After spending part of my afternoon watching a Webcast of a high-school press conference, the least I could do is offer a wet blanket for your enthusiasm. And if the blanket upsets you, perhaps it could at least be used to clean up your pants.

Reviewing Rivals.com's Top 10 classes of 2003:

10. Arizona

Key recruits: Mustafa Shakur, Kirk Walters

Shakur, who was then called "one of the best point guards in the 2003 class," never made the jump to great college player. He made one Elite Eight trip, and in the other three seasons the 'Cats failed to win more than 20 games.

9. Pittsburgh

Key recruits: Chris Taft, Aaron Gray, Walter Waters, Dante Milligan

A decent class, in that it produced two quality Big East big men (even if Taft was underwhelming at times) and three 25-win seasons ... but the Panthers never made it past the Sweet 16.

8. Kansas

Key recruits: David Padgett, J.R. Giddens, Omar Wilkes, Jeremy Case, Nick Bahe

A disaster. Everyone other than Case, a little-used reserve, transferred away from the program. Bill Self reloaded, but still, who expected this class to simply disappear?

7. Syracuse

Key recruits: Terence Roberts, Demetris Nichols, Louie McCroskey

McCroskey left. Roberts was decent but generally underwhelming. Nichols emerged as a big scorer his senior year ... but in the three seasons he and Roberts played decent roles, the Orange lost in the first round of the NCAA twice, and most recently, were banished to the NIT. Not a strong showing for the 'Cuse's first post-Melo class.

6. Cal

Key recruits: Leon Powe, Marquis Kately, Ayinde Ubaka, Dominic McGuire

McGuire left, but Powe, Kately and Ubaka all became starters for the Bears. By the time they were gone, Cal had just one NCAA trip -- a first-round loss in 2006 -- to show for it.

5. Arkansas

Key recruits: Olu Famutimi, Ronnie Brewer, Vincent Hunter, Julius Lamptey

Lamptey didn't make it to campus. Famutini is in the NBDL and Brewer is in the NBA. The Hogs went to one NCAA, in 2006, with both Brewer and Hunter on the roster, and lost in the first round.

4. LSU

Key recruits: Regis Koundjia, Brandon Bass, Tack Minor, Darnell Lazare, Ross Neltner

Bass was the SEC's frosh of the year, but soon jumped to the NBA. Koundjia ended up at George Washington, Neltner transferred to Vandy, and Minor was eventually expelled. Lazare was a solid role player on the Tigers' 2006 Final Four team, though.

3. Maryland

Key recruits: Mike Jones, Ekene Ibekwe, Hassan Fofana, Will Bowers, D.J. Strawberry

Jones, Ibekwe and Strawberry formed the solid core of the Terps' program for the past four seasons ... but only went to the NCAAs twice, and lost in the second round both times. Amazingly, that means the Terps accomplished far more than the Nos. 1 and 2 teams on this list:

2. Oklahoma

Key recruits: Drew Lavender, Brandon Foust, Lawrence McKenzie, Jimmy Tobias, Jaison Williams, Longar Longar

Could this class have contributed any less to OU? Lavender feuded with Kelvin Sampson and left for Xavier. Foust went to Southeast Missouri State. McKenzie resurfaced in Minnesota. Tobias went to Georgia Southern. Only Longar and Williams stayed to be minor contributors. The Sooners went to two NCAA tournaments from '04-07, never getting out of the second round. Wow.

Somehow, the mythical recruiting champs of '03 manage to trump this.

1. Florida State

Key recruits: Alexander Johnson, Von Wafer, Diego Romero, Antonio Griffin

Congrats go out to Leonard Hamilton for pulling off an incredible feat. He managed to parlay a No. 1 recruiting class ... into zero trips to the NCAA tournament.

I doubt Hamilton's feat will ever be matched, especially not by the likes of Billys Donovan or Gillispie, with recruits like Lucas or Patterson. But it sits there as a big, ugly, cautionary tale, reminding us that recruiting triumphs don't guarantee a thing.