Thoughts on the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Top 25 released on Thursday:
- The first four – North Carolina, followed by Kentucky, Ohio State and Connecticut – was no surprise.
The Tar Heels got 30 of 31 first-place votes from the coaches – a solid definition for “overwhelming choice”.
But reasonable strong cases could be made for each of the three to be No. 1 going into the season. I tabbed the Buckeyes (in Lindy’s Preseason Magazine).
- I wouldn’t have had the teams in the same order, but the only substitution I would have made in the next six picks to round out the Top 10 would have been Pittsburgh (No. 11) for Memphis (No. 9).
Josh Pastner’s Tigers still a tad young for Top 10 status.
Jamie Dixon’s Pitt squad is one of four Big East teams with at least a reasonable chance of getting to the Final Four this season.
And that makes you dang good.
- In the “they’re in the Top 25 but they were still vastly underrated” category Michigan (18), Gonzaga (23) and California (24).
Darius Morris put up nice numbers as a sophomore before opting for the NBA draft (he was a second-round pick of the Lakers). But I think the Wolverines will be a better team than they were last spring, when they came fairly close to knocking off Duke to get to the Sweet 16.
Gonzaga gets to the Sweet 16 this season and California – not Arizona (16), not UCLA (No. 20) and not Washington (unranked but should have been ranked) – is the consensus choice of conference coaches to win the Pac-12.
- Teams that were Top 25-worthy but were still ranked a tad too high (at least for time being) are Memphis (9), Kansas (13), Wisconsin (14) and Arizona (16).
As I mentioned earlier, the Tiger are still too young while Kansas, Wisconsin and Arizona lost too much from last season.
The Jayhawks depth, especially up front, took a hit with non-qualifiers but, like Wisconsin (with Jordan Taylor) have a very good “best player” in Thomas Robinson.
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