| College basketball's hardship losses to the NBA have taken
a toll. Just try to come up with the five or six best
players at each position—the depth chart gets shallow
fast. Instead of watching North Carolina's
Vince
Carter dominate as a senior, we'll watch his replacement,
freshman
Jason
Capel, mix unquestionable talent with frequent rookie
mistakes.
Appreciate seniors like Northwestern C
Evan
Eschmeyer, South Carolina SG
BJ
McKie, Utah PG
Andre
Miller, TCU PF
Lee
Nailon and Miami (Ohio) SF
Wally
Szczerbiak. And take a mental snapshot of underclassmen like Michigan
State junior
Mateen
Cleaves, UCLA sophomore
Baron
Davis and UConn junior
Richard
Hamilton, because by next fall they'll be NBA
rookies.
The early defections to the NBA (which, ironically, may sit
out the season) increase parity on the college level. If
Arizona's speed did the deed in '97, and was quickly
adopted as the philosophy-of-choice for most top programs,
then the
championship-trend-to-watch in '98-99 will be modeled after Kentucky's
critical strength in 1998: depth. All the top
contenders—Connecticut, Duke, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan
State, Stanford, UCLA—have it. Coincidentally, none of
these schools lost stars to the
pros—this year,
anyway.
|
Player of the
Year
|
| Richard
Hamilton, G, 6' 6", Jr.,
Connecticut
| |
1997-98 Stats: 21.5 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 40.4%
3-pt | |
|
Preseason All-America
Picks: First
Team
|
|
Elton
Brand, C, 6' 8", Soph.,
Duke
| | 1997-98 Stats: 13.4 ppg, 7.3 rpg,
59.2% FG |
|
Mateen
Cleaves, G, 6' 2", Jr., Michigan
State
| | 1997-98 Stats: 16.1 ppg, 7.2 apg, 2.4
spg
| |
Evan
Eschmeyer, C, 6' 11", Sr.,
Northwestern
| | 1997-98 Stats: 21.7 ppg, 10.7 rpg, 61.0%
FG | |
Richard
Hamilton, G, 6' 6", Jr.,
Connecticut
| | 1997-98 Stats: 21.5 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 40.4%
3-pt | |
Lee
Nailon, F, 6' 9", Sr., Texas
Christian
| | 1997-98 Stats: 24.9 ppg, 8.9 rpg, 55.4%
FG
|
|
|
Preseason All-America
Picks: Second
Team
|
|
Baron
Davis, G, 6' 2", Soph.,
UCLA
| | 1997-98 Stats: 11.7 ppg, 5.0 apg, 52.9%
FG |
|
Andre
Miller, G, 6' 2", Sr.,
Utah
| | 1997-98 Stats: 14.2 ppg, 5.2 apg, 5.4
rpg
| |
Quentin
Richardson, G, 6' 6", Fr.
DePaul
| | 1997-98 Stats: 25 ppg, 12.3 rpg, 44.0% (high school)
3-pt. | |
Wally
Szczerbiak, F, 6' 8", Sr., Miami
(Ohio)
| | 1997-98 Stats: 24.4 ppg, 7.6 rpg, 49.2%
3-pt | |
Kenny
Thomas, F, 6' 8", Sr., New
Mexico
| | 1997-98 Stats: 16.8 ppg, 9.3 rpg, 2.5
bpg
|
|
|
Coach of the
Year
|
Jim Calhoun,
Connecticut
13th year; 1997-98 record: 32-5 (Lost to UNC in
NCAA East finals)
| | All our eggs are in one basket (see Player of the Year,
above), on behalf of college basketball's representative to
the
Marv Levy-Jerry Sloan-Boston Red Sox-Bob Dole
School of
Close-But-No-Cigar.
| |
|
Coaches on the Hot
Seat
|
| Dave Bliss, New
Mexico
| | Too many great regular seasons followed by NCAA
flops.
| | Bobby Cremins, Georgia
Tech
| | With Dion Glover out for season, Point Guard U. is now
No-Guard
U.
| | Brian Ellerbee,
Michigan
| "Interim" label is gone, but how can he win with
zilch?
| Bob Knight,
Indiana
| | Too many recent poor NCAA tourney
showings.
|
| Ralph Willard,
Pitt
| | "Pitino protege" only gets him so
far.
|
|
|
|
All-Newcomer
Team (last stop in
parentheses)
|
|
Steve
Francis
| | G, 6' 3", Jr., Maryland (Allegany College, Cumberland,
Md.) |
|
Dan
Gadzuric
| | C,
6' 10", Fr., UCLA (Governor Dummer Academy, Byfield,
Mass.)
| |
Shawn
Marion
| |
F, 6' 7", Jr., UNLV (Vincennes University, Vincennes,
Ind.)
| |
Lamar
Odom
| | F, 6' 10", Soph., Rhode Island (too many to
mention) | |
Scoonie
Penn
| | G, 5' 10", Jr., Ohio State (Boston
College)
|
|
|
Top 5 Storylines to
Watch
|
| 1. Depth
Charge
| | Like Kentucky in '98, all the top contenders have
it.
|
| 2. Brand
Awareness
| | Back to full strength after last season's broken foot,
Duke's BMOC returns. Let's call him "Sir
Elton."
| | 3. Get the
Point
| | Talented lead guards abound; average team scoring will
rise.
|
| 4. Cardinal
Sense
| | With its '98 Final Four team intact, Stanford hopes for a
repeat—this time under national
glare.
| | 5. DePaul
Revival
| | Led by five newcomers, the Blue Demons rise from C-USA
basement
hell.
|
|
| The Bandwagon |
| Wally Szczerbiak |  |
Oh, the
hype!
|
| Lamar Odom |  | Worth the
wait?
|
| Temple | | No excuses
now
|
| Memphis | | Came from
nowhere
|
| Rebounds | | Board control is
in
|
| Dunks | | So
passé
|
|
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|
