Oh yeah! The college basketball season is upon us and that means preseason predictions on who has the best squad. Below is the AP preseason top 25 poll with our thoughts beside each team. Tell us what you think!

1. Florida (63) 0-0 1,788 – too much pressure and too many teams gunning for them. The Gators could make the Final Four again, but that is where it ends.

2. North Carolina (9)0-0 1,704 Loaded, loaded, loaded. If there are no major injuries and the young nucleus gels then this is your National Champion.

3. Kansas 0-0 1,636 Top seven scorers returning and two new blue chip prospects. Bill Self will give it his all, but I think this team is still too young.

4. Pittsburgh 0-0 1,407 Aaron Gray and Ronald Ramon are back, but the Panthers will really miss Carl Krauser at the point position. I don’t see this team finishing in the top 10.

5. LSU 0-0 1,399 “Big Baby” is fun to watch, but the departure of Tyrus Thomas and Darrel Mitchell is huge! SEC competitors will be ready to knock this team down the poll

6. UCLA 0-0 1,394 Howland is one heck of a coach and even though they lost Farmar, Bozeman, and Hollins the Bruins are still loaded.

7. Ohio State 0-0 1,391 The Buckeyes were neck and neck with the Tarheels for the best recruiting class, but in my mind there is no doubt 7-footer Greg Oden is the best in the country. It is such a shame he is out till January coming off wrist surgery. Look for this team struggle a bit early on, but once Oden is inserted in the lineup and meshes with the team…watch out!

8. Georgetown 0-0 1,271 Jeff Green and Roy Hibbert are key returners to the team and will make the Hoyas contenders in the Big East.

9. Wisconsin 0-0 1,197 The Badgers are led by Alando Tucker, but also return 91.2 percent of their scoring from last year. This team will be rock solid, but are an Elite Eight team at best.

10. Arizona 0-0 1,157 I think this team is underrated. Hassan Adams and Chris Rodgers are gone and that is a good thing for Arizona because they were bad influences. Mustafa Shakur, Marcus Williams and Ivan Radenovic should lead the Wildcats far this year.

11. Alabama 0-0 1,106 They always seem to have all the hopes in the world, but quickly they come crashing down. They do return Ron Steele, Jermareo Davidson and Alonzo Gee.

12. Duke 0-0 1,051 The Blue Devils will be a solid squad, but you do not recover in one year from losing the likes of J.J. Redick, Shelden Williams and Sean Dockery.

13. Texas A&M 0-0 868 Coach Billy Gillespie returns his top six scorers including Acie Law and Joseph Jones. The Aggies will be in the mix, but a Sweet Sixteen is a long shot.

14. Memphis 0-0 811 Calipari has the Tigers competing every year and they will be fun to watch again this year. His players tend to leave early because of their talent, but it only takes one year for the stars to align.

15. Boston College 0-0 772 Craig Smith where are you? Jared Dudley and Tyrese Rice will be big, but the Eagles will can only hope for third place in the ACC.

16. Marquette 0-0 554 Tom Crean is an excellent coach and even though they lost Steve Novak the Golden Eagles will be a top 25 team all year.

17. Washington 0-0 487 I’m sorry, but without Brandon Roy I just don’t see the Huskies as a top 25 team. I hope Ryan Appleby and gang prove me wrong.

18. Connecticut 0-0 399 They lose Rudy Gay, Rashad Anderson, Marcus Williams, Denham Brown, Josh Brown and Hilton Armstrong so it should be over right? Well, they have 7’3 Hasheem Thabeet, A.J. Price and a solid freshman class so you just never know.

19. Creighton 0-0 384 Nate Funk returns after only playing six games last year and many think he is the best in the MVC. The Bluejays also return four other solid players so they look to be the Bradley of this year.

20. Syracuse 0-0 367 Roberts, Watkins, and Nichols return, but they will miss McNamara so bad!

21. Texas 0-0 366 I don’t think they will be a Top 25 team, because they are too inexperienced. The Longhorns lost Aldridge, Tucker, Gibson, Buckman and Paulino along with two other transfers.

22. Kentucky 0-0 332 Randolph Morris could be good and they have other solid players, but this isn’t your Kentucky of old!

23. Georgia Tech 0-0 262 I guess they are going to improve this much over last year, but I still have to see it to believe it.

24. Nevada 0-0 212 Fazekas is a stud and they also return Marcelus Kemp, but they won’t make alot of noise this year.

25. Tennessee 0-0 203 Sharp shooting Chris Lofton along with Major Wingate and Dane Bradshaw will compliement one of the top recruiting classes this year. I see the Volunteers at least playing better then the Kentucky Wildcats

Excuse me, but what the hell is JJ Redick doing less than a month, 2 weeks actually, from the NBA Draft, drinking and driving!??! I….I mean….What do you……That’s just stupid! I hereby declare that we will be awarding a SU.com Dumbass of the Week award. The problem here is, who gets it this week? Obviously, Redick would be choice #1, but then you remember just yesterday Ben “Kneival” Roethlisberger demonstrating his human torpedo act. Some folks just aren’t very smart. Leave us a comment and tell us who ought to be the winner this week!

Lady Vols coach Pat Summit just reached the top of her profession today. Ok, she already has, but now in even a bigger way! Pat Summit signed a six year extension with Tennessee to the tune of over $1 million a year. The final year of the escalated contract will reach $1.5 million. There is no doubt that since she is the winningest coach in COLLEGE BASKETBALL along with sheer dominance via some of the best women’s players to ever set foot on the court that Pat Summit deserves what she is getting. It is really nice to see a woman who has scratched and clawed her way to prominence to reap the benefits of her success.

Who says you can’t go home? Sidney Lowe is doing just that, and for the most part, the NC State Wolfpack are excited. They are hoping that a significant part of history plays a part in an even more exciting future.

After several weeks of being trounced in the media for it’s failed attempts to lure high-profile coaches such as Rick Barnes and John Calipari, the Wolfpack turned their attention to one of their own. For a couple of weeks, if I had told you a former Wolfpacker would be the guy who got the job, you would have thought Derrick Whittenburg. But in the last few days, Sidney Lowe’s name was tossed around more and more. Finally, it was announced that a press conference had been set for Sat. May 6^th to announce his hiring.

Lowe holds a special place in the hearts of NC State fans. He was the starting point guard the year that Jimmy V led the Wolfpack on an improbable run to the National Championship. After that, Lowe was drafted by the Bulls with the 1^st pick in the 2^nd round (the same draft that Ralph Sampson went #1 overall). He played a total of about 4 years in the NBA.

He moved into the coaching ranks where he has been head coach for the Minnesota Timerbwolves in the early 90’s and the Memphis Grizzlies in the early 00’s. But this will be his first college coaching job. This could prove to be a difficult transition, as college coaching is a different animal altogether than the NBA. And one of the biggest parts of coaching college is recruiting, which Lowe has never had to do before. Surrounding himself with good coaches who CAN recruit should be job #1.

There are only a few candidates for the job that could have solidified and healed the growing rift in the fanbase in Raleigh, and Lowe is one of them. Wolfpack nation had become severely divided over Herb Sendek and the direction of the basketball program. There were fears that with a new coach, the program would take a step back, the fanbase would grow impatient with the lack of improvement, and force the new guy out before he had a chance to get going. This hire avoids that problem as it is expected the fans will cut Lowe a little more slack as “one of their own.”

As a Wolfpacker, which I have mentioned more than a few times around here, I hope Lowe succeeds with flying colors. Given his reputation as one of the better assistant coaches in the NBA, he shouldn’t have any problems recruiting, even if it is a new experience for him. Excitement will be returning to Raleigh soon, and I can’t wait to hear the roar when one of State’s favorite sons returns home to roam the sidelines come this fall. I just can’t wait.

Just a quick little post to add to the latest names of college basketball players who have decided to test the waters of the NBA and declare for the draft. All players who decide NOT to sign with an agent have until June 18th to withdraw and return to school. This is a good opportunity for players who may or may not be ready to get a good evaluation from NBA scouts. Then, they can choose to return to school and have a good idea what they need to work on in hopes of improving their draft status. Declaring for the draft in the last few days:

• Kyle Lowery – Villanova
• Aaron Gray – Pittsburgh
• Ronnie Brewer – Arkansas
• Renaldo Balkman – South Carolina

Super Freshman Josh McRoberts has decided to return to Duke for his sophomore season. It was widely speculated that McRoberts would make the jump to the Big Leagues, but on Wed. decided to come back to school, where he will be the main attraction for the Blue Devils. The cupboards would really have been bare, at least in regards to Duke standards, next year, so this is really good news for Duke.

Both Steve Lavin and John Beilein have turned down the offer to take the top spot at NC State today. As a State fan and alumnus, I am starting to get worried. So far in our search, we have been turned down by Rick Barnes, a North Carolina native and someone who apparently had let it be known that NC State was his “dream job”. Then John Calipari slimed his way in and used the Wolfpack to get a raise. Now, just as it was seemingly coming to a close with the hire of Steve Lavin or John Beilein from West Virginia, Wolfpack fans must now sit back and wait yet again. The trouble with that is that the recruiting season is now fully in swing, and without a captain for the ship, the very future of NC State basketball is being put in jeopardy. AD Lee Fowler is going to have to make a move, and soon. My wish list for the job include Greg Marshall from Winthrop and Derrick Whittenburg, NCSU hero from the 1983 miracle run. He lacks the major head coaching experience, but did a great job in the assistant role at both NC State under Jim Valvano and at Georgia Tech under Bobby Cremins. And the cherry on top, he is supposed to be one heckuva recruiter. Whoever it ends up being, it just needs to end, and soon!

Fresno State’s basketball program has been placed on 4 years probation for recruiting violations. Earlier this year, the Bulldogs had self imposed a ban on post season play for the 2005-06 season. The NCAA decided to extend that probation for another 4 years. Most of the infractions were phone calls to recruits that were either outside contact periods or more than allowed. The “death penalty” was an option, as the school was still on probation going back to the Jerry Tarkanian teams, but the NCAA decided against it.