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| NCAA Basketball Power Rankings |
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The Vols could soon have as many Smiths (Ramar, JaJuan and potential Iowa transfer Tyler) as Carolina had Williamses in 2005 (Jawad, Marvin and Roy). The key Smith next season will be Ramar, who could be primed for a breakout. The learning curve for a freshman point guard is much less steep than for, say, a freshman quarterback, but I wonder how much Ramar was set back by arriving in Knoxville after fall classes had already begun last year. Basketball practice had not officially started, but 99.9 percent of recruits arrive on campus for the summer semester and get in four months of workouts/acclimation before Midnight Madness. Understandably, Smith looked uncomfortable at the point in November, but started to show glimpses of his talent late in the season. In his final game this year, he shot 6-of-10 from the field against Ohio State and dished out four assists without a turnover. Was that a sign of great things to come? |
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Tony Bennett is being inducted into a Hall of Fame on May 12. Not Washington State's -- yet. He's part of the University of Wisconsin Green Bay's HOF class of 2007, a reasonable honor considering the former point guard is the school's all-time leading scorer and assist man, as well as its most famous graduate. (Tickets to the ceremony may still be available, and appear to include a dinner.) Bennett could, perhaps, earn himself a spot in Wazzu's Hall by taking this loaded team, which returns everyone other than Ivory Clark, to a Final Four ... and then sticking around in Pullman for the long haul. The first scenario might be more plausible than the second. |
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The consensus is that '07-08 will just be a rebuilding year in Troy until the Lil' Romeo Era begins in '08-09 ... kidding. I'd feel confident about putting the Trojans in the top 10 as long as senior point guard Gabe Pruitt pulls his name out of the draft. As talented as O.J. Mayo is, the team would function better with him playing off the ball -- especially if the point guard was someone with enough veteran clout, such as Pruitt, to keep Mayo from taking 50 percent of the team's shots. USC's other point guard, Daniel Hackett, is technically in Mayo's class (Hackett finished high school early to join the team for last season) and wouldn't have the same cred. |
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The top eight scorers in the Big Ten last year, according to pace-adjusted, per-40 minute stats from DraftExpress.com:
Player Team Pts/40min
Alando Tucker Wisconsin 25.9
Carl Landry Purdue 25.5
Adam Haluska Iowa 24.6
Greg Oden Ohio State 22.6
Drew Neitzel Michigan St. 22.4
Geary Claxton Penn St. 20.5
Daequan Cook Ohio State 20.5
Courtney Sims Michigan 20.1
Only two players on that list will be back for '07-08: Neitzel and Claxton. There's a major scoring void in this league ... and incoming Hoosier guard Eric Gordon might just be capable of filling it. Seeing him up close at the Jordan Brand All-American Classic two weeks ago, I was pleased that he didn't put on an O.J. Mayo-at-the-McDonald's-game display of ball-hoggery -- and still convinced he has all the tools to put up big numbers as a freshman. Neitzel should lead the Big Ten in scoring, but it wouldn't shock me if Gordon finished in the top three. |
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This stat may come as a surprise: In '06-07, the Spartans were the most turnover-prone team in the Big Ten, coughing up the ball on 24.2 percent of their possessions, which ranked an abysmal 301st in the country (according to kenpom.com). Only one team with a worse percentage made the NCAA tournament -- and that was No. 16 seed Florida A&M out of the MEAC. Michigan State's sloppiness negated much of its prowess on the offensive glass, where it ranked seventh in the country in rebounding percentage. So what's the solution? Drew Neitzel rarely gives the ball away, but Travis Walton was not a careful point guard, with a personal turnover rate of 30.3 percent. They'll have to lean on incoming frosh Kalin Lucas, a four-star point guard from Detroit, for his ballhandling expertise. If Lucas can make a major contribution, the Spartans will be dangerous. |
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