A Fun Off-Season Exercise

Without further ado, my Top 25.

1. Kansas. A National Player of the Year candidate, Wayne Simien, a senior point guard, Aaron Miles, and a talented slasher, Keith Langford, make the Jayhawks the team to beat. Subtract a key transfer, David Padgett, from last year's squad, but add five - count 'em, five - Top 100 recruits. Bill Self has reason to smile.

2. Georgia Tech. Hewitt. Jack! Hewitt. Elder! Hewitt. Schenscher! Hewitt. The core group returns…Will the chemistry? Marvin Lewis will be missed, but a handful of recruits and another year of maturity will compensate for his absence.

3. Wake Forest. Everybody's back, including a certain point guard with two first names. Experience counts (a lot, in my early rankings).

4. North Carolina. In Roy Williams I trust. Raymond Felton, Sean May and Rashad McCants give the Tar Heels Final Four-quality talent. Add Marvin Williams to the mix, perhaps the best high schooler in this year's class going to college, and you have a recipe for success.

5. Illinois. If I name my first son "Dee Brown," would that increase his chances of becoming a star athlete by about 2500 percent? B-Webb proved himself a solid bench coach last season, but he could stand to improve the school's recruiting. The Illini's central weakness is a lack of depth.

6. Connecticut. Calhoun reloads. With Josh Boone, Charlie Villanueva, Rudy Gay, Rashad Anderson and Denham Brown leading the charge, what's not to like? By December, A.J. Price and Marcus Williams should more than compensate for Taliek Brown's production at the point.

7. Michigan State. Drew Neitzel will quickly settle down in Lansing, finding the Spartans a deep club with many offensive weapons. Izzo will C-O-A-C-H this experienced crew to more success that you might expect.

8. Duke. The bad news: With Livingston following Deng into the Draft, Duke will be down to eight scholarship players. The good news: Six of the eight were McDonald's All-Americans. This team will struggle at times, but because Krzyzewski returns, so does the Top 10 ranking.

9. Wisconsin. America will soon learn that even sans Devin Harris the Badgers will cruise through much of Big 10 play.

10. Syracuse. Great players make great plays. Next year, Hakim Warrick and Gerry McNamara will be among the nation's best. (With or) Without Billy Edelin, Boeheim will have little trouble getting "SU" to play his vaunted zone defense.

11. Memphis. Sean Banks will be among this season's most talked about stars. He'll be a force inside as Rodney Carney scores and slashes from outside and newcomer Darius Washington distributes the ball for easy buckets. These Tigers will, more often that not, Refuse to Lose.

12. North Carolina State. A National Player of the Year candidate, Julius Hodge, and a coach not on the hot seat for the first time in years, Herb Sendek, suggest the Wolfpack may be among the most confident and relaxed teams in the country heading into the pre-season.

13. Arizona. If Salim develops as a leader, Arizona belongs in the Top 10. If Stoudamire continues to pout after every missed shot, the Wildcats may drop out of the Top 25. I've split the difference -- and factored in the possibility that another player (two words: Isiah Fox) will step up to lead Olson's club to a PAC-10 regular season championship.

14. Maryland. Was last year's ACC tournament a harbinger of things to come? Only John Gilchrest and Gary Williams know for sure.

15. Kentukcy. Into the pot, throw in Kelenna Azubuike and Chuck Hayes, add one part Tubby Smith, and mix in the nation's best recruiting class (four Top 100 signees). What do you get? A Bluegrass special. Kentucky will (at least) compete for an SEC title.

16. Michigan. The Wolverines are back. Last year, Michigan won the NIT. This season, the Big 10's conference tournament? It could happen.

17. Oklahoma State. Tony Allen will be missed. Sorely. But JamesOn Curry joins a talented and battle-tested bunch led by John Lucas.

18. Mississippi State. Lawrence Roberts will be missed. Sorely. But Ontario Harper and the remaining cast isn't too shabby. The Bulldogs will find success in a weak SEC.

19. Alabama. Last year's edition over-achieved in the tournament. But while Kennedy Winston and Earnest Shelton won't find themselves back in the Elite Eight, they'll be glad they returned this year for a productive regular season.

20. Louisville. Pitino's had enough time to work his magic. This year, the Cardinals cash in. Even without Sebastian Telfair and Donta Smith, Louisville will win 20+ games. Francisco Garcia and Taquan Dean are as good a pair as you'll find outside of the ACC.

21. Notre Dame. Dennis Latimore re-surfaces in South Bend to find that Chris Thomas never left. Add Torin Francis and the Irish will find themselves fighting in this year's NCAA tournament.

22. Washington. Nate Robinson will return to lead a wiser, hungrier group of Huskies back into the NCAA Tournament. Romar's crew will profit from another PAC-10 off-year, though Oregon should surprise Washington in at least one of the teams' two battles.

23. Pittsburgh. Julius Page left, but Carl Krauser and Chris Taft returned. Jamie Dixon will continue to prove himself to America's steelworkers.

24. Texas. Big state, big-time recruits. Barnes signed another gem of a class, helping to ease the pain of having four of his starters move on. We'll see if the high school phenoms are as good as advertised.

25. Cincinnati. Looked far and wide, but couldn't find a team to be excited about at 25. Defaulted to Huggins' thugs. Because they're competitive, year in, year out.