In my opinion it is too early to project anything. We don't know who is entering the draft. I assume that your prediction only applies if both Lopez brothers remain in school. And even if they do I wouldn't put them ahead of UCLA if either Collison, Westbrook or Love return for another year. It's unlikely all 3 of them stay, but if 1 or 2 stay along with Mboute & Shipp and a very nice recruiting class I don't think UCLA could be ranked anything other than #1.
As far as Oregon goes I think that #3 is a little high for what will be a very freshman-heavy team. Of course, it's looking like a very nice frosh group. Dunnigan, Humphrey & Wiley will fit nicely along with Porter and Catron. I think Oregon's year will come in 2010 when Porter & Catron are seniors and Dunnigan has a year of experience under his belt. Look for Oregon to possibly make another Elite 8 run in 2010.
By the way, if Oregon also lands PG Brad Tinsley than I would rank them higher next year because Porter wouldn't have to play PG and could go back to SG, which fits him better. Tinsley would be the nice icing on the recruiting cake for next year!!
You will need to move the stanford pick from 1st to about 6th. With the lopez twins entering the draft next season stanford is going to suck. Also, I think your usc pick is a little underrated they should be ahead of cal, washington and wasu. My picks would be
ucla,usc,oregon,arizona st,washington st,arizona,stanford,cal,washington, and then the we wont win a game next season either beav's.
I agree with having USC at #2. But I would put Arizona St. right now at #3, assuming Harden is true to his word and comes back for his sophomore year. They will have the same team next year as they won't be losing any of their top 9 scorers.
However, If Bayless and Budinger both come back next year to join HIll & Wise and their new stud recruit Brandon Jennings than I would put Arizona at #3. But I doubt Bayless will be back.
I actually have Oregon all the way down to #5 right now. But if they get Brad Tinsley I will probably move them to at least #4, depending on what Bayless & Budinger decide. The bottom of the PAC-10 standings right now look to be Stanford, Washington St., Washington, Cal and OSU.
I would put Cal a little higher if I knew that Ryan Anderson would stay another year. A lot is still to be determined.
just looking at the rest of the Pac-10 a big part is going to be how well the players mature
the Pac-10 was loaded this year but that doesn't mean it is going to stay that way
as for the ducks with many new spots now open in the roster it all depends on if someone steps up or not (hoping that someone finally just pulls it toghether and makes the Ducks amazing again)
Okay, i made these picks before i understood who would be entering the draft. I figured that with the added freshman power, especially with the #3 center in the nation coming into Oregon, the ducks would no longer be forced to rely on the outside shot as Catron would have some help down low. I know it is unpredictable still, I'm very suprised at Ryan Anderson's decision to enter the draft (thinking about it now, it doesnt sound that unreasonable) and i think that Cal would have been a very good team if he decided to stay.
Arizona St will probably be pretty good, but then again thats what i thought about the ducks this year. It's all unpredictable that you can't really prepare for, I thought the Lopez twins would both be staying at the time but that proved to be wrong. I don't think Collison or love will stay at UCLA and I don't think that Westbrook can run the backcourt show alone so UCLA would need a strong point guard recruit for next year.
Washington St will probably fall apart with the loss of Lowe and other seniors (again it depends on recruiting) but i don't think ashington St has the prestige to be able to have a strong recruiting class. I'm not sure what Washington is up to, but I'm pretty sure they will be in good shape for next year to be a middle of the pack team. USC is losing a huge threat in Taj Gibson and I haven't heard anything about Mayo's decison (is he staying?).
so I dont think I can provide any picks with confidence but I'll take UCLA in first because of their history
