Blue Ribbon college hoops Top 25 and All-Americans
It's less than a month until college basketball starts official practice. In other words, we're getting closer to the best time of year.
Blue Ribbon, the most comprehensive preseason publication available*, has just released its Top 25 and its four All-America teams (Note*: I must confess to writing 17 team previews for Blue Ribbon, so I'm a little biased. My typing fingers also are tired from writing stories that are 2-3 times as long as other magazines' previews. It should be at bookstores and available online within a few weeks).
Anyway, without further ado, I present the Top 25 and the All-American teams. Frankly, I think the order of the Big Ten teams are a little screwy and could be argued -- I'll explain after I post the list -- but that's the beauty of these preseason items.
BLUE RIBBON COLLEGE BASKETBALL YEARBOOK
PRESEASON TOP 25 PRESENTED BY EA SPORTS
1. Kansas
2. Michigan State
3. Texas
4. Villanova
5. North Carolina
6. Purdue
7. Kentucky
8. California
9. Duke
10. Tennessee
11. Butler
12. West Virginia
13. Georgia Tech
14. Minnesota
15. Syracuse
16. Ohio State
17. Oklahoma
18. Connecticut
19. Dayton
20. Maryland
21. Oklahoma State
22. Michigan
23. Washington
24. Georgetown
25. (tie) Siena
25. Illinois
BLUE RIBBON COLLEGE BASKETBALL YEARBOOK
PRESEASON ALL-AMERICA TEAMS
Player of the Year - COLE ALDRICH, 6-11, JR, Kansas
Newcomer of the Year - DERRICK FAVORS, 6-10, FR, Georgia Tech
2009-10 Blue Ribbon All-America Teams
FIRST TEAM
COLE ALDRICH, Kansas, 6-11 JR
KYLE SINGLER, Duke, 6-8 JR
LUKE HARANGODY, Notre Dame, 6-8 SR
SHERRON COLLINS, Kansas, 5-11 SR
EVAN TURNER, Ohio State, 6-7 JR
SECOND TEAM
PATRICK PATTERSON, Kentucky, 6-8 JR
DAMION JAMES, Texas, 6-7 SR
GREG MONROE, Georgetown, 6-11 SO
WILLIE WARREN, Oklahoma, 6-4 SO
SCOTTIE REYNOLDS, Villanova, 6-2 SR
THIRD TEAM
TALOR BATTLE, Penn State, 5-11 JR
TYLER SMITH, Tennessee, 6-7 SR
TREVOR BOOKER, Clemson, 6-7 SR
ROBBIE HUMMEL, Purdue, 6-8 JR
CRAIG BRACKENS, Iowa State, 6-10 JR
FOURTH TEAM
GREIVIS VASQUEZ, Maryland, 6-6 SR
JARVIS VARNADO, Mississippi State, 6-9 SR
RAYMAR MORGAN, Michigan State, 6-8 SR
JAMES ANDERSON, Oklahoma State, 6-6 JR
ED DAVIS, North Carolina, 6-9 SO
OK, here are my thoughts:
1) Purdue should be ahead of Michigan State
2) Minnesota shouldn't be ahead of Ohio State or Michigan or Illinois.
3) Illinois should probably be No. 4 behind Purdue, MSU and OSU.
4) I'm surprised to see Raymar Morgan listed as MSU's best player rather than defending Big Ten Player of the Year Kalin Lucas.
5) I agree wholeheartedly with OSU's Evan Turner as the Big Ten's best player. He was that guy last year, too.
What do you guys think?
LW
Evan Turner definitely was the best player in the Big Ten last season. Maybe the voters for the preseason All-American teams think that Ramar Morgan is going to have to pick up a lot of the slack for the departed Goran Suton? That seems to be the only explanation I can think of.
Brightsiding hard over this Villanova team. Lots of gr8 players on this team.
Scottie Reynolds was recently quoted as saying he's glad he is back at THE Nova. This Nova team has so much talent and I believe they are really on a mission to prove it. Does this sound very similar to what the UNC Champs of 2009 were saying when they returned? Oh yes.