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

22. ST. JOSEPH'S (PA.)

A Top-10 power? Hmm. An Elite Eight appearance in March? Double hmm. Experts are picking the Hawks that high, based on their NCAA victory over Georgia Tech (66-62) and loss to Stanford (90-83). However, from where we're sitting, Tech (17-13) really had no business being in the tournament. And stodgy Stanford sure showed its real (lack of) stuffin' in that astonishing Elite Eight wipeout by far quicker Maryland.

The Hawks are good. In fact, the backcourt of 6'0" soph surprise Jameer Nelson (12.5 ppg, 6.5 apg), and 6'4" smooth operator Marvin O'Connor (22.1 ppg, including 37 against Stanford's Casey Jacobsen) is even better than that. There's a third fine guard available as well in fifth-year senior Na'im Crenshaw.

But the team lacks the type of championship balance it takes to make a major impact in March. Besides legit 6'10" bruiser Bill Phillips, there are simply too many question marks on the front line.

23. SYRACUSE

At first glance, the Orangemen--a team that lost its veteran point guard plus NBA-pick Damone Brown--may not look like much. But with this team a second glance is needed. Because the last time a Jim Boeheim team failed to contend was ... well, sometime during the Eisenhower Administration. Not only that, Boeheim's troops tend to be at their best when the expectations are at the lowest.

Like this year. "Oh, I think we'll be very good," says the underrated coach, unflappable as ever. "Our new kids are so much better than the so-called experts think." The head Orangeguy is particularly high on 7'0" Craig Forth ("very physical, which is just what we need") and 6'8" Hakim Warrick ("the next Damone Brown"). And, remember, the 'Cuse comes back with supreme swingman Preston Shumpert (19.9 ppg, 5.9 rpg) and gifted 2-guard DeShaun Williams. Even better, Williams, way too streaky last year, lost mucho excess poundage over the summer, making him "a much better and much quicker player," according to Boeheim.

24. TENNESSEE

Quasi-coach Jerry Green's long overdue dismissal brought on an avalanche of "winning coaches have no job security" whinings from all the predictably butt-bussing circles (yeah, baaaay-beee!). But the fact is that the Final Four-caliber Volunteers, with their drive-by offense and traffic cop D, have been underachieving hugely for years.

Now it's up to youthful ex-Tulsa coach Buzz Peterson to glue together all the gloriously gifted, but probably too-traumatized, pieces (center Ron Slay, small forward Vincent Yarbrough, power forward Marcus Haislip, shooting guard Jenis Grindstaff, point guard Jon Higgins. et al.). "We have enough here to run the ball well and put on great pressure on defense," he says. "But we need to work on our thinking game."

25. WESTERN KENTUCKY

Can the powerful paint presence of 7'1" Chris Marcus (16.7 ppg, a nation-leading 12.1 rpg), the lone legitimate life-size big man in the country, guarantee a march on March? "Not in this guard-oriented era in college basketball," Fraschilla says. "At least not unless he has an adequate backcourt behind him." But Big Chris may very well have that (and more) in the experienced Derek Robinson--a onetime Sun Belt Freshman of the Year--quirky quickster Reynardo Curry, and rookie Patrick Sparks (31.4 ppg in high school and an astonishing 15 points, nine assists, eight rebounds, and eight steals in the prestigious Kentucky-Indiana All-Star Game).