[gatorheelsParticipant]

I think this is a good move for James. He should have a huge year at Texas this season and can only improve his stock. Next year he should be a lock to go 1st round. This year he was a very late 1st round pick and could’ve easily fallen to the 2nd round. Texas will have a solid team, I imagine they will be ranked in the top 10.

[Knicksboy34Participant]

I agree. Smart move for him. But I think the Top 10 is a stretch…

[birdman1113Participant]

i think top 5 for texas Pittman will dominate down low.

[fliptonnParticipant]

He’s gunna have one of the most developed body’s in the NCAA next year. I think this experience will really boost his confidence. Were gunna see this guy have a very good year next year.

[phsportsParticipant]

Improved play at the point guard will no doubt help James. That frontline is very good, but not deep at all.

[HaleParticipant]

I see them as a final four contender. Their only weakness is at pg. They have two awesome recruits coming in (Hamilton, Bradley) with three god returning guys up font (Johnson, Pittman, James). I think they will shock a lot of people.

[sheltwon3Participant]

What Jones did is a smart move but at the same time I think he could have done well if he got pick up by a few teams in the second round but he showed next year he will be a 1st rounder

[jasonmgray11Participant]

Damion James has shown to be effective with good point guard play. Last year they had a shoot first point guard. You can’t really say if Bradley is going to come in as a facilitator or a gunner.

Texas will def be a top 5 team no doubt!!! That lineup will be dangerous.

Honestly Damion James would have been effective had he stayed in the draft. Chances he would have been drafted in the early to late 20’s and went to a playoff team with a guard who could get him into spots to be effective and create for him.

[gatorheelsParticipant]

Top 10 is a stretch? No way… I agree birdman Texas could be ranked top 5

Jai Lucas/Varez Ward/Balbay
Avery Bradley/Justin Mason
Jordan Hamilton/Justin Mason
Damion James/Gary Johnson
Dexter Pittman/Gary Jonson

That lineup is STRONG.

[gatorheelsParticipant]

phsports- thanks I did forget about lucas, I edited that lineup. I keep forgetting that he transfered. Lucas is a solid PG who can shoot the 3, even though he is very small. I bet Florida wishes they still had Lucas especially with Calathes leaving early.

[RickyRubio9Participant]

for sure. I’m a Texas boy and with James, Pittman, Johnson, Mason, and newcomers Hamilton and Bradley I think anything less then Elite Eight is a disappointment. Our team is stacked and now Balbay isn’t going to have to do so much because he couldn’t hit a shot. Texas is Top 10 for sure. How is that a stretch?

[Knicksboy34Participant]

My bad..i thought you said James would be top 10 draft ranking…

Kentucky
Duke
UNC
Kansas
Michigan St
UCONN
UCLA
Florida
Louisville
Washington or Villanova

I think these are my top 10 well 11….Texas would be 12 IMO

[mikeyvthedonParticipant]

Was already going to be pretty damn good next year and now they are getting their best player from last year back. I think Texas definitely is a top 10 team, and I would say they are at least better than these teams listed in the post above: UCLA, UW, Florida, UCONN and Louisville. All of those teams have lost some valuable pieces and are not bringing in close to the recruiting class that is coming into Austin. My top teams would be Kentucky, Kansas, Michigan St. who brought everyone back, UNC, Duke and Vilanova probably being a sleeper. I think next year will be a very down year for the Pac-10 conference, which is a conference I love as I went to University of Oregon (and we still will suck). I think UW and UCLA will do alright, but I think they have losses significant enough to make them a level below being elite (Jon Brockman meant a lot to that team as did Justin Dentmon even if Abdul Gaddy is taking over, and losing Collison and Holliday, plus four year starter Josh Shipp and the human foul machine Alfred Aboya will be difficult to replace). Louisville should have improvement from Samardo Samuels and have a deep team that should make up for some the production lost from Williams and Clark, but I am not just seeing them being anything close to last year. UCONN loses Jeff Adrien, Thabeet and AJ Price, and while Kemba Walker may do great things, losing Adrien and Thabeet will most likely kill them up front, even with the recruits they picked up. I also tend to think Florida has been wildly overrated, and I doubt Kenny Boynton is going to leading them to the promised land. Texas could be very surprising, I think their freshman are ready to contribute and think that with James coming back they could be a high seed come March.

[Mr. BasketballParticipant]

knicksboy: UCLA will suck this year! name 1 good player on their team next year. 1, thats it. just name 1.

[Knicksboy34Participant]

UCLA has brought in some new Freshman among other talents they already have coming back…

[xbadgerhustlerParticipant]

MALCOLM LEE IS A CRAFTY MF-er…. he has a nice game…. he and Jerime Anderson should be a fairly decent back court and Dragovic is always a threat to drop 5 3s in a row.

drew gordon and jmison morgan will likely be the starting bigs… i cant see howland starting 2 of keefe, roll, and dragovic.. they’d be too slow

[Knicksboy34Participant]

My question is : Where does Lance Stephenson go?

3 of his top 5 are Florida, Arizona and Memphis.

While he does nothing for Memphis, In Flodida, he could make them a top 5 team and in Arizona, a top 20 team.

[Mr. BasketballParticipant]

lee, anderson, and morgan showed nothing last year. their incoming freshman r not that great. they would be lucky to be top 25.

[Knicksboy34Participant]

you must not look at rivals or espn recuiting…Honeycutt, Moser and Lane are top 100.

Plus this recuit class is a long bunch on D

[Mr. BasketballParticipant]

wow. 3 top 100! thats insane. its not like 20 other schools have the same or better…

point is, they had the #1 recruiting class last year, and that class sucked. they now have an okay class with no good players returning (dragociv is bad) and sophomores that were terrible last year. i watched most ucla games and i know that they will not be very good, trust me.

if isiah thomas’ school gets lance stephenson and the other guy that was thinking of going with him there, the could be better than ucla.

[llperez]

I’m a diehard Bruin fan, and I think they would be lucky to be top 25. They do have 4 returning freshman who were all ranked in the top 50 last year so they have have depth. But Dragovic is the only proven guy returning. We will see how good of a coach Howland is next year.

The Pac 10 is gonna be down again. All these guys keep leaving early. Cal is the only top 10 team in the confrence. They return all five starters from a 22 win team and they have arguably the most talented perimter in the nation. They have 6 gaurds that could play 30 minutes a game for most teams.

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