LIST-O-RAMA
Top teams for 2003-2004

With Syracuse capping off another great college basketball season last night, it's already time for us hoopheads to start thinking about next season. We still don't know which college underclassmen and prized high school recruits will be going pro yet, so I'll have to make some assuptions (TJ Ford: stays. Dwyane Wade: draft) but it's still fun to speculate. Here's my prediction for how the top twelve will look at the end of the regular season:

1. Florida. Lee, Walsh, Roberson and Drejer are four talented returnees and Billy Donovan is an outstanding coach and recruiter. This is a program that will be elite for a long, long time. Losing Bonner will hurt, but the departure of Brett Nelson will be addition by subtraction.

2. Texas. TJ Ford has a chance to be a two-time national Player-of-the-Year and the Longhorns return every significant player they had this year. I would've picked them for the top spot, but the Big 12 will once again be the toughest conference in America next year, meaning Texas will lose a few more games than the Gators will.

3. Duke. Ewing and Redick will emerge as the two superstars here, as Duhon has always been overrated. Also, the Devils will bring in the nation's top recruit, Luol Deng.

4. Kentucky. Their super-deep roster only loses Bogans and Camara, so the Wildcats will once again win with their smothering D.

5. Missouri. The addition of transfer Jason Conley means the Tigers will add the nation's top scorer to a roster that includes Arthur Johnson and player-of-the-year candidate Rickey Paulding.

6. UConn. Okafor has said he'll return to wreak havoc in the paint.

7. Michigan State. Their tourney run proved that Izzo guy can reload his roster and coach as good as anyone in the nation.

8. Gonzaga. All but one of their starters return, including WCC Player-of-the-Year Blake Stepp. One benefit of being a mid-major is that the Zags don't face defections to the NBA. Yet.

9. Arizona. Lute ALWAYS reloads. We'll see if incoming freshman PG Mustafa Shakur (who already has the best name in the college basketball) can be another 4-year starter like Jason Gardner was.

10. North Carolina. Roy Williams or not, the Heels will be solid with their star trio of sophomores.

11. Notre Dame. Chris Thomas and Torin Francis will return for a potent inside-outside combo.

12. Stanford. I have high hopes for the Card, since we return four starters and get back a true PG in Chris Hernandez. Our freshmen SG Tim Morris and SF Fred Washington should be able to contribute athleticism off of our deep bench. But the one thing that worries me is how we're going to replace Julius' point production. Childress needs to step up and prove that he's the one of the best players in the conference. Davis and Little have the potential to be dominant inside (like we were from '99 to '01) but they must stay out of foul trouble. If Monty can iron out the kinks, the Pac 10 title is ours.