10-1

10 Memphis
9 UCLA
8 Florida
7 Purdue
6 Duke
5 Oklahoma
4 Notre Dame
3 Connecticut
2 Louisville
1 North Carolina

Notes: Welcome to the show, the big dogs of the yard...John Calipari loses Derrick Rose, but continues to reload, Tyreke Evans is the latest star to come into the Music City, another 30-win season and at least a Sweet 16 for the Tigers...UCLA starts the season scraping by Miami Ohio, but the Bruins still have alot of talent; Darren Collison could be an all-American, Josh Shipp and Alfred Aboya are back and Kevin Love shouldn't be missed too much. Ben Howland has himself another squad that can lock up...The Baby Gators are growing up; Billy Donovan will get the kids playing again as they finished strong last season. Nick Calathes is the next big time Gator scorer and look for him to make huge strides this season and take Florida back to prominence in the NCAA tournament... Purdue lost nobody from an exceptional squad last season; Matt Painter's fourth season has the highest expectations with forward Robbie Hummel leading the Boilers. First time favorites in the Big Ten since the days of Glenn Robinson...Back to back first weekend exits from the NCAAs has Dookies worried, but this season they should remain in the top ten all season. Kyle Singler is a year older as is Jon Scheyer and that spells trouble for anyone coming into Cameron (that's you Carolina)...My darkhorse national champion, Oklahoma features two big time NBA prospects, Blake Griffin and Orlando Allen will bolster down the frontcourt as the best duo west of the Mississippi and the backcourt is young but extremely talented. Point guard Willie Warren will bring excitement to Norman not seen since the Hollis Price days...Luke Harangody returns for his junior season and Kyle McAlarney returns for his senior season. These two Irishmen can fill it up for ND and are the best 1-2 punch in the Big East. Mike Brey has his best Notre Dame team, but every year expectations have been highest, the Irish have underachieved, since the days of Troy Murphy and Chris Thomas...First round disappointment for UCONN last year against San Diego showed immaturity they never seemed to have early last season. Hasheem Thabeet, Jeff Adrien and AJ Price is the foundation for Jim Calhoun this year and they are a tough, athletic trio that can win games solely on their athleticism within the Big East. If they can find some perimeter scoring to combine with the frontcourt they could cut down the nets in Detroit...Rick Pitino has a really young and really really good team that will press the hell out of Big East foes and make life miserable for small, finesse teams (Notre Dame save Harangody). The Cards have Edgar Sosa and for most teams that would be enough. The junior guard will be the explosive scorer the 'Ville needs to get back to the Final Four...The consensus number one team in all of the land: North Carolina loses no starters from last year's Final Four team, and will be better. Tyler Hansbrough (when he returns from injury) will be the expected POY and Felton will help him acheive that honor. It's possible these Heels could sweep all-ACC first team, that's how good they are. Consensus opinion is even Roy Williams can't screw this team up. If they don't cut down the nets at Ford Field on April 7th something went terribly wrong.