PikesPeakSmitty (anonymous) says...

I don't see how you can put anyone but KU above Texas.

October 29, 2009 at 2:32 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

NZJHawk (anonymous) says...

Texas = higher
Kentucky (at this time) lower

October 29, 2009 at 2:48 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

sdoyel (anonymous) says...

Do you not realize the squad that Michigan State returns????

October 29, 2009 at 2:49 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

kansasbasketball (anonymous) says...

how can u place purdue so high?

October 29, 2009 at 3:17 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

keeb1211 (anonymous) says...

Purdue returns all 5 starters from last years sweet 16 team and returns 6 of their top 7 scorers to boot. They are picked to finish second in the Big 10 only behind MSU. Not saying the deserve to be listed 3rd but I wouldn't think they should be much lower considering UK and UT have lots of talent but none of that talent has played a minute of college basketball as of yet.

October 29, 2009 at 4:10 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

mandomax (anonymous) says...

Kentucky at number 5 is a joke, and seeing that the AP put them at number 4 makes me laugh even harder. Granted, they have a fabulous incoming class (Wall, Cousins, etc.) but this is a team that didn't even make the tournament last year. This is as infuriating as Wall getting voted ahead of Sherron in a ranking of point guards this year. An untested team with a new coach should not be ranked so high in the preseason poll. I can't wait until their first couple losses. Kentucky will finish the season ranked, but I predict they fall out of the Top 25 at least once before then.

October 29, 2009 at 5:13 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

Jangaroo (anonymous) says...

Kentucky scares me. Everyone keeps saying they haven't played a minute of college basketball. Who cares? No one is saying they are gonna go 40-0. John Wall is already the #1 draft pick. Has there ever been a team as talented as Kentucky that has fallen apart?

October 29, 2009 at 5:30 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

drgnslayr (anonymous) says...

Texas = #2.... without question!

The last time I looked at a US map Kentucky was still located in the east. The east always captures the big hype. Fortunately, college basketball has a playoff that can bring reality to all the hype. College football is a joke because it's decided strictly on politics.

October 29, 2009 at 5:49 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

PikesPeakSmitty (anonymous) says...

Didn't we almost beat MSU last year with a very raw team?
Didn't MSU graduate their best player?
Didn't we get a monster recruiting class?

I see a big gap between 1 and 2.

October 29, 2009 at 8:17 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

jaybate (anonymous) says...

Keegs must want a job at a paper in a Big Ten town.

October 29, 2009 at 8:19 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

derringer29 (anonymous) says...

hey jangaroo-

"Has there ever been a team as talented as Kentucky that has fallen apart"--

how about the 97 hawks
or 2003 MSU top 10 preseason and finished with 13 losses
or 2003 arizona preseason # 4 finished with 10 losses and first round loss in ncaa
or this one hurts 04-05 preseson # 1 ku finishes out of the top 25 and losses in rd 1
or 06-07 Lsu preseason # 6 didnt finish in top 25
or 07-08 indiana preseason top top 10 finished out of the top 25
or last year notre damm preseason top 10 finished with 15 losses

so in my memory there has been many teams that have fallen apart, who will be this years team only time will tell, but i happens almost every year!

October 29, 2009 at 8:40 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

Maxhawk (anonymous) says...

I think K-State should be in the top 25.

October 29, 2009 at 9:18 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

Jangaroo (anonymous) says...

None of those teams have the talent Kentucky has this year, Kentucky is gonna be a top 5 team all year.

Teams you mentioned and there NBA Drafts:
Michigan State - ?
Arizona - Andre Iguodala goe 9th in 2004
Kansas -Wayne Simien goes 29th in 2005
LSU - Tyrus Thomas goes 4th in 2007
LSU - Glen Davis goes 35th in 2007
Indiana - Eric Gordon 7th in 2008
Indiana - DJ White goes 29th in 2008

Kentucky 2010 mock draft (nbadraft.net)
1st John Wall
17th Pattrick Patterson
20 DeMarcus Cousins

Draftexpress.com
1st. John Wall
13th Patrick Patterson
25 DeMarcus Cousins

October 30, 2009 at 12:17 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

dihrdhwk86 (anonymous) says...

"Kentucky scares me. Everyone keeps saying they haven't played a minute of college basketball. Who cares? No one is saying they are gonna go 40-0. John Wall is already the #1 draft pick. Has there ever been a team as talented as Kentucky that has fallen apart?"
Remember the LAST time Ku was #1 in the preseason? They absolutely fell apart down the stretch in Big XII play,lost in the conference semi's before getting bounced by bucknell in the first round of the NCAAs.

I'd say that team had a combination of experience (Simien, Langford, Miles, Lee) and incoming talent (Kaun, Jackson, Robinson, Giles, Galindo) that this Kentucky team doesn't even touch. That senior class had been to 2 final 4s and an elite 8 and the freshmen (Giles and Galindo excluded) would win a NCAA title.

That was Bill Self's first real recruiting class at KU much like this is Cal's first at UK. I don't think this Kentucky team will fall apart quite like that, but an epic unraveling is not at all unlikely.

These are all just projections. Derrick Rose ended up being the number 1 pick a few years ago, but couldn't do what mattered in the college game (hit free throws) which led to one of the most mind boggeling single-game meltdowns ever. Jon Wall being the projected top pick doesn't necessarily translate to a top 10 finish for UK.

Sorry, not buying it. UK will be lucky to finish in the top 25, let alone at number 1.

October 30, 2009 at 3:04 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

chuckberry32 (anonymous) says...

Keeg,

what are your reasons for putting Texas so low. That's troubling. At the very least you can make an argument for them to be 2/3 and with the east coast bias that we all know and love you need to be stepping up and supporting teams like texas that have every right to be higher until there is a fundamnetal argument that supports them being lowered. Being a preseason poll, I think you should have tapped them up a bit more.

October 30, 2009 at 7:45 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

KUFan90 (anonymous) says...

I don't think the 97 team "fell apart". 2 losses on the season and an off shooting night against an Arizona team that was on a roll falling apart.

October 30, 2009 at 9:55 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

oregonjhawk (anonymous) says...

Agreed KUFan90, that 97 team definitely did not fall apart. I believe our only regular season loss was in double overtime at Mizzou. Man, just thinking about that AZ game, even 12 years later, absolutely infuriates me...

October 30, 2009 at 5:24 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

CrodieBroyle (anonymous) says...

derringer, didn't we beat arizona in the elite 8 in 2003, i don't think they were out in the 1st round

October 30, 2009 at 7:56 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

Yahweh (anonymous) says...

Somebody just had to bring up the '97 team. What an awful game that was...

October 30, 2009 at 9:03 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

jayhawkinmullen (anonymous) says...

I'm actually surprised that Keegan did not have Missouri ranked in the top 10 saying how he has a love fest with them. In fact from what I have heard his dream is to hear his name chanted at Mizzou arena. One side says K E E then the other G A N.

October 30, 2009 at 10:05 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

derringer29 (anonymous) says...

CrodieBroyle-

"didn't we beat arizona in the elite 8 in 2003, i don't think they were out in the 1st round"

----- arizona 2003-2004 lost in the first round the year after we beat them they was preseason # 4 at the start of the 03-04 season..

and maybe saying the 97 team "fell apart" was not justice, but boy that team broke my heart

October 31, 2009 at 5:27 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

dihrdhwk86 (anonymous) says...

"I'm actually surprised that Keegan did not have Missouri ranked in the top 10 saying how he has a love fest with them. In fact from what I have heard his dream is to hear his name chanted at Mizzou arena. One side says K E E then the other G A N"

Won't come true though. They can only spell words they make up.

October 31, 2009 at 8:50 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

jhawk613 (anonymous) says...

@jangaroo and others

John Wall is talented, but give me a break.

You do realize that even the "great" John Wall couldn't win the North Carolina state high school championship. I mean, most HS players don't make it to the next level, so if he was supposed to be a top 5 NBA pick LAST year, then he should have been like a man among boys.

Nope. No high school championship, yet b/c of him UK will be too talented for other college teams? Give me a break.

One analyst watched the UK Midnight Madness and said that the players looked "gassed" trying to run Calipari's dribble-drive. A team that is out of shape right before the season is not a recipe for a 30-win season.

November 2, 2009 at 10:39 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

weezer247 (anonymous) says...

I don't think anyone can honestly expect Kentucky to go undefeated, especially given their challenging early schedule (UNC on 12/5, UConn on 12/9, UofL...). But John Wall is by far the most explosive college basketball player I have seen in the last 5-10 years, and Patrick Patterson is a dominant force down low.

Although the starters may be inexperienced (with the exception of Patterson), their bench will include many seasoned players as well as a few highly touted recruits in Orton, Hood, and Dodson.

By the time SEC play is wrapping up, UK should be one of the best teams in college basketball. Being ranked number one in the preseason is nice, but there are only two days that being number one actually means anything, Selection Sunday and the first Monday in April).

November 12, 2009 at 7:17 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )