Dickie V's preseason top 40

Love him or hate him, Dick Vitale is a huge part of the college basketball landscape. From his outlandish personality to his love of the game, there may not be any one in the world college hoops that epitomizes the enthusiasm involved with our beloved game more than Dickie V.

And while his liberal use of jibberish when doing color commentary has gotten a bit played out, you cannot deny the sincerity of Dickie's love for the game.

But loving the game of basketball does not necessarily mean you should be paid to analyze it.

Case in point: Vitale's preseason top 40.

The biggest issues I have are the rankings of Duke and Illinois. Duke may end up being a 25-30 win team by the time the season is all said and done, but I don't see anyway that they can be be the pre-season #5 team in the country when they have such glaring back court issues. Maybe Jon Scheyer learns how to score against two-guards in the ACC; maybe Kyle Singler develops into an effective wing; maybe Nolan Smith finally develops into an ACC-caliber point guard. Those are prtty serious question marks. With all that left to figure out, Duke gets ranked above teams like Purdue, Villanova, and Washington? Makes no sense.

Is anyone surprised that Dookie V put the Blue Devils in top 5?
(photo credit: Truth About Duke)

How about Illinois? True, the Illini return some talent, including Demetri McCamey, Alex Legion, Mike Davis, and Mike Tisdale. That solid core, combined with a good recruiting class that Bruce Weber brought in, means that Illinois should be a sleeper pick to win the Big Ten.

But the #10 team in the country?

The Illini lost their starting back court to graduation (Chester Frazier and Trent Meachem) and will be dealing with Davis coming off of a broken ankle. While I do believe that Illinois is a top 25 squad, and probably right up there with Michigan, Minnesota, and Ohio State as the second tier of Big Ten schools (behind Purdue and MSU), saying that this is one of the 10 best teams on paper is a bit far-fetched.

All that said, perhaps the biggest mistake Vitale has made is putting Butler all the way down at 23rd. The Bulldogs are loaded this year. They bring back their entire team from last season. Literally. That includes sophomore Gordon Hayward and Shelvin Mack, who are fresh off of winning a gold in the U-19 tournament in New Zealand. Matt Howard is a thoroughbred on the block, and would probably start (and star) for just about every team in the Big Ten. Remember, this Butler team went 26-6 last year when they were led by freshman and sophomores. How far will that extra year of experience carry the Bulldogs?

My top 25 (which is almost two months old now) can be found here.