pointless hypothetical question:

[west_coast_devil]

If you were a current blue chip high school basketball player going into your senior year, as sides from Duke, which colleges would be your top three picks to play basketball on scholarship for? why?

Mine are....
1. Kansas
I have always really like Self as a coach, and Kansas appears to consistently run a good bball program.

2. Stanford
Johnny D, dont really need to say more, but the education you would receive has to be mentioned.

2. Oklahoma
Jeff Cappel, former Dukie and up and comer in the world of college coaching

[houstondukie]

If you were a current blue chip high school basketball player going into your senior year, as sides from Duke, which colleges would be your top three picks to play basketball on scholarship for? why?

Mine are....
1. Kansas
I have always really like Self as a coach, and Kansas appears to consistently run a good bball program.

2. Stanford
Johnny D, dont really need to say more, but the education you would receive has to be mentioned.

2. Oklahoma
Jeff Cappel, former Dukie and up and comer in the world of college coaching

(in no particular order)

1. UCLA - tradition, academics, california weather/girls
2. Georgetown - tradition, academics, DC (princeton offense is a neg. tho)
3. Wake Forest - quality NBA players, ACC, nice campus/academics
4. Stanford - coach dawkins, california, academics
5. Texas - austin (football school is a neg.)

[ACCBBallFan]

Good list.

deends on how elite and if you go by university or by coach, plus location.

I would add Tom Izzo plus Painter, Beilein, Crean, Bo Ryan, Bruce Weber and Tubby. Though I think B10 basketball is ugly, they have perhaps an equally good nucleus of coaches. Don't know a lot about Matta. Waht's a matta?

Jay Wright, Billy the Kid, JT-III, Lorenzo Romar, Herb Sendek, Mike Brey, Jamie Dixon, Crimmins, Rick Majerus (insert jokes here) Mark Few, Dunphy and McKillop too. They guy from Siena seems to be doing a good job there. Jim Beiheim if he was not retiring soon.

In ACC besides Duke, Oliver Purnell, Al Skinner, Bennett he new UVA coach, Seth Greenberg even with his whining plus Roy and Gary Williams speaking of whining are best coahces.

I'd stay away from barnes, Cal, Pearl, Huggy, Calhoun, Pitino, Leonard Hamilton, Paul Hewitt, Frank Haith, and the red coat, thoguh these ACC guys not nearly as bad as the others.

too early to tell on Dino Gaudio but positive so far though I think he maybe better suited as a behind the scenes assistant.

So plenty of good coaches, some young some old. Not that much of a differentiator, as university itself, location and team composition.

[Hancock 4 Duke]

1. Wake Forest (ACC, Gets quality players)
2. UCLA (Great Tradition, love the beach)
3. NC State (ACC)

But of course, I would love to go to Duke.

[wolfpackdevil]

I love how none of you put UNC on your list.

Roy Williams seems like a great guy, and a fun coach to play for.
UNC-Chapel Hill's campus is one of the best in the country.
You always get to play on ESPN, and it's the biggest fan base from coast to coast for one team.

It would be #1 for me, followed by:

Miami (Great beaches, and the ACC)
Kentucky, (great exposure under Calipari, facilities and more...)

finally, Kansas.

[Greg_Newton]

I would just skip my senior year and play in Europe. I'm hot [stuff], I don't need no edjacation!!!!

[ice-9]

Stanford would be my first choice. Top tier academics with enough exposure such that if I was an NBA talent I would get noticed.

UCLA a close second. Also a great school academically. Howland is an excellent coach with much recent success and the school has so much tradition. If I picked UCLA it would be with great confidence that I will be playing in the NCAA tournament every year.

UNC is probably third. I have to admit they have a great package, though Duke dominates in all aspects. :)

Michigan is on the list. They're making a comeback with Beilen at the helm and it's a decent school. My brother is a Wolverine.

Georgetown is also there. Good school, decent baskteball.

Kansas is a choice but only because they've been so good recently. They along with UNC are probably the "it" schools at the moment. But it sucks academically so I wouldn't be too excited.

Wake Forest, Vanderbilt, and other similar schools are maybes. It would depend on how hard the school recruits me.

I would NEVER go to Kentucky as long as Calipari is the coach. No way.

[FireOgilvie]

I'd go to Stanford, Notre Dame, Harvard or maybe Oklahoma.

Kentucky is the dead last place I would like to go, right behind Florida International.

[4decadedukie]

UNDERLYING PREMISES:
My life will last much longer than my collegiate and professional basketball career, and I want to flourish is all segments of my life. Therefore:
a) My college's academic statute is critical;
b) I want to be respected for my intelligence, character, leadership, and citizenship, which mandates a "squeaky-clean" undergraduate school and its basketball program;
c) As a affluent NBA alumni, I will necessarily attend professional school before beginning my "real career."

CONCLUSIONS:
a) Stanford
b) Notre Dame
c) Princeton
d) Wake
e) UNC-CH
f) Michigan


[This response is dedicated to Shane Battier]

[SupaDave]

I love how none of you put UNC on your list.

Roy Williams seems like a great guy, and a fun coach to play for.
UNC-Chapel Hill's campus is one of the best in the country.
You always get to play on ESPN, and it's the biggest fan base from coast to coast for one team.

It would be #1 for me, followed by:

Miami (Great beaches, and the ACC)
Kentucky, (great exposure under Calipari, facilities and more...)

finally, Kansas.

I just wanted to get hype about Northern Basketball 2009!!! Woo hoo!! (but the fact that you didn't say Northern football lets me know we are from very different eras...)

[DeepBlue70]

Great Question...

I too would have to concede that UNC would have to be my #1 - no question, and much as I despise/detest 'em (I guess that reveals jealousy, huh?)

Villanova might be #2 - many similarities to Duke and Wright seems like a good guy

Probably Wake at #3 - though as said by another, Gaudio is still an unknown quantity

Georgetown would be in the mix as a school and a program with B-ball cache but I've never liked DC nor offensively challenged JTIII,
Notre Dame but I don't think Brey is that good of a coach and I hate the cold
UVA is a great school but not much B-ball tradition

For all of you left-coasters, I certainly understand the attraction of UCLA but when I was out there (albeit fairly briefly) their story just seemed to get lost a bit in the many, many other offerings of the LA area

[Reddevil]

1) Hawaii
2) UCLA
3) Wake

I will never understand why Hawaii is not #1 in all sports, academics, etc. I understand some folks want to be near home, and some folks want to go to established programs in big conferences, but even if they just got a small handful of the best players, coaches, professors each year it would build rapidly. As a football player, if you're not playing for the national championship, a bowl in Hawaii would be better than anything else for me. I know this would not be everyone's cup of tea, but like I said, just a few blue chippers each year could escalate this situation quickly. If Hawaii ever becomes the next UNLV or Memphis, I doubt it would just be an era. There would be no going back. So if I were a blue chipper I would pick Hawaii, and be a big fish in a small pond - that sounds weird doesn't it?

[ACCBBallFan]

1) Hawaii
2) UCLA
3) Wake

I will never understand why Hawaii is not #1 in all sports, academics, etc. I understand some folks want to be near home, and some folks want to go to established programs in big conferences, but even if they just got a small handful of the best players, coaches, professors each year it would build rapidly. As a football player, if you're not playing for the national championship, a bowl in Hawaii would be better than anything else for me. I know this would not be everyone's cup of tea, but like I said, just a few blue chippers each year could escalate this situation quickly. If Hawaii ever becomes the next UNLV or Memphis, I doubt it would just be an era. There would be no going back. So if I were a blue chipper I would pick Hawaii, and be a big fish in a small pond - that sounds weird doesn't it?

Hawai'i makes sense from that perspective.

TV exposire would suffer, but sun exposure woud increase.

Road games however are a drain physically with extremely long flights and mentally having to leave paradise.

Opponents are not used to the travel either but are glad to be there, though not necessarily having their head in the game.

I would guess the home team wins a lot in either event.

[-bdbd]

I've always been structured. So I'd first sit down and make a list of my priorities. It'd look something like this:

1. Good coach. Someone with a track record of success, who'd prepare me best for the NBA, and who I (and my parents) like and respect.
2. Good surrounding talent -- I will do better, and my team will go further (incl exposure) if there's other blue chippers around.
2a. Exposure.
3. Good school. Academics are a big plus, plus pretty campus, good weather, etc.
4. School's b-ball tradition.
5. Desirable, but not critical, to stay near home relatively.

With that in mind, my list might look something like this (hard to skip over Duke tho...) :
1. Stanford (great coach who I like, some tradition, academics, beautiful campus)
2. Kansas (tradition and well-regarded coach, surrounding talent)
3. Notre Dame (tradition, academics, respected/likable coach, campus)
4. UNC at chapel hill (tradition and surrounding talent, coach with rep - though I'm not really one for a put-on corn-pone personality, decent campus)
5. UCLA (tradition, academics, girls, weather, other talent)
6. Georgetown (tradition and academics, plus location in DC, the offense is a negative)
7. Wake (tradition, pretty and small school, academics, NBA players)
8. KY (tradition, surrounding talent, likable coach with experience putting players into the NBA, fun offense, tremendous/enthusiastic/large fan base)
9. FL (recent tradition, likable coach who has recently been putting players in the NBA, talent, campus (location and girls))
10. Texas (likable coach, great sports school, fan base, campus - the best "college town" around)

[Gozza]

I'd want to be in the Northeast or Midwest, live in a fun town, graduate from a respected school, and compete with the best.

1. N.D. - Excellent education, great campus, great tradition, Big East hoops, get to play for Brey. And OK, I'm Catholic. Whaddya want from me?

2. B.C. - ACC, solid school, good coach. Plus, beantown would be a spectacular place to go to school (even if college hoops takes a backseat to the 'C's and 'B's)

3. Nova - Great town, major conference, great young coach

4. Pitt - Great town, major conference, great young coach

5. USMA - OK, so not too competitive for NCs, but hey, if it's about building character and learning to be a leader, K's alma mater needs to be on the list.

[RoyalBlue08]

1.) UCLA, great weather, girls, tradition and one of the best coaches in the country

2.) Stanford, best academic school in a big conference, great young coach.

3.) Davidson (or similar school I'm not thinking of), always wanted to be Steph Curry for a day. Big Man on Campus at a small school...which happens to be a good academic school that would be way out of my price range otherwise.

[NovaScotian]

I agree with an above poster that UNC is probably the dream school for any of us pretending we could have been college basketball players. Aside from that hideous hideous shade of blue, i think having an entire state adore you is a pretty good deal.

[hurleyfor3]

I agree with an above poster that UNC is probably the dream school for any of us pretending we could have been college basketball players. Aside from that hideous hideous shade of blue, i think having an entire state adore you is a pretty good deal.

I think Kansas has a better fanbase than unc. They seem more appreciative of what they have, and more knowledgeable on average than unc fans. Kansas fans seem to just enjoy college basketball, something you can't say about a lot of acc fanbases (including us at times). It helps there's not much competition within 500 miles, granted.

Stanford's an obvious choice because Bay Area winters are quite agreeable and if basketball doesn't turn out for you, you'll still have a degree from Stanford. I presume the Ivies are out of this discussion because we're talking scholarships.

You don't want to go to school in the midwest, unless it's U of Chicago or somewhere you're going to explicitly for the academics. The winters here suck and spring is just extended winter.

[Indoor66]

I think Kansas has a better fanbase than unc. They seem more appreciative of what they have, and more knowledgeable on average than unc fans. Kansas fans seem to just enjoy college basketball, something you can't say about a lot of acc fanbases (including us at times). It helps there's not much competition within 500 miles, granted.

Stanford's an obvious choice because Bay Area winters are quite agreeable and if basketball doesn't turn out for you, you'll still have a degree from Stanford. I presume the Ivies are out of this discussion because we're talking scholarships.

You don't want to go to school in the midwest, unless it's U of Chicago or somewhere you're going to explicitly for the academics. The winters here suck and spring is just extended winter.

Ahh, yes. The coldest winter I ever experienced was the summer I was in San Francisco. :eek: :D

[theAlaskanBear]

Georgetown.
UVA.
Your face.

[The Gordog]

If you were a current blue chip high school basketball player going into your senior year, as sides from Duke, which colleges would be your top three picks to play basketball on scholarship for? why?

Mine are....
1. Kansas
I have always really like Self as a coach, and Kansas appears to consistently run a good bball program.

2. Stanford
Johnny D, dont really need to say more, but the education you would receive has to be mentioned.

2. Oklahoma
Jeff Cappel, former Dukie and up and comer in the world of college coaching

A lot of interesting comments here.

For me, academics, coach, weather, tradition, uniform shade of blue all play a part.

1. Stanford (Johhny D.!)
2. UCLA
3. Wake
...
450. UNC Chapel Hill

[brevity]

...
450. UNC Chapel Hill

I understand and appreciate this feeling, but it is fairly silly. Every year features prep players who include both Duke and UNC on their shortlists. To the outsider, the schools are roughly even in terms of national recognition, TV exposure, and postseason strength.

As for me (in this hypo), I wouldn't put too much emphasis on the head coach because a lot can happen in the two-year period between the summer before my high school senior year and the end of my freshman year. Health problems, departed assistants, new ADs or presidents, and of course departed coaches. Sure, you can see someone like John Calipari or Sean Miller leaving for greener pa$tures, but Ben Howland or Trent Johnson?

I would, however, look at the stability of the program. Are there red flags, like Arizona sometime last year, or USC now? Any NCAA trouble looming? Can't make much postseason noise if the team is restricted from playing in it.

I would strongly consider conference affiliation. Whatever you think of Big Ten and SEC play, their stars do not get as much press as their counterparts in other major conferences. There are probably several reasons for this, but the main one: it ain't football.

And even in the Big East, ACC, Pac-10, and Big 12, there's a have and have-not situation where studs in less historically significant programs (like Clemson, Baylor, Oregon, Providence) enjoy mostly regional love.

Finally, I'd look to location. If I consider Kansas and UCLA roughly equal, would I rather live in Lawrence or Los Angeles? Location isn't everything -- if it were, everyone would put Pepperdine on their shortlist -- but I would prefer a life that isn't just limited to campus grounds. Oklahoma, despite its history and its rising star coach, holds little interest for me.

Some options, then: UCLA, Georgetown, Boston College, Washington, Texas, Stanford, Georgia Tech, California. A bit of West Coast bias, with two Southern schools and two notable cold weather exceptions. Degrees from any of those places would be valuable in a non-basketball job market; that's why I didn't address education.