Put 'em up: without an Arizona or Mich State out there as in seasons past, only the Dookies are left as college basketball's sole remaining superpower - 2001-02 NCAA Preview: men's top 25

Basketball Digest, Dec, 2001 by Tom Kertes

BY ALL RIGHTS, EVERYthing should be going all wrong with college basketball these days. Instead, if you recall the powerfully passionate 2001 NCAA Tournament with its chuck-full-of-chills Duke-Arizona final, the game actually appears to be on an upswing.

What other sport could survive, and even thrive, while losing its shiniest superstars season after season? Certainly not the NBA which, after all these years, is still reeling from the absence of Magic, Larry, and Michael.

Which, to go full circle for a moment, is one of the reasons college hoops is doing A-OK. Sure, the unprecedented avalanche of NBA early entries is hurting the amateurs--a little. But all those Not Ready For Prime Time Players are doing major damage to the credibility of the pros. So, for fans wanting to see think-first, team-oriented hoops, it's back-to-school time once again.

Let's face it, college basketball is the better game overall. (Why else would the NBA keep on changing its rules to get more college hoopsesque?) Unlike the more monotonous NBA game, college basketball has an unpredictable ebb-and-flow--the longer shot clock and array of defenses allow more coaching and diverse strategies. Top teams, like ultra-patient Temple and run-n'-stun Florida, for instance, can vastly differ in style. And perhaps most importantly, the not-yet-multimillionaire (not legally, anyway) college kids put out a 100% effort every second of every game.

The pros don't. "With an 82-game season and all the travel, they simply can't," Fordham, and ex-NBA, coach Bob Hill says. Which would be understandable--except basketball, more than any other sport, played at less than full intensity is an insult to the senses.

College hoops may lose stars year after year, but somehow new ones always appear on the horizon. Then there is March Madness, the one-loss-and-you're -out NCAA Tournament, which is unmatched in its excitement and intensity in the entire sports universe.

All of which, of course, doesn't mean everything's all good on the college scene. "We can't look a kid who's going to go in the lottery or the first round of the NBA draft in the eye and tell him to stay," Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim says. "We'd better adjust to that as a reality, a new way of life. But we should do something to counteract all the egregious summer influences, the runners and some of those so-called coaches, who tell kids to come out early no matter what. Look what happened to Omar Cook. Or Kenny Satterfield."

Instead, the powers-that-be in the college game are attempting to enact rules to lessen college coaches' contact with their players in the off-season. "Ridiculous," Hill grumbles. "If a chemistry professor wants to tutor his students over the summer he's allowed to, isn't he? We just want our guys to get better and, at the same time, decrease the pull of the bad influences on these kids over the summer."

In order to keep more top talents, the NCAA should also allow players to return to college if they declare for the draft but are unhappy with their drafting position. The rules restricting the recruitment of foreign players should be loosened (instead, it's just been made more difficult). And hoopsters should not only be allowed to get jobs, but even receive a decent weekly stipend. Right now, with all the half-decent big men leaving college early--or skipping school entirely--the college game is in the danger of becoming way too guard-oriented.

"Coaches should concentrate more on using the post and teaching the post game," says New Mexico coach Fran Fraschilla. "But it's a Catch-22 situation. You need good players inside to go to--or you won't think about going inside quite as much."

The Rules Committee should probably think about pushing the three-point shot farther away from the basket as well. Last year, we saw too many of those too one-dimensional bombs-away games. "And this year you might see even more of them," Hill smiles.

Yes, college basketball is an innately imitative universe. And remember, Duke won the title with an overwhelming (over)use of the trey.

1. DUKE

The best athlete on the gloriously gifted defending champs? No, it's not our preseason Player of the Year, Jason Williams. Or almost-as-good combo guard Chris Duhon. Can't-miss-the-NBA coach's son Mike Dunleavy Jr.? Undefendable insider Carlos Boozer? Nah. And nah.

It's 6'5" Rutgers transfer Dahntay Jones, who's yet to play a single minute in Duke duds. "He's been killing all our kids in practice," Blue Devils coach Mike Krzyzewski says. "Yes, including Jason. His gifts are in another dimension."

Which, at least in part, explains why the rest of the country may well be playing for second place. The other party The Great Unspellable himself, Coach K. "Wratching them, I couldn't believe how free and easy Duke plays," Hill says. "It's simple get-out-and-run ball with a few pick-and-roll type NBA wrinkles. Then, if worst come to worst, they just put up the three."

More like "if best comes to best": last season, Duke was the most lethal long-range team in history, shooting an unbelievable 1,057 treys--that's 22 per game!--with a tremendous 38.5% accuracy.