Best players ... for nowposted: Wednesday, October 3, 2007
In today's college game, when players leave early and freshmen and sophomores play bigger roles than ever, it is more and more difficult to predict the way All-America and all-conference teams will look at the end of the season. Instead of providing you with First Team, Second Team and Third Team selections, I have compiled lists of the players I think are among the very best in each category:
Preseason All-America Team
There are no freshmen on this list, although there are several freshmen in the nation that are better than many of the players on this list, and a few freshmen that will garner All-America honors at the end of the season. I have decided to keep this preseason list to players with college experience and exclude those who have yet to play in a college game. But, that only applies until mid-season, when age no longer matters:
Tyler Hansbrough, North Carolina
Roy Hibbert, Georgetown
Courtney Lee, Western Kentucky
Chris Lofton, Tennessee
Stephen Curry, Davidson
Jamont Gordon, Mississippi State
Chase Budinger, Arizona
Derrick Low, Washington State
Darren Collison, UCLA
Drew Neitzel, Michigan State
DeVon Hardin, California
Brook Lopez, Stanford
Brandon Rush, Kansas
Chris Douglas-Roberts, Memphis
Sean Singletary, Virginia
Tywon Lawson, North Carolina
A.J. Graves, Butler
Richard Hendrix, Alabama
Raymar Morgan, Michigan State
Scottie Reynolds, Villanova
Dominic James, Marquette
Darrell Arthur, Kansas
Richard Roby, Colorado
D.J. White, Inidana
Preseason All-Rookie Team
This freshman class is truly outstanding, with great talent at every position. Some of the players on this list will be all-conference, and a few will be All-America. And, because even great players have transition periods and mature at different rates, some of them will have struggles. But all of them have the chance to be truly outstanding college players and beyond.
Kevin Love, UCLA
Derrick Rose, Memphis
Eric Gordon, Indiana
O.J. Mayo, USC
Kyle Singler, Duke
Michael Beasley, Kansas State
Kosta Koufos, Ohio State
Jerryd Bayless, Arizona
Donte Greene, Syracuse
Blake Griffin, Oklahoma
DeAndre Jordan, Texas A&M
Patrick Patterson, Kentucky
Austin Freeman, Georgetown
Corey Stokes, Villanova
Gani Lawal, Georgia Tech
J.J. Hickson, NC State
Preseason All-Defensive Team
Not every player is relied upon to score. But every player is relied upon to defend, and too few do it well enough to impact the game without scoring. Here are some of the best defenders in the nation, all of who fill their tanks on the defensive end and play with a hunger to stop someone.
Randal Falker, Southern Illinois
Kyle Weaver, Washington State
Brian Randle, Illinois
Antonio Anderson, Memphis
Mario Chalmers, Kansas
Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, UCLA
David Lighty, Ohio State
Jerel McNeal, Marquette
Eric Maynor, VCU
Kevin Lisch, Saint Louis
Taj Gibson, USC
Russell Robinson, Kansas
Travis Walton, Michigan State
Joey Dorsey, Memphis
Michael Flowers, Wisconsin
Marcus Dove, Oklahoma State
Will Thomas, George Mason
Darren Collison, UCLA
Hasheem Thabeet, UConn
P.J. Couisnard, Wichita State
Steven Hill, Arkansas
James Mays, Clemson
Robin Lopez, Stanford
Preseason All-Underrated Team
Underrated sometimes conveys the thought that a player is under-publicized, but I use the term to convey that a player is better than people think. Here are some players around the country that you may know, but may not know just how good they are or will be.
Luke Nevill, Utah
Will Daniels, Rhode Island
Alonzo Gee, Alabama
Jonathan Wallace, Georgetown
Patrick Beverley, Arkansas
Marcelus Kemp, Nevada
Rob McKiver, Houston
Geary Claxton, Penn State
Ahmad Nivins, St. Joseph's
Bryce Taylor, Oregon
Eric Maynor, VCU
Jeremy Crouch, Bradley
Brandon Ewing, Wyoming
Aleks Maric, Nebraska
Drew Lavender, Xavier
Kyle Hines, UNC Greensboro
Jason Thompson, Rider
Jeff Pendergraph, Arizona State
Jaycee Carroll, Utah State
DaJuan Summers, Georgetown
Frank Elegar, Drexel
Ryan Anderson, California
Geoff McDermott, Providence
Josh Dollard, Auburn
Alex Harris, UCSB
Devan Downey, South Carolina
Eric Coleman, Northern Iowa
Wesley Matthews, Marquette
Jon Brockman, Washington
Tommie Liddell, Saint Louis
Josh Carter, Texas A&M
Lawrence Hill, Stanford
Jason Richards, Davidson
Brandon Costner, NC State
Dwayne Curtis, Mississippi
Donte Minter, Appalachian State