Inside the Naismith voting process

Cole Aldrich will be one of the most feared big men in the country this season. AP

On Thursday, I sent in my ballot for the Naismith Award's preseason watch list. It runs 50 players deep, sets the table for the national player of the year race, and tends to generate two things: fluffy press releases from athletic departments and debate from fans over how/why (insert deserving player's name here) was snubbed. I'm on the Board of Selectors for the award, and while there are no official rules for the voting, my guiding principle is simply, "Don't leave the eventual Naismith winner off of your preseason watch list." Because that would be embarrassing.

In the interest of maximum transparency -- and hopefully, a worthwhile look at a wide-open Player Of The Year landscape -- what follows is a breakdown of how I arrived at the final 50. I went through a seven-step process that yielded a pool of 69 players, and then had to make 19 cuts. Let's begin with the building:

The Candidates

Pool One: The most obvious upperclassmen (8/69)

Cole Aldrich, Kansas
Craig Brackins, Iowa State
Sherron Collins, Kansas
Luke Harangody, Notre Dame
Kalin Lucas, Michigan State
Patrick Patterson, Kentucky
Scottie Reynolds, Villanova
Kyle Singler, Duke

These are the eight returning players I consider the favorites. All but two (Brackins and Harangody, who are statistical monsters) are on likely top-10 teams. I suspect that the question of whether Collins or Aldrich is the Jayhawks' better POY candidate is going to be a debate topic all season -- especially since they were just named the Big 12's preseason co-POYs this week.

(I side with Aldrich, but I also polled three opposing Big 12 assistants anonymously on that topic, and got two Collins votes and one Aldrich. Here's what they said:

Coach One: "If you polled our whole staff we'd probably be split down the middle, but for me it's Sherron. He's what makes that team tick. Cole is the anchor of Bill's defense, but KU would be more hurt if you took away Sherron."

Coach Two: "Cole's the higher draft pick, but Sherron is the one in control, and let's face it -- the point guard usually gets more credit in these kinds of things."

Coach Three: "How many centers like Cole do you have in college basketball? With [Hasheem] Thabeet gone I have a hard time finding one who'll make a bigger impact. I've gotta go with him.")

Pool Two: The scary freshmen (3/69)

The Naismith, unlike the Wooden Award, allows freshmen on its preseason watch list. I considered three high-impact rookies:

Avery Bradley, Texas
Derrick Favors, Georgia Tech
John Wall, Kentucky

For some insight, I called Scout.com recruiting guru Dave Telep, who's been watching these kids longer than anyone. "Those are lofty expectations for freshmen," he said, "but Wall, Favors and Bradley have talent that's realistically better than 99 percent of what's out there in college basketball right now." Therefore, I couldn't exclude them.

Wall has just as much of a shot at POY as Aldrich or Collins, or anyone in Pool One, but Telep says that Wall's next step is "to take those unbelievable athletic gifts and put them into a team setting. If he does that, then Kentucky is dangerous." How quickly Wall does that will decide if he's a true contender. Bradley will have a shot if he emerges as the leader of a Texas team that could overtake Kansas in the Big 12. Meanwhile, Favors, who's a monster in the post, could get in the mix by putting up Harangody-like numbers at Georgia Tech.

Pool Three: The super sophs (14/69)

This is the pool that Blake Griffin emerged from last year, blowing away Tyler Hansbrough and the rest of the field to sweep the individual awards race. Not everyone on this list put up Naismith-worthy numbers as freshmen, but the potential is there:

Solomon Alabi, Florida State
Al-Farouq Aminu, Wake Forest
Luke Babbitt, Nevada
Ed Davis, North Carolina
Devin Ebanks, West Virginia
Gordon Hayward, Butler
Sylven Landesberg, Virginia
Greg Monroe, Georgetown
Samardo Samuels, Louisville
Isaiah Thomas, Washington
Klay Thompson, Washington State
Kemba Walker, UConn
Willie Warren, Oklahoma
Terrico White, Ole Miss

There are some strong candidates here, especially Ebanks, who's ready to have a breakout season; Davis, who was the Tar Heels' best NBA prospect last year despite coming off the bench; Monroe, who should benefit from the Hoyas being back in contention in the Big East; and Warren, who will put up huge scoring numbers in Griffin's absence. At least one, if not two players on this list should grow into first team All-Americans by season's end.

Pool Four: The Establishment (35/69)

This crew of lesser upperclass stars makes up the bulk of the list. I separated it into two tiers; the first is a group of nine stars of ranked teams who could be darkhorse POY candidates:

Trevor Booker, Clemson
Da'Sean Butler, West Virginia
Manny Harris, Michigan
Robbie Hummel, Purdue
Damion James, Texas
Jerome Randle, Cal
Tyler Smith, Tennessee
Evan Turner, Ohio State
Jarvis Varnado, Mississippi State

I wouldn't be surprised if Turner, who's one of the nation's most complete players, emerges from this pack -- especially if the Buckeyes give Michigan State and Purdue a run for the Big Ten title.

The Second-Tier Establishment comprises the stars who face longer odds. They are as follows:

James Anderson, Oklahoma State
Talor Battle, Penn State
Matt Bouldin, Gonzaga
Denis Clemente, Kansas State
Devan Downey, South Carolina
Jerome Dyson, Connecticut
Corey Fisher, Villanova
Lazar Hayward, Marquette
JaJuan Johnson, Purdue
Jerome Jordan, Tulsa
Tasmin Mitchell, LSU
E'Twaun Moore, Purdue
Raymar Morgan, Michigan State
A.J. Ogilvy, Vanderbilt
Tajuan Porter, Oregon
Stanley Robinson, UConn
Rakim Sanders, Boston College
Jon Scheyer, Duke
DeShawn Sims, Michigan
Deon Thompson, North Carolina
J.T. Tiller, Missouri
Greivis Vasquez, Maryland
Deonta Vaughn, Cincinnati
Michael Washington, Arkansas
Nic Wise, Arizona
Chris Wright, Dayton

As good as that crew is, it's also the pool from which most of the cuts will be made.

Pool 5: The marvelous mids (7/69)

With Butler's Hayward and Nevada's Babbitt already on the board in Pool Three, these were the other seven mid-major stars I considered:

Marqus Blakely, Vermont
Randy Culpepper, UTEP
Osiris Eldridge, Illinois State
Matt Howard, Butler
Larry Sanders, VCU
Ryan Thompson, Rider
Edwin Ubiles, Siena

If Butler is a top-10 team, and Howard produces at a higher statistical level than Hayward does, it's possible that the hobbit-haired postman could get in the POY mix. And as the face of a Siena team that should get early top 25 votes, Ubiles belongs.

Pool Six: The transfers (2/69)

I could only envision two transfers making a monster impact this season:

Jordan Crawford, Xavier
Wesley Johnson, Syracuse

People around the Xavier program last year said that Crawford's talent level is off the charts -- as in, there's a chance he could be an early draft entrant if he can refine his game and become a polished all-around player. Johnson, meanwhile, is being hyped as a versatile wing who can fill in some of Syracuse's Flynn-and-Devo scoring void.