Random Thoughts on the 2007-2008 (Marqutte, UNC)

Think Trio. Not "Da Da Da", but the trio of Felton, McCants and Sean May. A very touted incoming freshman trio, it took them three years to maximize their talents and win a national championship. So which trio could have a big breakout this year? A similar trio, but not exactly. This trio has a point guard and two wings, instead of a point guard, a wing and a big man. And who are they? Why the Marquette trio of Dominic James, Jerell McNeal and Wesley Matthews. I'm not saying they are going to win the natinoal championship, but they have a very good chance of having a season to remember (Big East title, Elite 8 or Final Four even)

The AOL Sports Fan House bloggers have voted North Carolina as the #1 team of 2007-2008. The March Madness All Season blog thinks likewise. At first thought this may sound a bit far fetched. After all they just lost a unique player to the NBA lottery (Brandan Wright), they lost a veteran senior (Rayshawn Terry) and a special situations player, a long distance bomber who actually plays defense (Wes Miller). So how can they be a #1 candidate afer that? Part of the reason is because we (global we) typically pay too much attention on who is gone from a team, but what really matters is who is actually going to be playing next year... Ole Roy has no incoming recruits in 2007-2008. But that doesn't mean he doesn't have a new player. Redshirt fresham William Graves will be added to the rotation. A name not many may be familiar with, but he is a top 100 forward from the deep class of 2006. Only at Carolina such a player would take a redshirt. He will be in the rotation next year... So what else do they have to warrant a #1 spot? A great point guard in Tywon Lawson, a premium shooter in Wayne Ellington, an energizer bunny in Tyler Hansbro, two big men from SoCal that will make their impact felt with increased playing time in Deon Neon Thompson and under-rated Alex Stepheson... Is that all? Nope, there's more. And these two are probably the most crucial ones: Defensive stopper Marcus Ginyard (remember Jackie Manuel?), and versatiler scorer/shooter Danny Green... Two more guards, likely off the bench, in versatile Bobby Frasor and speedy rather one-dimensional Q Thomas... The 11th man (no, we are not talking about soccer) will probably be local forward Michael Copeland... So that gives Ole Roy a staring lineup of Lawson, Ellington, Ginyard, Thompson and Hansbrough. Two point guards on the bench in Q Thomas and Frasor (also a two guard), a versatile wing in Danny Green, and two forwards in Stepheson and Graves. These five could be the starting lineup of an NIT team or a top 8 ACC team! Remember Lawson and Ellington were considered by a number of people the top players in their position in the deep class of 2006... So one could certainly make a case for them being the #1 team of 2007-2008. I haven't looked at all the other teams yet, so I can't really say where I would rank them. The problem with pre-season rankings is that no one is that good compared to last season, so it's hard to crown teams as #1. Pre-season rankings should start at #20 instead :-)