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Scouting organizations had Memphis coach Josh Pastner as the second best recruiter this past off-season, but high hopes that the Tigers would be back to their best in 2010-11 have taken a serious hit.

Will Barton, who the best basketball tipsters consider as arguably the best shooting guard to join the college ranks this year, has been ruled academically ineligible by the NCAA and would now seem unlikely ever to pull on a Tigers jersey before heading off to the NBA next summer.

Barton was with the Tigers for their first few practices of the late summer before being told that he was ineligible, seemingly stemming from the fact he had been to a number of high schools before arriving at Memphis, something that always brings up a red flag with collegiate sporting officials.

Barton was expected to be a huge contributor in Pastner’s second season with the Tigers, and he will appeal the decision, but if it does come to light that he failed to graduate in the NCAA’s time-frame, then there is little he or Memphis can do about it.

He will have options even if the NCAA declares him ineligible, perhaps following Brandon Jennings’ example and heading off to Europe, but that is of no consolation to the Tigers, despite their incoming class oozing ability and skill without Barton.

Sadly, it appears that previous history may have also come back to haunt Memphis; this is not the first time they have had issues to answer over academic questions (Derrick Rose, Pierre Henderson-Niles) and it appears the NCAA has had enough of it, despite Barton’s ‘mistake’ being the least egregious.

So, for now, basketball betting pundits note how the Tigers have to move on without Barton, but the disappointment might just be lessened by the quality of the rest of their class, which could well include as many as five freshmen making up part of their rotation.

Chief among them seems to be Joe Jackson, who would appear likely to start in the backcourt, while Jelan Kendrick, Tarik Black and Chris Crawford could all play significant minutes in their first season, one that could see the Tigers back at the top of the Conference USA table after losing out to UTEP last time around.

On the 2010 All Conference USA team, there are players that are part of five difference conference teams with three of the players be repeat winners from 2009. The players voted to the All Conference USA team include Aubrey Coleman of Houston, Ben Uzoh of Tulsa, Elijah Millsap of UAB, Elliot Williams of Memphis, and Randy Culpepper of UTEP. The players were selected by ballot vote with the Conference USA head coaches and media members from all conference cities taking part in the selection.
Aubrey Coleman
Aubrey Coleman finds his way to the first-team selection for the second straight season. He has been leading the NCAA in scoring at 26.0 ppg and was the Conference USA Player of the Week five times this season.
Ben Uzoh
Uzoh leads his team in scoring at 15.4 ppg and has made 45 three’s this year. He’s scored 400 or more points in three consecutive seasons.
Randy Culpepper
Culpepper was on the 3rd Team selection for Conference USA in 2009. He helped lead UTEP to their first Conference USA regular season title this season and is third in scoring in the conference at 18.1 ppg.
Elijah Millsap
Millsap averaged 16.0 ppg this season and led the league in rebounding at 9.3 rpg and had 15 double doubles this season.
Elliot Williams
Williams averages 18.5 ppg and has scored more than 20 16 times. He also averages 3.8 assists per game and has made 56 3 point shots this season.

The 2010 Conference USA Tournament is scheduled March 10-13 in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

2010 Conference USA First Team

Aubrey Coleman, Houston, G, 6-4, 200, Sr., Houston, Texas
Elliot Williams, Memphis, G, 6-5, 180, So., Memphis, Tenn.
Elijah Millsap, UAB, G, Jr., 6-6, 211, Grambling, La.
Ben Uzoh, Tulsa, G, 6-3, 200, Sr., San Antonio, Texas
Randy Culpepper, UTEP, G, Jr., 6-0, 165, Jr., Memphis, Tenn.

2010 Conference USA Second Team

Gary Flowers, Southern Miss, F, 6-8, 214, Jr., Dallas, Texas
Derrick Caracter, UTEP, F, 6-9, 275, Jr., Fanwood, N.J.
Hassan Whiteside, Marshall, F, 6-11, 235, Fr., Gastonia, N.C.
Jerome Jordan, Tulsa, C, 7-0, 245, Sr., Kingston, Jamaica
Tyler Wilkerson, Marshall, F, 6-8, 240, Sr., Lexington, Ky.

2010 Conference USA Third Team

Papa Dia, SMU, F, 6-9, 235, Jr., St. Louis, Senegal
Wesley Witherspoon, Memphis, F/G, 6-9, 210, So., Atlanta, Ga.
Brock Young, East Carolina, G, 5-11, 175, Jr., Raleigh, N.C.
Aaron Johnson, UAB, G, 5-8, 175, Jr., Chicago, Ill.
Derek Williams, SMU, G, 6-1, 170, Sr., Jamaica, N.Y.

Just a little bit of shuffling since my August 2009 preseason college basketball rankings for the September 2009 edition. I bumped Duke up a bit now that Coach K has a little more depth in the guard position. Memphis probably suffered the largest setback over the past month with Martin Ngaloro being out indefinitely with a knee injury. The Tigers were lucky in avoiding any season damaging penalties from the D-Rose SAT fiasco. Despite all of the negative things occurring with the program, Coach Pastner did find a way to make sure the team would have the depth to press at least a bit this coming season with the signing of D.J. Stephens from Texas.

With school back in session and college football starting up this week, many basketball fans are looking forward to the start of official practice in mid-October and the pre-conference play to begin. Until then, here are how I hold the top-25 NCAA basketball teams heading into September:

2009 Preseason College Basketball – No. 1 Kansas – Last Month: 1

2009 Preseason College Basketball – No. 2 Kentucky Last Month: 2

2009 Preseason College Basketball – No. 3 Villanova Last Month: 3

2009 Preseason College Basketball – No. 4 Michigan State Last Month: 4

2009 Preseason College Basketball – No. 5 North Carolina Last Month: 5

2009 Preseason College Basketball – No. 6 Purdue Last Month: 6

2009 Preseason College Basketball – No. 7 Texas Last Month: 7

2009 Preseason College Basketball – No. 8 West Virginia Last Month: 8

2009 Preseason College Basketball – No. 9- Ohio State Last Month: 9

2009 Preseason College Basketball – No. 10- Washington Last Month: 10

2009 Preseason College Basketball – No. 11 Oklahoma Last Month: 11

2009 Preseason College Basketball – No. 12 Tennessee Last Month: 12

2009 Preseason College Basketball – No. 13 Cal Last Month: 13

2009 Preseason College Basketball – No. 14 Miss State Last Month: 14

2009 Preseason College Basketball – No. 15 Connecticut Last Month: 15

2009 Preseason College Basketball – No. 16 Duke Last Month: 18

2009 Preseason College Basketball – No. 17 Dayton Last Month: 16

2009 Preseason College Basketball – No. 18 Minnesota Last Month: 17

2009 Preseason College Basketball – No. 19 Louisville Last Month: 24

2009 Preseason College Basketball – No. 20 Butler Last Month: 19

2009 Preseason College Basketball – No. 21 Missouri Last Month: 23

2009 Preseason College Basketball – No. 22 Michigan Last Month: 22

2009 Preseason College Basketball – No. 23 Kansas State Last Month: N/r

2009 Preseason College Basketball –No. 24 Georgetown Last Month: 25

2009 Preseason College Basketball – No. 25 Sienna Last Month: 24

Dropped From Rankings:

N/A

Close to Being Ranked:

Cincinnati

Florida State

Illinois

Oklahoma State

Conference Pre-Season Rankings:

Overall NCAA Conference Rankings

Big East Preseason Rankings

Big 12 Preseason Rankings

SEC Preseason Rankings