Preseason Top Ten

Now that the season is officially over...

Here's a brief article with one writer's Top 10 for next season (he was pretty solid last season, with the exception of putting Ohio State and USC in the Top 10, though he based that on Conley returning to OSU).

I think he's being generous with Georgetown at #8, though I won't say that's outside the realm of possibility.  To put it in simplest terms, it looks like we're transitioning from a slow, methodical, calculating team (characterized best by Hibbery and Wallace) to a more aggressive and fast-paced core of players (like Chris Wright, Greg Monroe, Jesse Sapp, etc.).

Back to the article, I do love reading fans of other teams (notably Ohio State and Syracuse) pleading their cases for this guy to move their team into his top thirty.  My favorite is the one who thinks Ohio State has to be in the top ten because they only lose two seniors (although the best two players) from this year's team (that went 10-8 in the weak Big 10 and didn't make the NCAA Tournament).

Well, our schedule may have gotten a bit easier, as Syracuse's Donte Green is expected to enter the NBA Draft.

As much as I'll miss his consistent 2 for 19 shooting games, he was valuable to the Orange and likely to improve with more experience.  Let's start prank calling DeJuan Blair and telling him that the Miami Heat are going to make him a lottery pick. 

Yep, Donte Green is gone from SU, now Caracter, Clark and apparently Sosa (he's thinking of transferring to Miami (FL) ) are leaving Louisville, Sam Young may leave Pitt (though I doubt it), Joe Alexander is gone from WVU, Thabeet will probably leave UCONN (was anyone else absolutely NOT surprised that they lost in the first round? I never thought they were nearly as good as the ridiculous hype surrounding them in January/February) and that's about all I've heard from the bretheren so far this off-season. Regardless, some teams that are relatively level with us talent and success wise have lost some pretty good players. Should be a good season next year in the Big East. Right now it's looking like G'Town, Pitt, Louisville, UCONN, WVU, Syracuse and Marquette could all be top 25 teams potentially next season. Apparently Providence is going to be better, although I haven't paid much attention so I don't really know. The Beast should be even more compettive next season than it was this season, and if our Frosh can play nearly to their talent level and mesh well with some vets, and if, as Saxa says, Chris Wright can limit his turnovers while still being aggressive, I have high hopes for the crew again next year. DaJuan Summers and Jessie Sapp have to take the leadership reigns and somebody needs to fire the boys up like Ewing Jr. and Ty Crawford did. Those intangibles will go a long way to determining just how good the squad can be

One thing is for sure: After some tough years in the late 90's-early 2000's, the Hoya program is back on track and recruiting well to keep us contending for years to come.