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Yes, Oklahoma. Absolutely, Oklahoma.
Oklahoma, which returns the top five scorers from this past season's 25-8 team, is CBS SportsLine.com's pick to win the 2006 national championship for three primary reasons:
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| Oklahoma's Nate Carter averaged 16 points and six rebounds in two seasons at UC Riverside. (Getty Images) |
2. Mike Neal
3. The 2005 NBA Draft
Carter is the 6-foot-6, 225-pound junior who redshirted this past season after transferring from UC Riverside. In two seasons there, he averaged 16 points and six rebounds per game. If that doesn't tell you how good he is, this should:
"Nate Carter would have started for us this season," Oklahoma coach Kelvin Sampson says.
Any more questions about Nate Carter?
As for Neal, he's a juco transfer along the lines of 2004-05 stars Taj Gray and Terrell Everett. The 6-4 Neal was considered the country's best juco shooting guard this season.
The NBA Draft is significant to the Sooners on two levels. One, Gray chose not to enter it; he'll enter 2005-06 as a candidate for national player of the year. Two, the other teams CBS SportsLine.com considered for the No. 1 ranking -- Duke, North Carolina, Connecticut and Louisville -- all could lose key players and/or recruits to the 2005 draft.
The CBS SportsLine.com Pre-Preseason Top 25:
1. Oklahoma: The last time the Sooners had this much talent and depth, they reached the 2002 Final Four. Oklahoma could have the country's best starting frontcourt next season in Gray, Carter and Kevin Bookout. The backcourt will be wicked deep with Everett, Neal, Lawrence McKenzie, Drew Lavender and David Godbold. That's eight quality players, and seven are juniors or seniors.
2. Duke: Daniel Ewing will be missed, but if junior Shelden Williams and recruit Josh McRoberts put off the NBA, the Blue Devils will be just as talented next season -- and considerably deeper thanks to another awesome recruiting class. Two incoming freshmen might even start: point guard Greg Paulus and McRoberts at power forward.
3. Kentucky: There's not much incoming talent, but those freshmen become sophomores, and power forward Chuck Hayes was the only senior in the rotation. What if Tubby Smith figures a way to get 7-3 Shagari Alleyne and 6-10 Randolph Morris onto the court at the same time? Or more diabolically, what if Smith unleashes a quick lineup featuring 6-5 Kelenna Azubuike and 6-4 Joe Crawford at the forward spots?
4. North Carolina: The Tar Heels' 2006 national championship hopes rest on the NBA decisions of Raymond Felton, Marvin Williams, Rashad McCants and Sean May. The recruiting class was good enough to plug some of those gaps, most notably power forward Tyler Hansbrough and guard Bobby Frasor, but if Felton turns pro, rising sophomore Quentin Thomas must be ready for the point.
