This week, FanHouse is taking an early look at the top teams heading into 2008 with a BlogPoll decided on by our college hoops bloggers. To help with the team capsules, we've brought in some of the top fan bloggers around the internets to give us insights on their teams.
Today, we have enlisted JD King of Duke Basketball Report to break down the Duke Blue Devils.
There has been a perception the last couple of years that Duke is off. If so, that's over. This Duke team is going to be very good.
The only player not back on last year's size-challenged team is DeMarcus Nelson. And Duke has added freshmen Miles Plumlee (6'11) and Olek Czyz (6'8) to returnees Brian Zoubek (7'1") and Lance Thomas (6'8") to the inside rotation. Zoubek is healthier than he has been in some time and Taylor is markedly improved and much stronger than he was last year.
Czyz will play less than the other three, but no matter how you cut it, this frees up 6'8" Kyle Singler to play anywhere he's useful on the court.
North Carolina has been the unanimous choice as the No. 1 team in both the Associated Press and ESPN/USA Today Coaches polls. Needless to say, they were named by media members as the prohibitive favorite to win the ACC regular season title.
It's supposed to be North Carolina's year. Maybe so, but don't forget about Duke. On this list, the Blue Devils are No. 1. Mike Krzyzewski's team is just too big and physical to ignore. If Ish Smith is healthy, it will be worth watching Wake Forest, too. None of this is to say UNC will fall short. The Heels just might go all the way to the NCAA Tournament final -- against the Blue Devils.
Let me say this: just because everyone else thinks the Heels are the favorite doesn't mean they will win the whole thing. Remember that this Heels team needed a win at Duke on the final day of the season just to win the ACC title last year. That UNC team was also ranked preseason No. 1 and was the heavy favorite in the ACC.
With the fall beginning and college basketball just around the corner, it's time to look back at what our favorite teams did during their summer vacations. Some did some good things; some had a bad time. So let's look back at who did what in our How I Spent My Summer Vacation series.
Today's look is the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Roy Williams Hits Jackpot When All His Guys Return
The Tar Heels were at quite the crossroads. After a great season ended with a disappointing loss to Kansas, Tyler Hansbrough, Ty Lawson, Wayne Ellington and Danny Green all decided to take a look at the NBA Draft. Hansbrough decided to come back, but the other three entered the draft with the opportunity to come back to school if they didn't like their draft status.
If any or all left, the Heels were facing some uncertainty heading into the season. Yes, they'd still be a good team but they'd have a few holes.
In a somewhat surprising move, all three Heels decided to come back for one last hurrah. That means Ol' Roy gets everyone back from that Final Four team (sans a transferred Alex Stepheson and a graduating Quentin Thomas -- both role players). They also bring in three McDonald's All Americans.
You want another sign showing the decline of ACC basketball over the past few years? How about that the ACC had just one underclassman declare (and keep his name in) for the NBA Draft this season.
That guy is J.J. Hickson, and there is even a line of reasoning that NC State may be better without him.
There really were just a few really outstanding seniors leaving (Duke lost DeMarcus Nelson; Virginia lost Sean Singletary). There is a chance where the ACC will have no players taken in the first round of the draft (Hickson is the lone hopeful).
Typically, the ACC fills the draft up with all kinds of talent.
Last year, three ACC players were lottery picks ... part of six total that were taken in the first round.
Three players went in the first round in 2006.
In 2005, seven players went in the first round. (five went in the lottery; three went in the top five).
In 2004, only Duke's Luol Deng was taken in the first round.
Remember, that was mostly when high school players also were in the draft, meaning less spots for colliegate players. So, what could the upcoming ACC season look like?
If you read articles all over the internets, you would assume that North Carolina will crush everyone on their way to a National Championship. That could happen, but that really is selling the ACC short. There are some really good teams who have high expectations as well.
There will (most likely) be no coaching changes in the ACC this year. There really aren't many of those "one-and-done" guys that other conferences will see leave. So what are the major themes of the ACC's offseason?
-Olympic Games: I must admit that I was surprised that Mike Krzyzewski had his Duke team blazing out of the gate this season. I honestly felt that his Olympic responsibilities would have some sort of effect on the Blue Devils to start this season. Instead, they shot out of the gate and were the #2-ranked team as late as February.
But this July and August will see K's commitment to the Olympic squad hit the highest level. After finishing a pretty good season at Duke and looking towards bigger things in '09, he must go to Beijing and deal with a volatile and thankless job.
If Team USA comes back with the gold, everyone will just say it was because there were better players this time around and the program was more focused. If they don't win it all -- God, help them.
-UNC's Main Men: The Tar Heels were a horrible 12 minutes from getting to the National Championship game this year. If everyone comes back, they could be the favorite to bring home the title.
Over the last few years, West Virginia has found a niche of being the NCAA tournament darlings. In 2005, we were Kevin Pittsnogle-d into a surprising Elite 8 team (they went to the Sweet 16 the next season). In 2008, they are the ones who knocked Duke out of the dance.
West Virginia, who couldn't throw the ball in the ocean in the first half, hit 4-of-their-5 three point shots and scored 44 in the second half. Joe Alexander led the way with 22 points, Alex Ruoff added 17 and 6'2 guard Joe Mazzulla came off the bench to give the Mountaineers a huge, huge effort (13 points, 11 boards).
It was the Blue Devils who couldn't shoot in the second half. Duke missed 15 straight three point shots and hit just 5-of-22 from behind the arc. Senior DeMarcus Nelson, who scored just two points in the win over Belmont, shot like garbage again. He hit just 2-of-11 shots and scored just six points.
Duke goes home a tad bit early for the second straight year. West Virginia (the Duke Haters favorite team) will face either Xavier or Purdue next.
Again, as I said a few days ago, the Belmont-Duke game was going to be better than most people figured. And, boy, it was!
Belmont had a one point lead until Gerald Henderson rebounded a miss, took it the length of the floor, and scored a game winning layup with :13 remaining. A last second heave by Belmont went wide left and the Blue Devils escaped with a win.
Duke needed somebody to step up tonight and Henderson took those reigns. He scored 17 of his game-high 21 points in the second half to led Duke to the 71-70 victory. They needed that slasher since DeMarcus Nelson keeps struggling (2 pts, 1-of-6 shooting). While the rest of the Blue Devils looked sluggish, Henderson was very active on both ends of the court, scored the final eight points for the Blue Devils and carried them to the 2nd round.
Mascot: Blue Devils. Really, there is no good reason why they are called the Blue Devils. Just like an NBA team might do, they just asked for suggestions and pulled that one out, despite criticisms of the use of 'devil' in the name [before the name change, their sports teams were the called the Methodists]. For a historical look at some hilarious photos of the mascot, click here.
Big Wins: at North Carolina, Wisconsin, Marquette, Davidson, Clemson, Miami and Cornell.
Notable Loss: They were soundly beaten at Wake Forest, 86-73. Their other three losses have been a lot closer. Player You Should Know: If there is one guy that Duke relies on, it is senior DeMarcus Nelson. When he struggles, the team has a tough time creating offense. Sure, the shooters can still shoot and all ... but Nelson is the one guy that can create for himself and, in turn, creates space for others. He leads the Blue Devils in scoring and is second in rebounding and assists.
Outlook: Duke is a very wild card. When their shots are falling, they are so tough to beat. Their spread offense relies on creating a ton of space where help defense gets exposed. Greg Paulus, Jon Scheyer and Kyle Singler will be relied on to hit threes. The problem is (a) they have absolutely no post presence and (b) Paulus has a tough time guarding quicker guards. Those things were exposed against Wake Forest, Miami, Pitt and UNC. Eventually, they are going to run into it again.
I added the "Coach K" in the headline because you will probably see more of him in the tournament in commercials than you may care.
With the ACC regular season over and done, it's time to go back and give a few awards for the season.
Player of the Year: Tyler Hansbrough, North Carolina. Only Antawn Jamison, Tim Duncan and Horace Grant have led the ACC in both scoring and rebounding in the same season over the past 25 years. All three of those guys went on to win the Player of the Year in the ACC (two won the national award).
Coach of the Year: Dino Gaudio, Wake Forest. Va Tech's Seth Greenberg or Miami's Frank Haith may win it (and they would deserve it). But Gaudio came into such a tough situation with a team that hadn't been very good lately. Sure, the magic of the win over Duke was dampered a bit with the ensuing four game losing skid, but this was a big year for
All-ACC Team: Hansbrough, Tyrese Rice (BC), DeMarcus Nelson (Duke), Sean Singletary (UVa) and Greivis Vasquez (UMd). Either this was a great year for guards or a poor year for big men. Either way, Rice and Singletary have been the lone reasons to pay attention to either of their teams. Vasquez, a sophomore, has really stepped into his leadership role at Maryland. Nelson fills the customary senior swingman spot on this team. Just like Vasquez, Nelson's leadership has meant more to Duke than his abilities ... and that is saying quite a bit!
UNC's Tyler Hansbrough may have had some decent numbers (16 points, 15 rebounds) but it was the other Heels that made the difference in the Heels 76-68 win over Duke.
In their first meeting, point guard Ty Lawson didn't play while Danny Green and Wayne Ellington combined for 4-of-24 from the field. In this one, the three combined for 44 points and 14 rebounds on 18-of-38 shooting.
Green was especially big. He led all scorers with 18 points ... but he was everywhere -- blocking six shots and grabbing eight rebounds.
The story of this game may be UNC's defense. In the first game, they pretty much guarded nothing. Duke shot wide open threes yet still got into the paint at will. In this one, the shots were hard to come by. UNC switched out on screens (which led to some odd matchups of Hansbrough guarding DeMarcus Nelson for stretches). It didn't allow that spacing that Duke needed to get open looks (though they still hit 10-of-29 from behind the arc) and held the Blue Devils to just under 33% shooting.
They also held Greg Paulus, who hit four threes in the first half, to just three total points in the second half.
This week, FanHouse is taking an early look at the top teams heading into 2008 with a BlogPoll decided on by our college hoops bloggers. To help with the team capsules, we've brought in some of the top fan bloggers around the internets to give us insights on their teams.
North Carolina has been the unanimous choice as the No. 1 team in both the Associated Press and ESPN/USA Today Coaches polls. Needless to say, they were named by media members as the prohibitive favorite to win the ACC regular season title.
With the fall beginning and college basketball just around the corner, it's time to look back at what our favorite teams did during their summer vacations. Some did some good things; some had a bad time. So let's look back at who did what in our 
You want another sign showing the decline of ACC basketball over the past few years? How about that the ACC had just one underclassman declare (and keep his name in) for the NBA Draft this season.
There will (most likely) be no coaching changes in the ACC this year. There really aren't many of those "one-and-done" guys that other conferences will see leave. So what are the major themes of the ACC's offseason?
Over the last few years, West Virginia has found a niche of being the NCAA tournament darlings. In 2005, we were 
Conference: 
With the ACC regular season over and done, it's time to go back and give a few awards for the season.
UNC's 
