battling their conference foes in January and February, Memphis will be waltzing through the unimpressive Conference USA with ease piling up easy win after easy win and leaping over the teams ranked ahead of them.

Also worth noting that virtually all their tough opponents come to Memphis to play. Their toughest road opponent is at Cincinnati. They play Georgetown, Arizona, Gonzaga, and Tennessee at home. They have neutral site games with USC and in the pre-season 2K Sports College Hoops Classic. Heck, even in the 2K Sports thingy they get a good break with both UConn and Kentucky on the other side of the draw. Memphis' semi-final opponent figures to be Oklahoma.

You make it sound so if Memphis isn't deserving of being the number one team. They have a tough, tough, tough non-conference schedule. I don't care if most of the games are at home or not - that's no different than any other Top 25 team. Georgetown, Tennesse, Arizona, USC, Gonzaga, probably Kentucky, Siena, and Cincy? Name one other relevant team that has that difficult of a non conference schedule. I can't think of one - Gonzaga, maybe?

Their toughest road opponent will most likely be Houston or UAB, not Cincy. And why is dodging a game against UConn a good break? I'm not convinced UConn will be better than Oklahoma.

[JasonEvans]

You make it sound so if Memphis isn't deserving of being the number one team. They have a tough, tough, tough non-conference schedule. I don't care if most of the games are at home or not - that's no different than any other Top 25 team. Georgetown, Tennesse, Arizona, USC, Gonzaga, probably Kentucky, Siena, and Cincy? Name one other relevant team that has that difficult of a non conference schedule. I can't think of one - Gonzaga, maybe?

Their toughest road opponent will most likely be Houston or UAB, not Cincy. And why is dodging a game against UConn a good break? I'm not convinced UConn will be better than Oklahoma.

I don't think they are undeserving of being #1. Never said so. I agree that they are a very strong, athletic team (though quite poorly coached which, I hope, will be their downfall in the NCAA tourney).

I agree that they play a tough schedule-- I was just pointing out that most of their tough games are at home, which is a favorable break. I spoke about their schedule to show which games they had that they might lose this season as a way of showing how likely I feel it is that they will be the #1 team in the land at some point.

What's more, I think they will likely go undefeated in the conference, maybe they drop a game but it would be a fairly big upset if they did. As a result, they will end the season on some ridiculous winning streak (it could be 15 or 20+ games depending on how they do in the February game with Tennessee). They will enter the NCAA tourney as a big favorite, I bet, unless one of the major conference teams, perhaps the hated Tarheels?, goes through their conference season with a 14-2 or better record.

--Jason "just telling ya how things will seem the first weekend in March " Evans

[allenmurray]

the acc looks good this year with a good repersentation in the USA top 25

UNC, the #1 in the Country is a little high i think, they have a great PG in Lawson but Handborough was inconsistant through the year

DUKE, looks good with Singler and company

NC STATE, looks very compeling, and i think 24 is a little low, they have a great Sophmore in Brandon Costner, and with FR JJ hickson they look strong under the post

this should be a great year for triangle basketball, with the three triangle team ranked 1,2,3 in the ACC preseason poll

[dukemath]

Did anyone notice that Maryland got exactly one vote? Gary always votes for his team every week no matter how bad they are.

[Bob Green]

UNC, the #1 in the Country is a little high i think, they have a great PG in Lawson but Handborough was inconsistant through the year

I disagree that Tyler Hansbrough was inconsistent last year. He was a beast averaging 18.4 ppg and 7.9 rebounds in 29.9 mpg. He made 52.5% of his field goal attempts and shot 76.8% from the charity stripe.

As far as UNC and the #1 ranking goes, a significant factor will be the play of Deon Thompson who will be relied upon to replace Wright's numbers. I followed USA Basketball closely over the summer and Deon Thompson was very impressive against significant international competition. Ty Lawson is solid at point guard, while his backcourt mate Ellington needs to show improvement. Ellington is the Tar Heel I would label as inconsistent.

IMO, the lack of freshman talent is a non-factor. Ol' Roy has plenty of talent available. I'm not sure UNC deserves to be #1, but there is no question they are a top 5 team, which will make it that much sweeter when we whup their butts!