The Naismith POY

The ESPN/USA Today NCAA Top 25 poll dropped today, which means that we’re another day closer to watching Tyler Hansbrough tear the heads off of the Fighting Quakers of UPenn on November 15th. I can barely contain my excitement.

The only ranking that can’t be argued right now is the Tar Heels at No. 1. They’re featuring eight McDonald’s All-Americans, which is obviously more than any other team in the country (the Dukies have 7). But aside from UNC, here’s the debate raging in the Dime office about the remainder of the Top 25:

* No. 3 Louisville and No. 4 UCLA – We like these two here. For Louisville, high-flying Seattle-native Terrence Williams and versatile power forward Earl Clark would have been tough enough on their own. Add in top recruits Samardo Samuels, Terrence Jennings and Jared Swopshire, and Rick Pitino’s crew might have the best combination of power and speed in the nation. For the Bruins, their five freshmen Jerime Anderson, Jrue Holiday, Malcolm Lee, Drew Gordon, and J’Mison Morgan have been called the second-coming of the Fab Five in some circles.

* No. 7 Michigan State – The Spartans have the best returning core in the Big Ten, but that does not qualify them for the seven-spot. In fact, they might not even end up as the best team in an incredibly weak Big Ten. Ohio State, who remarkably isn’t ranked, features the top recruit in the nation (now that Brandon Jennings is in Italy). 7-0 C B.J. Mullens will eat MSU’s 6-10 C Goran Suton’s lunch, and deadeye shooter 6-5 SG William Buford could set the undersized Spartans on fire. No. 8 Texas should be ahead of State, and No. 13 Tennessee could end up leapfrogging them too.

* No. 9 Notre Dame – A source of much discussion right now in the office. Some people are calling Kyle McAlarney and Luke Harangody “Kibbles & Bits” because they’re “dogfood.” Others realize that Harangody puts a mortal fear in men, women and children because of his super-human strength on the block.

* No. 11 Gonzaga – Why does everyone insist on ranking this team in the Top 25 every year? Newsflash: Austin Daye isn’t as good as everyone thinks.

* No. 12 Memphis, No. 13 Tennessee, No. 14 Oklahoma, and No. 15 Arizona State – Just shift this block up five spots and drop all the Big Ten teams ahead of them down.

* No. 17 Marquette – The Big East could send 10 teams to the Tournament. Even if the Golden Eagles are one of them, they’re not built for success. This team returns the same backcourt trio of Dominic James, Jerel McNeal and Wesley Matthews, and everyone predicts they’ll succeed every year. But every year they disappoint. It’s no different in ‘08-09.

* No. 21 USC – We’re probably preaching to the choir with this, but please don’t underestimate the impact of freshmen. On a team that already has a talented post scorer with Taj Gibson, the addition of DeMar DeRozan will make the Trojans a scary-good team in the Pac-10.

* No. 24 Wake Forest – The feel good team of the year. Everyone should be rooting for the Demon Deacons as they’re still coping with the loss of Skip Prosser. Their gigantic front line of freshmen 6-8 Al-Farouq Aminu, 6-10 Tony Woods, and 7-0 Ty Walker could give smaller ACC lineups a tough time.

* Teams who should be ranked: Ohio State, St. Mary’s, and Syracuse. If Patty Mills can handle Deron Williams and Chris Paul in the Olympics, he can take on the WCC. And the Orange are basically a more dangerous version of No. 25 Villanova. They lack talent up front, but their backcourt of Jonny Flynn, Eric Devendorf, Andy “Buckets” Rautins and Paul Harris can run and score with anyone.