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Kentucky Coach John Calipari

Now that the majority of the 2009 NCAA recruiting classes are set and we know who is going into the 2009 NBA draft, I figured it was time to put out my pre-season Top 25. We’ll see a little movement over the next few months depending on what Lance Stephenson decides to do and where the USC recruits end up, but the 2009-10 NCAA basketball  season does prove to be an exciting one!

2009 NCAA Basketball Rankings

2009 NCAA Basketball Rankings – No. 1 Kansas
Bill Self is heading into the 200910 season fully loaded with his talent from last year as well as another great recruiting class headlined by star shooting guard, Xavier Henry. Sherron Collins and Cole Aldrich are back for another shot at the NCAA title, and the Jayhawks should repeat as Big 12 champions next season.

2009 NCAA Basketball Rankings – No. 2 Kentucky
Its debatable on what the impact of Jodie Meeks not coming back to Kentucky for the 2009-10 season is going to be. He led the Wildcats and the SEC in scoring last season, but if the number 1 recruiting class of 2009 performs as expected, Coach John Calipari will have the Wildcats heading deep into the 2010 NCAA tournament next year! The Wildcats will have one of the strongest front courts in the country with Patrick Patterson, DeMarcus Cousins, and Daniel Orton to go with the top rated point guard prospect in the country, John Wall.

2009 NCAA Basketball Rankings – No. 3 Villanova
Scottie Reynolds returning to Nova with a great recruiting class is making the Wildcats the Big East favorite and a threat for the 2010 NCAA title!

2009 NCAA Basketball Rankings – No. 4 Michigan State
The Spartans have three starters returning but will have a fight for the Big Ten title with Purdue and Ohio State.

2009 NCAA Basketball Rankings – No. 5 North Carolina

Ed Davis and Deon Thompson are back along with prize recruits John Henson and Leslie McDonald. This might be a bit high for the defending champs, but something tells me they’re going to be going deep again in the 2010 tourney!

2009 NCAA Basketball Rankings – No. 6 Purdue
Purdue will be challenging Michigan State for the Big 10 title. They have all of their starters back along with JaJuan Johnson and will be a regular in the Top Ten during the 2009-10 season.

2009 NCAA Basketball Rankings – No. 7 Texas
The Long Horns have a great recruiting class headed by Avery Bradley and Jordan Hamilton. They’re going to give Kansas a run for the Big 12 Title and will be a force to be reckoned with in the post season.

2009 NCAA Basketball Rankings – No. 8 Duke
Duke is bringing back a solid core from last season’s team. Gerald Henderson will be missed and they may have a bit of trouble at the point initially, but the Blue Devils will be a top ten team next season.

2009 NCAA Basketball Rankings – No. 9 West Virginia
West Virginia is led by point guard Joe Mazzulla and Devin Ebanks will be a first round pick in the 2010 or 2011 NBA draft. The mountaineers should go deeper in the post season in 2010 than last year and will be one of the powerhouses in the Big East in 2009-10.

2009 NCAA Basketball Rankings – No. 10- Ohio State
Ohio State lost B.J. Mullens to the 2009 NBA draft, but they have Evan Turner back as well as a number of other starters to go with David Lighty.

2009 NCAA Basketball Rankings – No. 11- Washington
Washington was able to sign the second best point guard in the 2009 NCAA basketball recruiting class in Abdul Gaddy who will complement Thomas at the 2 guard position while leading Washington in the 2009-10 season.

2009 NCAA Basketball Rankings – No. 12 Oklahoma
Oklahoma had a strong recruiting year in 2009 and with Willie Warren coming back they will push Kansas, Texas, and Oklahoma State in the Big 12.

2009 NCAA Basketball Rankings – No. 13 Tennessee
With Tyler Smith returning, Bruce Pearl has an experienced team heading in to the 2009-10 season. The Vols will be looking to keep Kentucky from going undefeated in SEC play next season and will be a top 15 team heading into the season.

2009 NCAA Basketball Rankings – No. 14 Cal
The Cal Bears will be competing with Washington for the PAC-10’s top spot next season. UCLA could come into the mix as well depending on how quickly their 2009 recruiting class performs as well.

2009 NCAA Basketball Rankings – No. 15 Miss State
If Renardo Sidney can gain his eligibility, Mississippi State will be a Top 20 team all season and will be trying to give Kentucky a run for their money for the SEC overall and tournament titles.

2009 NCAA Basketball Rankings – No. 16 Connecticut
Stanley Robinson, Ater Majok, and Kemba Walker will be leading the Huskies to another season atop the Big East and a national ranking.

2009 NCAA Basketball Rankings – No. 17 Dayton
Dayton almost has their entire team back from last season’s that won 27 games and a NCAA tournament game. They will be vying for the A-10 championship and we’ll see them ranked the majority of the season.

2009 NCAA Basketball Rankings – No. 18 Minnesota
Former Kentucky Wildcat coach Tubby Smith has his starters returning with a decent recruiting class. He’ll have a tough time trying to get past Ohio State, MSU, and Purdue, but the Gophers will be in the thick of the Big 10 race for the majority of the season.

2009 NCAA Basketball Rankings – No. 19 Butler
Butler could easily be ranked higher. They have everyone back from last season to include star Matt Howard.

2009 NCAA Basketball Rankings – No. 20 Oklahoma State
OSU has a great 2009 basketball recruiting class inbound in Travis Ford’s run and gun offense. They’ll score a lot of points, have fun, and just might pull some upsets along the way!

2009 NCAA Basketball Rankings – No. 21 Michigan
DeShawn Sims and Manny Harris will be two of the leaders on the Wolverines squad next season. They could play up in the rankings once the season gets going.

2009 NCAA Basketball Rankings – No. 22 Missouri
The Tigers have a deep bench and will be dangerous again next season. Look for the team to take a bit time to gel after losing Leo Lyons and DeMarre Carroll, but will be clicking by tournament time.

2009 NCAA Basketball Rankings – No. 23 Louisville
Samardo Samuels and Terrence Jennings are going to be the “go to” players for Coach Rick Pitino next season. They have to perform to keep the Cards afloat in the Big East and the 2010 NCAA tournament.

2009 NCAA Basketball Rankings – No. 24 Memphis
Coach Josh Pastner has been putting together a pretty impressive recruiting class after taking over from Coach John Calipari. Many have counted the Tigers out, but with their current recruiting crop, look for them to win more than 25 games next season!

2009 NCAA Basketball Rankings – No. 25 Siena
Siena has a majority of their core players coming back from last season. Losing Kenny Hasbrouck drops them a bit, so they eeked by Illinois to make Nr 25 on my rankings.

Close to Being Ranked:

Florida State – Solomon Alabi, Jordan Mercy, and Chris Singleton lead the Seminole front court along with incoming recruit Michael Snaer.

Illinois – The Fighting Illini have a great 2009 recruiting class. They just missed being in the top 25, but can quickly find themselves there once the season gets moving.

Georgetown – Georgetown was one of the disappointing teams of last season. With Greg Monroe back, the Hoyas should be able to build on the 2008-09 season and make it to the NCAA’s at the end of the year.

Refs:

http://kenpom.com/rate.php, http://www.latimes.com/sports/college/basketball/la-sp-renardo-sidney5-2009jun05,0,7406854.story, ttp://beyondthearc.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/04/17/1897733.aspx, http://bleacherreport.com/articles/162509-the-return-of-marcus-ginyard-your-2009-10-north-carolina-tar-heels, http://www.collegesports-fans.com/basketball-previews/2008-2009-previews/kansas-jayhawks-preview.html, http://www.zimbio.com/Chante+Black/news/PDWD71712ST/2009+Duke+Blue+Devils+Basketball+Recruiting, http://www.secsportsfan.com/2009-2010-kentucky-wildcats-basketball-preview.html,

Kentucky Coach John Calipari

Trying to determine the best NCAA basketball recruiting class of all time is similar to arguing about the best World Series team or top Super Bowl champion of all time. Every year’s top class has to be looked at in context against the remainder of the competition for that year. You just don’t know when the 4th or 5th best player in a class would have been the best player in a subsequent year. John Calipari, however, may have signed the single-best NCAA basketball recruiting class of all time this year at Kentucky. You just don’t see many teams landing four top 25 and five top 50 recruits in a given class, but Coach Cal has done just that making the Kentucky Wildcats one of the favorites for the 2009-10 NCAA title.

Top Five NCAA Basketball Recruiting Classes of All Time


#1 NCAA Basketball Recruiting Class of All Time – 2009 Kentucky Wildcats

Kentucky Wildcats Coach John Calipari

The University of Kentucky Wildcats are the winningest program in NCAA and SEC college basketball. North Carolina is a close second to the Cats for overall number of games won. The program came into existence prior to World War I when E.R. Sweetland was signed as the UK Director of Athletics and first basketball coach. The University of Kentucky is located in Lexington, Kentucky and plays their home basketball games in Rupp Arena.

Adolph Rupp put the program on the map with winning four national titles in 1948, 1949, 1951, and 1958. Coach Joe B. Hall led the cats to their first title in 20 years in 1978, followed by Rick Pitino in 1996 and Tubby Smith in 1998 for a total of seven national championships in the history of the Kentucky Wildcats basketball program. Kentucky’s overall program record is 1988-635-1 at the conclusion of the 2008-09 season and have led the nation in attendance 13 of the past 14 seasons through 2008-09 and have won 43 SEC Titles which is greater than the number won by the remainder of the conference.

Kentucky Wildcat Championship Teams

1948 – Coach Adolph Rupp would win his first of four national championships over Baylor, 58-42 with the Cats going 36-3 for the season. His team was nickname the “Fabulous Five” that season and they woudl also provide the core of the U.S. 1948 Olympic team who won the Gold Medal at the Summer Olympics held in London that year.

1949 – The Wildcats repeat with a 46-36 win over Oklahoma State, 46-36 going 32-2 for the season.

1951 – Kentucky would win their third title under Rupp defeating Kansas State, 68-68, and going 32-2 for the season.

1958 – Adolph Rupp would win his final national title defeating Seattle, 84-72 and going 23-6 for the year. Rupp nicknamed his team the “Fiddlin’ Five” because of their penchant for dawdling early in games that season.

1978 – Joe B. Hall led the Wildcats to their first national title in 20 years, defeating Duke 94-88 and going 30-2 for the season.

1996 – After suffering probation from the repurcussions of former Coach Eddie Sutton’s recruiting violations, the Rick Pitino led Cats defeated Syracues 76-67 to win their 6th national tile and would go 34-2 on the season and would also be the first SEC team in 40 years to go undefeated in regular season play. A total of 9 players from the 1996 team would go on to play in the NBA.

1998 – In Coach Tubby Smith’s first season as coach, the Wildcats rebounded from losing the NCAA championship game in 1997 and defeated Utah 78-69 to win the title and go 35-4 for the year.

Kentucky is currently coached by John Calipari who will be coaching in his first season at U.K. in the 2009-10 season.

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