THE BASKETBALL GOLD SHEET the Only Basketball Publication
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THE BASKETBALL GOLD SHEET Published Weekly by: Nation-Wide Sports Publications 4717 Van Nuys Blvd., Suite 101 Sherman Oaks, CA 91403 (800)798-GOLD (4653) e-mail: [email protected] In cyberspace: http://www.goldsheet.com $9 The Only Basketball Publication of its kind! Call 1-800-798-4653 or visit www.goldsheet.com to Subscribe!! NATION-WIDE SPORTS PUBLICATIONS COPYRIGHT © 2015 VOLUME 59 NOVEMBER 13-19, 2015 NO. 4 IT’S TIP-OFF TIME! TGS COLLEGE HOOPS PRESEASON TOP 40! by Bruce Marshall, Goldsheet.com Editor Now, the fun really begins! The college basketball season swings into action this weekend, and we’re prepared with predicted margins and select writeups (including our usual featured Key Release selections) for the first week, all found in our College Forecast. In the meantime, to get a bit better prepared for the unfolding drama, we present our TGS Preseason Top 40. Hang on for the ride... 1-WICHITA STATE...They’re b-a-a-a-c-k! We’re talking about Shocker senior Gs Ron Baker and Fred VanVleet, holdovers from the 2013 Final Four team and having flirted with the NBA Draft last spring before deciding to come back for one more go at Koch Arena. As did top-tier HC Gregg Marshall, who continues to resist moves to bigger-name programs (Texas the latest high- profile suitor to be rejected). Baker, VanVleet, hard-nosed senior Evan Wessel, and Kansas transfer Connor Frankamp (eligible mid-December) gives Marshall arguably the top backcourt in the country, and the addition of Cleveland State graduate transfer PF Anton Grady (All-Horizon League LY when scoring 14.2 ppg and grabbing 7.9 rpg) fortifies the frontline. By midseason, top-100 recruits G Landry Shamet and F Markis McDuffie are also likely to have found places in the rotation. Marshall gets back to the Dance as a high seed once more before once again before becoming the name most floated from the coaching rumor mill in the offseason. Wichita State is no fluke. The Shockers retained potential NBA draftees Ron Baker and Fred VanVleet while adding some top notch recruits. 2-KENTUCKY...We’re not about to discount John Calipari and his rotating rosters, although they don’t always mesh; remember how the Wildcats wobbled perhaps the nation’s deepest frontcourt. And when healthy again, Paige is not even before C Nerlens Noel went out with an injured knee three years ago? But going to burdened with ball-handling duties after soph PG Joel Berry II’s more often than not, Coach Cal has reloaded on the fly, so even after losing emergence late last season Roy is also not going to be counting upon his frosh seven Wildcats to last June’s NBA Draft, the Lexington roster remains ultra- as much as some other national contenders, or even the Heels a year ago, and loaded. Three of the highest-regarded blue-chip prospects from this season’s that seasoning ought to smooth some of the rough spots. recruiting haul, led by likely lottery pick 7-foot C Skal Labissiere, are the next wave of UK’s one-and-dones. Although it could be a couple of holdovers, 5-DUKE...Coach K has adapted through the years and is just as apt to including oft-injured 6-8 PF Alex Poythress and soph PG Tyler Ulis, who provide reload quickly as is John Calipari. Nonetheless, this is mostly a new team in the glue for Calipari and the direction needed for another run at the Final Four. Durham, with March heroes Gs Grayson Allen & Matt Jones plus F Amile Jefferson the only somewhat familiar names remaining from last year’s title 3-MARYLAND...We only wish the Terps had stayed in the ACC thru this team that is now mostly in the NBA. Don’t feel bad for Krzyzewski, however, as season, when the old rivalries vs. North Carolina, Duke, and Virginia would have a couple of the bluest of blue chip recruits, 6-9 F Brandon Ingram and 6-2 PG had their old sharp edge. The Big Ten is still no picnic, but the Terps have Derryck Thornton (who reclassified to enter a year early), figure to crack the adjusted to the surroundings and now appear to be the class of their new starting lineup from the outset. What this Duke edition doesn’t seem to have, league. Maryland welcomes a couple of high-profile ACC transfers, ex-Duke G however, is an interior force like last year’s Jahlil Okafor, no longer around for Rasheed Sulaimon (who effectively takes the place of the departed Dez Wells) the guards to simply dump the ball and then go right to the hoop. Still, we’ve and ex-Georgia Tech F Robert Carter, to an already solid core led by soph G learned not to underestimate Coach K. Melo Trimble, who is on a short list of Wooden Award candidates. If five-star 6- 11 frosh C Diamond Stone steadies by midseason, the Maryland roster is 6-VILLANOVA...While Jay Wright has found it hard to get beyond the first complete. Now, is HC Mark Turgeon ready to steer a team deep into March? weekend of the Big Dance in recent years, he still looks to have the best team in the Big East. Solid backcourt play once again should be the Nova trademark, 4-NORTH CAROLINA...Before going into detail regarding the Heels, keep with the latest in the long tradition of star Cat Gs likely to be touted frosh PG in mind that the NCAA continues to snoop around regarding the academic fraud Jalen Brunson (whose last name is familiar in Big Five territory after dad Rick allegations that have rocked the UNC Athletic Department. Though on the once starred at Temple), while senior Ryan Arcidiacono only seems like he has hoops side, only the women’s program has thus far been penalized. The NCAA been in a Nova uniform since the Rollie Massimino era. Wright is going to need has yet to close its investigation, so Roy Williams’ program is not yet in the everyone to chip in with some rebounding as the departure of workhorse PF clear. But even if more penalties are handed down, they might not come until JayVaughn Pinkston could be felt. But Nova has won 62 games over the past after the season. So, for the moment, it’s all systems go at the Dean Dome, two seasons, and we do not see a serious challenge emerging in the Big East though star G Marcus Paige’s preseason hand injury could keep him out until during the regular season. December. Along with forwards Brice Johnson and Justin Jackson, and rugged C Kennedy Meeks, the Heels have four potential All-ACC performers as well as (Continued on next page) THE GOLD SHEET PAGE 2 7-VIRGINIA...On the surface, the new rules designed to (supposedly) speed up the game might seem as if they could cost Virginia. On the other hand, they might make the Cavs that much harder to beat, as foes that couldn’t get off good shots in 35 seconds are going to have even more trouble finding shots with 5 seconds fewer on the shot clock. Plenty of familiar faces return from Tony Bennett’s latest 30-win masterpiece led by Gs London Perrantes and Malcolm Brogdon and rugged PF Anthony Gill. The early departure of swingman Justin Anderson, though, looms as a potential concern, as the Cavs slowed down after Anderson’s midseason had injury and subsequent appendectomy, and seemed out of synch after he returned. Still, the winning culture and suffocating defense figure to carry UVa a long way...though it would help if Michigan State is in a different regional when the brackets are announced on Selection Sunday. 8-GONZAGA...It only seems like Gs Kevon Pangos and Gary Bell, Jr. were at Gonzaga since the Clinton administration (Bill, not Hillary). Pangos and Bell have finally graduated, but we don’t think the Zag-a-roonies are about to disappear because they should still dominate the West Coast Conference and continue to own perhaps the best frontcourt in the region, if not the nation, with future certain NBA draft picks Fs Kyle Wiltjer and Domantas Sabonis and rugged C Przemek Karnowski remaining in the fold from last year’s Elite Eight team. Mark Few has never taken the Zags to a Final Four, however, but they are hoping to get big efforts from new Gs Josh Perkins and Silas Melson, as well as Vandy transfer Eric McClellan, for another shot next March. 9-ARIZONA...No one is talking anymore in the desert about Sean Miller G Malcolm Brogdon (No. 15) returns along with backcourt mate London being up to the job so ably handled for nearly a quarter-century by Lute Olson. Perrantes and F Anthony Gill to give Virginia a shot at another 30-win season Though, at some point, Miller is going to want to get the Cats further than the Elite Eight to finally measure up to the McKale Center legacy of Olson. It’s 14-UCONN...Kevin Ollie’s Huskies had a hard act to follow after their unlikely the Cats would again run into Wisconsin in March as they have in the improbable run to the title in 2014. The hangover of G Shabazz Napier’s Elite Eight the past two years, and Miller has a bit of a reconstruction job on his departure lingered a year ago, though we doubt Ryan Boatright’s graduation hands after three key departures after last season, including explosive F hurts as much for this year’s UConn.