Since I’m a Giant’s fan (baseball, not football), this is the worst part of the year for me. We’re past the NBA Finals, the NBA Draft and the Giants are the third best team in a division where the first place team is only .500. Kill me. With that being said, my College Basketball Notebook is back. I’ll be having new articles on college hoops weekly (hopefully I don’t run out of things to write about before the season starts in November – good luck to me, but I really couldn’t wait to get started because I’m already excited about the upcoming season (especially with the return of Ty Lawson, Wayne Ellington and Danny Green going back to Chapel Hill for yet another title run).

Without a Lakers championship to celebrate (or a Sports Illustrated subscription to enjoy) I’ll take this time to look forward to the teams to watch out for in the 2008-2009 college basketball season. This week, I’ll tackle who I feel are the top five teams on paper going into next season. I planned on writing about my top five teams not in the top five to look out for, my top five teams who will remain relevant even with a key player loss and a few other topics, but I’ve decided to spread the wealth throughout the summer. With that being said, I present to you my pre-pre season Top 5

1. North Carolina:
If you’re a North Carolina fan, you couldn’t be more excited about the upcoming season. With the NCAA Player of the Year, Tyler Hansbrough (22.6 ppg, 10.2 rpg), not even testing the draft waters and key names in Ty Lawson, Wayne Ellington and Danny Green removing themselves off of the draft boards at the last minute means anything less than a Final Four appearance will be a disappointment – but isn’t that always the case in Chapel Hill? Both Deon Thompson and Alex Stephenson started to pick up their games toward the end of the season and Bobby Frasier should be back from his knee injury to back up Lawson.

Biggest Question: Will this team find a way to the tile game? I think so. This is the same core that fell apart against Georgetown in the Elite Eight in 2007 and didn’t show up against Kansas in the Final Four of 2008. Much like the team that won the title in 2005, this will be their third shot at it together and to be honest, the playing field doesn’t seem as tough as the previous two seasons. It’ll be tough to pick against them if everyone stays healthy.

Key losses: Quentin Thomas (SR) – if you really want to count him.
Notable Freshmen: Tyler Zeller (PF); Ed Davis (PF); Larry Drew (PG)

2. Pittsburgh:
One of the scary things about Pitt is that no one who doesn’t really follow college basketball knows who the real star of this team is. We’ve all heard about LaVance Fields (who may be my favorite point guard in the country) and DeJuan Blair – even Mike Cook got a considerable amount of love while healthy last season, but the return of Sam Young (18 points per, 6.3 rebounds per game and Big East Tourney MVP) has made Pitt one of next season’s favorites. The balance of Fields at the point, Young on the wings and Blair in the paint makes this one of the most complete teams in the nation. Since Cook will probably be back for another year because of another injury plagued season, Pitt will be very tough next season.

Biggest Question: Will Mike Cook be healthy? Cook can be the deal breaker with this team especially with Ronald Raymond and Keith Benjamin gone. The core of this team is going to have to carry them, and the load will be much lighter if Cook is healthy. Hopefully some of the incoming freshmen can contribute the way LaVance Fields did last season.

Key Losses: Ronald Raymond (SR), Keith Benjamin (SR)
Notable Freshmen: Nasir Robinson (SF); Travon Woodall; Ashton Gibbs

3. Notre Dame
Notre Dame is one of those schools people don’t pay attention to because they’re not a traditional basketball school, however, the fighting Irish feature the Big East’s best player in Luke Harangody (20.4 ppg, 10.6 rpg). Harangody will be back with the same solid backcourt in Troy Jackson (who has one of the best all around games in the nation) and McAlarney (who can score with the best of them) and a wealth of other solid role players. Notre Dame should be a top three team in the Big East this season and should play well into March.

Biggest Question: Can Notre Dame win when Luke Harangody has huge games? Last season Notre Dame had a losing record when Harangody scored 29+ points, including losses at UCONN and Louisville where he scored 32 and 40 points respectively. The ball in the Fighting Irish’s offense tends to stop at Harngody when he gets in a groove early. They can’t allow that to happen next season.

Key Losses: Bob Kurz (SR)
Notable Freshmen: N/A

4. UCLA
That’s right, I’m writing an article giving some love to UCLA. With Darren Collison (who would have been amazing in the D-League) and Josh Shipp (who the Lakers would have taken instead of Joe Crawford at #58 in the draft) deciding that entering the draft wasn’t a great idea, the Bruins made the jump from a top 20 team to a top 5 team even with the departures of Kevin Love and Russell Westbrook (maybe my second favorite Bruin behind Baron Davis) – especially with their ridiculous incoming freshman class. They’ll still be the team to beat out west, although, the loss of Luc Richard Mbah a Moute really hurts them defensively as if Love and Westbrook didn’t hurt enough.

Biggest Question: Will UCLA’s freshmen be able to fill the void of Westbrook, Love and Mbah a Moute? I think they will. Ben Howland is proving to be one of the nation’s top recruiters. He consistently goes out and gets guys who stay out of trouble off the court and guys who will be committed to playing defensively while on the court. Having Collison and Shipp there to help them out couldn’t hurt either.

Key Losses: Russell Westbrook (#4 to Seattle); Kevin love (#5 to Memphis, traded to Minnesota); Luc Richard Mbah a Moute (#37 to Milwaukee);
Notable Freshmen: Jrue Holliday (SG); Drew Gordon (PF); J’Mison Morgon (C); Malcolm Lee (PG); Jermie Anderson (PG)

5. Duke
Even my hatred for Duke (even more than my hatred for UCLA *shudders*) couldn’t stop me from keeping this team out of my pre-pre season top five. I’ve grown to fear Greg Paulis (how did that happen?), and Gerald Henderson (male pattern baldness aside) is becoming a stud. Combine those two with a wealth of shooters, most notably Jon Scheyer and Kyle Singler, and an excited Coach Krzyzewski and Duke has a reason to be ranked in the top five again – not to mention their returning role players that will have another year of experience under their belt in Lance Thomas and David McClure.

Biggest Question: Have their problems in the paint been answered? Not yet, but Coach K has brought in a nice class of power forwards who will give the Blue Devils a much needed post presence in the future. A lot of scouts were really big on Miles Plumlee and Coach K is hoping he’ll be able to come in and help out down low. I think they’re a year away from answering this question, though.

Key Losses: DeMarcus Nelson (SR); Taylor King (Transferred to Villanova)
Notable Freshmen: Elliot Williams (SG); Miles Plumlee (PF); Olek Czyz (PF)

Up next for the College Basketball Notebook: My Top Five teams not in the top five to look out for. Be sure to check that out next week.


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Phillip Barnett is a senior writer for Talkhoops.net and can also be read at imsohideous.blogspot.com