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.
Normally, you'd look at an opening night game where the Warriors took the New Orleans Hornets down to the wire without Monta Ellis and say "Hey, that's pretty good! How about these Dubs?!"
Unfortunately, it ignores two points. One, the Warriors still lost, and two, the Warriors completely abandoned the youth movement they centered around all summer. In last night's game, Don Nelson ran a 7 man rotation (outside of a scintillating 23 second performance by C.J. Watson), that featured all veterans, DeMarcus Nelson for about long enough for Nellie to figure out he didn't like him, and Al Harrington who has publically begged, demanded, and pleaded to be traded.
Who got the DNP-CDs? Marco Belinelli. Okay, that's understandable, the guy's never put in a good regular season stretch yet. Marcus Williams. Okay, when you're in the Nellie doghouse, you're in the Nellie doghouse. Brandan Wright. Huh. That's odd. He's a second year guy and they really need to get him some time. Guess he's still in the doghouse, too. Anthony Randolph. What? So after four months of talking about how much you love the kid and gushing over his handle you just sit him and don't play him?
Like so many highly-touted recruits who take Mike Krzyzewski's scholarship, DeMarcus Nelson found his legacy muted after four years at Duke. Nelson had been one of the Bay Area's brightest basketball prospects of the decade, coming out of Vallejo and then spending his senior year at Sheldon High in Sacramento before putting on a Blue Devil jersey as J.J. Redick captured the hearts and minds of America. But nothing ever went quite right in Durham, and Nelson went undrafted this June.
Nelson is a nominal point guard -- he played the two a lot in college -- and lo! most NBA teams could use at least one point guard. Golden State is no exception. In fact, the Warriors could probably use three point guards. Baron Davis fled, Monta Ellis (hardly a point guard in the first place) broke himself, and C.J. Miles Watson (edited, blame Jazz fever!) and Marcus Williams are fighting for the starting job. Nelson came into the preseason competing with Dan Dickau (late of Los Angeles, your nightmares) for a back-up role. Dickau has been cut, and Nelson appears to have a job.
As is so often the case, Nelson finds himself facing long odds to get meaningful playing time ... which is unfortunate, because players at Nelson's level need meaningful playing time to audition for their next job. When I consider Nelson's status, I think of Dahntay Jones, another Duke product floating around the fringes. Jones is a strong defender and a hyper-athletic airman who is capable of flying over anything/one. But he can't shoot and can barely score, and he spent the end of last season in the D-League. The nation is littered with situations like this. Here's the hoping Nelson (and hell, Jones) can break out of the league's caste system for guards and make the NBA for good.
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.
Crystal Ballin'takes a team-by-team look at what should, could, and probably will happen in the June 26th NBA Draft.
The locals thirst for a roster explosion. At least 26 other fan bases would trade for this roster in a second. The NBA: Where 'The Grass is Greener' Happens!
Picks: #29, #59. Needs: Depending on the depth of Joe Dumars' detonation, depth requirements could pop up all over. In particular, the land behind Tayshaun Prince is a bit dry.
Best case scenario: Assuming Amir Johnson plays power forwards in days ahead, a smaller forward like Ryan Anderson (who has a touch of 'Sheed, at least on offense), J.J. Hickson, or Jason Thompson would look good in Pistons blue. At the end of the draft, a defensive-minded combo like DeMarcus Nelson could potentially pay dividends.
Rajon Rondo's status among the great young NBA point guards will be discussed fully this summer, I suspect. It's a hard argument to make because no point guard in the league derives so much of his talent from the defensive end, and few are as well-rounded (21 points, 8 assists, 7 rebounds, 6 steals -- who let Andrei Kirilenko circa 2004 in this thing?!). As we've found out over the past couple years, defense -- on the individual level -- is really hard to measure.
It seems worth noting today that Rondo is youngest starter on an NBA champion since Tony Parker in 2003. Parker turned 21 during the Spurs' playoff run that season, and had Speedy Claxton to buoy him in the backcourt. This year, 22-year-old Rondo shared the point with Sam Cassell and Eddie House in the Finals, but still played over 30 minutes per game.
Myriad teams passed over Rondo in the 2006 draft for guys like Quincy Douby, Patrick O'Bryant, Mouhamed Sene, Cedric Simmons, and Oleksiy Pecherov. Rarely do guards or swingmen get drafted based on their defensive potential; when they do (Tayshaun Prince), the choices are criticized. And to be fair, it's dangerous for an exec with a tenuous hold on employment to pick a perimeter defender in the draft: if the team defense is no good (Knicks), then your potential defensive wiz kid (Renaldo Balkman) will have no chance to look alive. Gunners can score no matter how bad the team offense is. Disruptors require community help.
What players would Rondo's success endorse this draft season? Russell Westbrook would be the first name I'd find -- like Rajon, Westbrook's jumper has been questioned, but no one denies the brilliant athleticism and focused defense he offers. Lower-valued guards like Chris Douglas-Roberts and DeMarcus Nelson should be included in this conversation, as well. We'll find out next week if anyone thinks Rondo has greater implications.
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.
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.
Normally, you'd look at an opening night game where the Warriors took the New Orleans Hornets down to the wire without 
Like so many highly-touted recruits who take Mike Krzyzewski's scholarship, 
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 
