Football season hasn’t even started and Jeff Goodman from FoxSports.com has released his basketball pre-season top 25. I think calling it “pre-season” just doesn’t do enough to describe this early of a list. It’s more like the “Extreme Pre-Season” top 25.
Kentucky is losing five players to the NBA and this years recruiting class is not a good as last years… Ok, That’s not really a bad thing, I don’t think anyone’s recruiting class this year is better than UK’s 2009 class. Here’s how Goodman ranked everyone in the “extreme” pre-season.
[LIST=1]
[*]Duke
[*]Perdue
[*]Michigan State
[*]Ohio State
[*]Kansas State
[*]Villanova
[*]Pittsburgh
[*]Washington
[*]Missouri
[*]Florida
[*]Kansas
[*]Gonzaga
[*]Memphis
[*]Illinoise
[*]BYU
[*]North Carolina
[*]Baylor
[*]Kentucky
[*]Temple
[*]Virginia Tech
[*]Richmond
[*]Florida State
[*]Syracuse
[*]UNLV
[*]Minnesota T25: Butler (tie for 25)
[/LIST]
Kentucky dropping to #18 in the polls may be disappointing to some, but remember we’re losing five players to the NBA…AND three to graduation. And you can always compare this to where we were ranked during the Gillispie years. Remember, we we’re knocking on the door every week just trying to get in.
Here’s what Goodman had to say about UK…
[QUOTE]Talk about a dramatic change in personnel. The Wildcats lost five guys to the NBA draft, but UK has reloaded with a terrific freshman class led by Knight — one of the most talented guards in the country. The key, however, could be Kanter — a 6-foot-9 Turkish kid who could be a force in the paint.[/QUOTE][B]
Here’s the breakdown by conference…[/B]
Big Ten – 5
ACC – 4
Big 12 – 4
Big East – 3
SEC – 2
A-10 – 2
Mountain West – 2
PAC-10 – 1
WCC – 1
C-USA – 1
Horizon – 1
