LCB 1st Annual Preseason Top 25

College basketball has arrived, and despite the lack of excitement shown by that first sentence, it should be an exciting and eventful season. Hopefully my jinxing my favorite teams streak (see MLB 2008) will end and UNC will triumphantly prevail in winning their 2nd championship in 4 years. I'll get to the TarHeels soon enough, but for now, here's the my top 25, starting with teams 25-21.

#25 Villanova(22-13)
Last Year: Lost in Sweet 16
Coach: Jay Wright
Stud: Scottie Reynolds
Glue Guy: Dante Cunningham
Schedule: Texas, Big East

Nova made a mini-run last year, suprising some as they lost to eventual champ Kansas in the Sweet 16. Reynolds is one of the better PG's in the conference, if not the country. He needs to consistently bring it every night for the Cats to make any headway in a loaded Big East that has become like the bball version of the SEC and Big 12 in football. Reynolds goes cold too often to make him a truly elite player, but he can get there if he can raise his game and avoid dryspells. The Cats don't have any other reliable offensive threats, but Cunningham and Shane Clark will combine to do some of the dirty work inside. Cunningham is a senior, and played on the Randy Foye led team that made a deep tourney run. Corey Stokes, Reggie Redding, and Corey Fisher are the other guards who will see the bulk of the playing time. They need to hit from the outside, giving Reynolds the option of kicking it out for open looks when defenses collapse on him. Aside from the hellacious trip through the Big East, the only other really difficult non-conference match-up is a battle with Texas. If they get through conference play alive, they could make another deep NCAA run.

#24 Florida (24-12)
Last Year: Lost in NIT Final Four
Coach: Billy Donovan
Stud: Nick Calathes
Glue: Walter Hodge
Schedule: SEC, with it otherwise being pretty cake with the exception of maybe a decent clash with Florida State.

After the Gators repeated as champs in 05-06 and 06-07, last year was predictably a rebuilding campaign. They still won 24 games, losing two starters from that team with Marreese Speights declaring early, and Jai Lucas transfering on November 5th. The wheels fell off at the end of last season, as they missed out on the NCAA's by losing to S.Carolina in the 1st round of the SEC. They need Calathes, who put up the highest scoring average by a freshman in Donovan's time at the school, Alex Tyus, and Chandler Parsons to take big leaps and provide some leadership to get back to the dance. Walter Hodge is the only remaining part who saw significant minutes on the championship squads, and provides three point shooting and decent passing skills. Dan Werner is another veteran to bang inside, yet he sometimes plays more like a 3. The Gators recruited 5 freshman who could see significant playing time, with Dominican Eloy Vargas being the most highly-touted. The SEC is down, and look for the Gators to contend for the East crown in a battle with Tennessee and Kentucky, making the tourney as about a 6 or 7 seed that could make the Sweet 16.

# 23 Georgetown (28-6)
Last Year: lost in 2nd round of the NCAA's
Coach: John Thompson III
Stud: DaJuan Summers
Glue: Jessie Sapp
Schedule: Memphis,Duke, Big East and Potential matchups with Gonzaga,Michigan St.Tennessee in the Old Spice classic.

Roy Hibbert is playing for the Pacers. Patrick Ewing Jr. almost made the Knicks. Vernon Macklin transferred to Florida. Jeremiah Rivers moved on to Indiana. Where I'm going with all of this is the fact that Georgetown is going to look a little different this year. They still have Summers,Sapp, and 3 point gunner Austin Freeman back from a 28 team season that ended because Stephon Curry decided to single-handedly destroy them. Summers needs to take over and spend more time slashing and taking the ball inside. He needs to be the legitimate go to guy for the team to get near the success of the last two years. Sapp will be steady defensively, and will combine with Freeman and Soph Chris Wright to keep teams honest outside. Freshman Greg Monroe is highly touted, but he doesn't look to have much help down low, which could spell disaster in the conference. The Hoyas will get an early test playing Memphis, and meet Duke later in the season. They also could see Gonzaga, Michigan State, or Tennessee in the Old Spice Classic. They could win 20 plus games but probably are looking at being an early out in the dance, unless Wright and Monroe turn out to be superstars.

22. USC (21-12)
Last Year: Lost in 1st Round
Coach: Tim Floyd
Stud: DeMar DeRozan
Glue: Daniel Hackett
Schedule: Oklahmoma, (Memphis or Xavier in Puerto Rico Tip-Off) Pac-10

Sometimes it's fun to play the "what if player A stayed for 4 years," game.(Well maybe it's only fun if you're a tool like myself) With USC, they could potentially have fielded a team with O.J. Mayo, Gabe Pruitt, and Nick Young to go along with what they have already in the fold. What they have right isn't too bad however, as the Trojans should challenge in the Pac-10. It starts and ends with another potential one and doner in DeMar DeRozan. From all accounts, he is the best freshman coming in from the class of 08. He is a slasher who can jump out of the gym. He'll have help in the form of Taj Gibson, Daniel Hackett, and Dwight Lewis. Gibson brings muscle inside, while Hackett will man the point, and Lewis brings scoring from the wing. I really liked Hackett two years ago when they were sweet 16 bound. He fell off last year due to injury, so look for him to bounce back. Another key will be whether or not UNC transfer Alex Stepheson is eligible. If so, he'll give Gibson someone else to help with the dirty work inside. Stepheson also has a nice touch inside in close. Also Percy Miller (AKA, Lil Romeo) is on board as a frosh pg. Do with that information what you will.

21. Oklahoma (23-12)
Last Year: Lost in the 2nd round
Coach: Jeff Capel
Stud: Blake Griffin
Glue: Tony Crocker
Schedule: USC,VCU, (Purdue,Davidson in the Preseason NIT), Big 12

I hate Duke with a passion. Therefore I hate to give any former Dookie props unless they somehow get drafted by the Bulls. (See Deng,Luol). Jeff Capel is a really good coach however. He did a pretty damn good job when he was at VCU, and he looks like he's turning things around after Hurricane Sampson tried to ruin his first of two train wrecks. I've only really seen the Sooners play once or twice last year, so I can't completely subscribe to all the Blake Griffin hype. From all accounts, he could have been drafted really high if he went out last year. He should beat up on the Big 12 all season. He has help in the form of his brother Taylor, Tony Crocker, Austin Johnson, and freshman point Willie Warren. I really like Crocker's game, and if he can take care of the ball along with dialing up some 3's, the Sooners will contend and can get a 3 or 4 seed.