FanHouse Hoops BlogPoll

Well, there you have it. The Premature FanHouse Hoops BlogPoll for 2007 is complete. After the jump is the full list with links to each of the top-26 team post/preview.

The voting for #1 was very close. One point separated Memphis from North Carolina after tallying the ballots. Memphis even appeared #1 on one more ballot than UNC, but there was a little more consistent top-tier support for UNC in the voting. Kansas and UCLA each received a vote as the #1 preseason team, and the final point totals between Kansas and UCLA was only 2 points difference.

All of the top-10 teams appeared on every ballot as did USC. The entire top-20 appeared on over half the ballots.

This week, FanHouse is taking a way too early look at the top teams heading into 2007 with a BlogPoll decided on by our college hoops bloggers. It's a time-honored filler for the off-season, and who are we to buck tradition? Today we look at teams 5 through 1.

The North Carolina Tar Heels tops our pre-pre-season poll, mainly because a young team that was a late game meltdown from getting to the Final Four will have marinated to coach Roy Williams' liking for 2007-2008. Tyler Hansbrough and Tywon Lawson are back and should continue to wreck havoc on the ACC. Hansbrough will continue to get his 18 points and 8 boards while being a pest for teams to deal with. Lawson, however, could vault this team to greatness. His confidence rose as the season wore on last year and made the Heels title contenders.

Talent isn't the problem in Chapel Hill. Sweet shootin' Wayne Ellington is back, as are role players Danny Green, Marcus Ginyard and Bobby Frasor. Deon Thompson [who's performing very well for the Under 19 team] and Alex Stephenson will pick up the slack from departed Brandan Wright. Those heralded recruiting classes are growing together.

The problem is intensity. The team was labeled as 'soft' last year, which was plainly evident in that final stretch against Georgetown in the Elite 8. Two of their top defenders, Wright and Reyshawn Terry, have gone to the NBA [Wes Miller, another really good defender, graduated]. That leaves Hansbrough alone again to try to do his thing and could wear him out as the season goes along.

This week, FanHouse is taking a way too early look at the top teams heading into 2007 with a BlogPoll decided on by our college hoops bloggers. It's a time-honored filler for the off-season, and who are we to buck tradition? Today we look at teams 5 through 1.

What's not to like? John Calipari's club has been to the Elite Eight two years in a row, almost everyone is back, and the recruiting class is strong. Memphis is a popular Final Four pick, and ESPN's Andy Katz is among the many experts picking the Tigers to win it all.

Memphis lost only one senior from last year's team that fell to Ohio State in San Antonio, although he was a fairly big loss: second-leading scorer Jeremy Hunt. Chris Douglas-Roberts, Joey Dorsey, Robert Dozier and Antonio Anderson are back, as are all the players who got significant minutes off the bench last year.

And their best player may be incoming freshman guard Derrick Rose, who had an outstanding senior season for Chicago Simeon High School. Another freshman, Jeff Robinson, is expected to make an immediate contribution.

This week, FanHouse is taking a way too early look at the top teams heading into 2007 with a BlogPoll decided on by our college hoops bloggers. It's a time-honored filler for the off-season, and who are we to buck tradition? Today we look at teams 5 through 1.

UCLA fans, players and coaches must really hate the Florida Gators. Like really hate them. Like they've come to the point where they're making voodoo dolls of Joakim Noah. Though they might have been doing that well before the last two Final Fours.

UCLA, which has made it to two straight final fours, has had its season ended by the Gators both times, which, I'd like to imagine, is worse than losing to two different teams. (Ladies and gentleman, that's what we call in grammar a run-on sentence).

But the 2007-08 season won't see similar results for the Bruins. This is the year that UCLA strikes back. Ranked third in the Premature Hoops BlogPoll, the Bruins, who lose a lot from last year's squad but gains more, is determined to win it all this year. And they certainly can.

This week, FanHouse is taking a way too early look at the top teams heading into 2007 with a BlogPoll decided on by our college hoops bloggers. It's a time-honored filler for the off-season, and who are we to buck tradition? Today we look at teams 5 through 1.

Bill Self's Jayhawk squad was a popular pick to cut down the nets last year and fell just short of his first Final Four in a tough loss in the regional final to UCLA. It appeared at times during the offseason that the NBA Draft would wreak some havoc on the roster, but thanks to Brandon Rush's knee injury, it ended up being only Julian Wright who left early. Every other key player for the Jayhawks is returning, and sophomore forward Darrell Arthur should step right into Wright's spot and allow the team to barely miss a beat (after he recovers from his injury).

KU became most dangerous down the stretch of the past season as freshman Sherron Collins, an explosive bowling ball of a PG, started to come into his own. Along with steady defensive minded Russell Robinson and combo guard Mario Chalmers, Self can always have 2 All-Big XII caliber 'small guards' on the floor.

This week, FanHouse is taking a way too early look at the top teams heading into 2007 with a BlogPoll decided on by our college hoops bloggers. It's a time-honored filler for the off-season, and who are we to buck tradition? Today we look at teams 5 through 1.

So much talent in the Louisville frontcourt. So much to fear of injury. Forward Derrick Caracter finally had the proverbial switch go off in the second-half after near-exile from the team. Poised as he was to carry that into this coming season, he had to have off-season surgery to repair a cartilage tear in the left knee. There's David Padgett, gutting it out inside, with questions about whether his knees will make it through the game. Juan Palacios always seems to be battling foot injuries. Earl Clark should just avoid hanging out with all of them, as should incoming power forward George Goode.

The talent, but not the injury fears, in the backcourt is almost as impressive. Edgar Sosa had a trial by fire running the point as a freshman. Naturally, there was some up-and-down performances, but Louisville should benefit tremendously this season. Jerry Smith began to emerge in the second half. Losing Brandon Jenkins's steadiness hurts, but Preston Knowles will help stretch the defenses.

This week, FanHouse is taking a way too early look at the top teams heading into 2007 with a BlogPoll decided on by our college hoops bloggers. It's a time-honored filler for the off-season, and who are we to buck tradition? Today we look at teams 10 through 6.

Jeff Green is gone but everyone including the likely pre-season Big East Player of the Year Roy Hibbert is back. What John Thompson III has done in 3 short years he has taken this Hoya team from irrelevancy to the NCAA Final Four. What looked like a tough rebuilding job turned out to be merely a quick rehab under Thompson.

It seems almost impossible to discuss the present Georgetown and its coach without mentioning the Georgetown teams of the '80s when coached by "Big John" Thompson II. Like his father's Hoya teams, the present squad plays great defense and makes excellent use of a dominant big man inside. Unlike those teams of the past, this incarnation plays with great discipline on both ends of the court and while physical, does not get accused of being brutish. Another major difference is JTIII's willingness to schedule difficult challenges in the non-conference schedule.

In addition to having most of the team back, there is top talent in the freshman class with guards Austin Freeman and Chris Wright to add more depth in the backcourt. Pair that with Hibbert and sophomore forwards Vernon Macklin and DaJuan Summers and this team looks to have another great season.

This week, FanHouse is taking a way too early look at the top teams heading into 2007 with a BlogPoll decided on by our college hoops bloggers. It's a time-honored filler for the off-season, and who are we to buck tradition? Today we look at teams 10 through 6.

Say "Tennessee" and you tend to think of three things: Tennessee football, women's basketball, and Peyton Manning.

Men's hoops coach Bruce Pearl wants to change that, and in two years he's made a big dent in the traditional alignment of the SEC East. Beating Kentucky twice and Florida thrice since his installation as head coach, Pearl has already won the eastern division (first year) and brought Tennessee to second place in '07. The Vols also made a run into the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Tournament, losing a heartbreaker to Ohio State after enjoying a 19 point second-half lead.

Bruce Pearl's '07 squad might be the best ever to take the court in Knoxville. Guards Chris Lofton, Ramar Smith and Jujuan Smith (no relation) might be the best backcourt in the conference while sophomores Wayne Chism (6' 9") and Duke Crews (6' 8") were an awesome front-court duo as freshman.

The popular expectation is that the battle for SEC supremacy will be centered around Tennessee and Kentucky, and that's a fair bet. At the moment, Tennessee is holding all the cards and anything short of an SEC championship will be a serious disappointment.

This week, FanHouse is taking a way too early look at the top teams heading into 2007 with a BlogPoll decided on by our college hoops bloggers. It's a time-honored filler for the off-season, and who are we to buck tradition? Today we look at teams 10 through 6.

How good will Eric Gordon be? Tell me that and I'll tell you how good Indiana will be.

Gordon, one of the nation's best incoming freshmen, verbally committed to Illinois before changing his mind and heading to Indiana, and that changed the balance of power in the Big Ten as well as assuring that things will get heated when the Hoosiers visit Champaign.

But Gordon isn't all Indiana has. D.J. White, a 6-foot-9, 250-pound shot blocker and a very tough presence inside, is back, as is guard Armon Bassett, who showed a great deal of promise as a freshman last season. Although the Hoosiers will miss the departed Roderick Wilmont, this team should be significantly better than it was last year.

This week, FanHouse is taking a way too early look at the top teams heading into 2007 with a BlogPoll decided on by our college hoops bloggers. It's a time-honored filler for the off-season, and who are we to buck tradition? Today we look at teams 10 through 6.

In terms of pure talent, Tom Izzo had one of his worst teams last season. And yet the Spartans, despite getting off to a rocky start to the Big Ten season, ended up in the tournament and even won their first-round game.

Don't expect many rocky times this season. With every major contributor to last year's team returning, there's no reason the Spartans shouldn't be a Sweet 16 team, and maybe quite a bit better than that.

The best and most important player is guard Drew Neitzel, who does everything for the Spartans. He's a good shooter, a good passer and a good leader. But he's far from all they have. With a couple of 6-foot-10 players up front in Goran Suton and Drew Naymick and a great rebounder in 6-foot-8 Marquise Gray, the Spartans will have the kind of physical inside presence that Izzo loves.