The best of the best

Sporting News, The, Nov 29, 1993

The reason North Carolina is considered the No. 1 team in the country is that it is the best team in the best conference, as rated by The Sporting News' correspondents.

The conferences, ranked in order.

1 ATLANTIC COAST

Defending league champion: North Carolina (34-4, 14-2) Tournament champion: Georgia Tech (19-11, 8-8) Predicted order of finish: 1. North Carolina, 2. Duke, 3. Virginia, 4. Georgia Tech, 5. Florida State, 6. Clemson, 7. Wake Forest, 8. North Carolina State, 9. Maryland.

    Preseason All League Team:
Pos.  Player Yr. School                     Hgt.  Wgt. PPG   RPG
G     Cory Alexander, Jr., Virginia         6-1   176  18.8  3.5
G     Donald Williams, Jr., North Carolina  6-3   194  14.3  1.9
C     Eric Montross, Sr., North Carolina    7-0   275  15.8  7.6
F     Grant Hill, Sr., Duke                 6-8   225  18.0  6.4
F     James Forrest, Jr., Georgia Tech      6-8   250  19.5  7.5

Pro potential: Duke's Grant Hill is one of the country's smoothest performers. His movement betwee point guard and small forward will show off the versatility that makes professional scouts drool.... North Carolina's Eric Montross does not rekindle memories of soft Tar Heels big men such as Brad Daugherty and J.R. Reid. He is a mountain, and he has to rank among the strongest players in the country.... Coaches say that if Charlie Ward had concentrated on basketball instead of football at Florida State, he could have been a first-round draftee.... Virginia's Cory Alexander needs to add defense to his already sparkling offensive game. . . . Clemson center Sharone Wright has shown flashes of brilliance. Now he must sustain it against the premier big men of his conference.... Cher Parks will answer a lot of questions as he steps into a major role for Duke.... Georgia Tech's Martice Moore, a 6-8 guard, won ACC freshman of the year honors last year. If he can avoid a sophomo jinx, he will gain even more attention this year.

Impact of new rules: The shortening of the shot clock will hurt the more deliberate teams (Clemson North Carolina State), but not much. Even ultra -- disciplined North Carolina seldom needs 35 second to get off a shot. . . . Coaches say the elimination of the five-second rule could help young point guards get a grip on their games. But that doesn't have much application to ACC teams, which have mostly experienced players at the point.... Officials are being asked to call more technical fouls o players for hanging on the rim after dunks. Duke's Antonio Lang was called for one in the Blue Devil Blue -- White scrimmage, prompting Coach Mike Krzyzewski to fret that the order will take some of th excitement away from the game.--Lynn Zinser

2 BIG TEN

Defending league champion: Indiana (31-4, 17-1). Tournament champion: No tournament Predicted order of finish: 1. Minnesota, 2. Michigan, 3. Illinois, 4. Indiana, 5. Purdue, 6. Wisconsin, 7. Ohio State, 8. Penn State, 9. Northwestern, 10. Michigan State, 11. Iowa.

    Preseason All League Team:
Pos.  Player Yr. School                     Hgt.  Wgt. PPG   RPG
G     Voshon Lenard, Jr., Minnesota         6-4   200  17.1  3.6
G     Shawn Respert, Jr., Michigan State    6-3   186  20.1  4.0
C     Juwan Howard, Jr., Michigan           6-9   240  14.6  7.4
F     Michael Finley, Jr., Wisconsin        6-7   192  22.1  5.8
F     Glenn Robinson, Jr., Purdue           6-8   215  24.1  9.2

Pro potential: If there's anything Purdue's Glenn Robinson can't do, NBA scouts have yet, to find possible first-round pick in the draft last year and a candidate to be picked first overall this yea Robinson excels on the block and beyond the 3-point line.... Wisconsin's Michael Finley can soar and score with anyone in the league and should get more of a chance to show those skills now that the Badgers have brought in some depth to occupy the opponents' attention.... With Chris Webber off to Golden State, there should be a lot more room in the middle for Michigan's Juwan Howard to gain some overdue attention. Because of Webber's glamour, Howard has been unjustly overlooked. ... The best player no one knows about is Penn State's John Amaechi. All the 6-10, 260-pound Vanderbilt transfer does is bull to the basket on offense and hammer opponents on defense.

Impact of now rules: Illinois was in a position to make the absence of the five-second rule work t advantage until three-year starting point guard Rennie Clemons failed to make grades. Now the Illini must go with freshman Kiwane Garris at the point, although sophomore Richard Keene could move over from the wing.... Iowa, lacking depth from the loss of starters Val Barnes, Acie Earl and Wade

Lookingbill, took another heavy hit when it lost point guard Kevin Smith to grades. . Indiana's de fense has always been trouble. Imagine how much more pressure the Hoosiers will apply now that they need to guard the opposition 10 seconds less per possession.... Sophomores Derek Anderson and Greg Simpson give Ohio State one of the quickest backcourts in the league and the youngest. They'll have the chance to grow with the rules changes, which could be a big boost for the Buckeyes.