Senior leadership reigns supreme this year

College basketball has changed a lot since Bill Walton's era at UCLA. Walton played at a time when even star players stayed in school for four years and lineups actually resembled each other from one year to the next. College basketball has since become a revolving door showcasing talented players for a year or two before they make their way to the NBA.

All of this makes it even more ironic that Walton's son, Luke, is part of an Arizona Wildcat team that has five returning starters. While many of the top teams are reloading, this year may prove that college experience and senior leadership are the keys to a national title.

The top two teams coming into preseason college basketball tournaments have to be Arizona and Kansas. Arizona returns senior preseason All-American candidates Jason Gardner and Luke Walton. After being the sixth man on the talent-laden 2001 NCAA runner-up team, last year Walton emerged as a star. We will have to wait and see if he can match his dad's college glory by bringing a national championship to Arizona.

Despite losing lottery pick Drew Gooden from last year's squad, Kansas has three returning starters. Several of last year's bench players will seamlessly fill the holes in the lineup while senior All-Americans Kurt Heinrich and Nick Collison will be forced to provide leadership and offense.

Oklahoma is also regarded as a very highly regarded preseason team (ranked third in most preseason polls). All of these accolades may have gone to the Oklahoma players' heads in their 68-62 loss to top-ten team Alabama on Thursday night at Madison Square Garden. Even with this early season hiccup, Oklahoma, led by point guard Hollis price, will prove to be one of the premier teams in the nation.

On Friday night in another early season game at the Garden, the Texas Longhorns faced the Georgia Bulldogs in a match-up of two preseason top-25 teams. Texas, led by sophomore point guard TJ Ford, proved that it is deserving of its top five ranking, as it came from behind to win 77-71. Ford led the nation in assists last year as a freshman, but will be relied on much more for offense as the season progresses.

Even with all the hype around the Wildcats and Jayhawks, one should not forget about the Duke Blue Devils. Many people have written the Blue Devils off after they lost consensus Player-of-the-Year, Jason "Jay" Williams, and fellow All-Americans Mike Dunleavy Jr. and Carlos Boozer. But Coach K does not rebuild and instead he reloaded with one of the best recruiting classes in NCAA history. The class includes McDonald's All-Americans Shavlik Randolph, Michael Thompson, JJ Reddick, and Sean Dockery, and also a top-100 prospect in Lee Melchionni.

A relatively weak Atlantic Coast Conference will let Duke develop slowly and head into the tournament on a mission to avenge last year's early exit. The pre-season top-10 is rounded out with Pittsburgh, Florida, Alabama, Oregon, and Michigan State.

Last season's National Champions, the Maryland Terrapins, will definitely not be the threat they were to Duke or any of the nation's elite teams last year. Senior point guard Steve Blake is the lone returning starter from last year's team, which lost ACC-Player-of-the-Year Juan Dixon, lottery-pick Chris Wilcox, and All-ACC performer Lonnie Baxter. The key bench players for the Terps will plug the holes nicely and will help this team contend _ just not for the national title.

North Carolina suffered through one of the worst seasons in school history last year. The Tarheels were thoroughly embarrassed in a year in which the school finished dead last in the ACC, failed to make the NCAA tournament, and had two players transfer at the end of the season. This tradition-rich team hopes to rebound this year with the emergence of three key McDonald's All-Americans in Raymond Felton, Rashad McCants, and Sean May. North Carolina fans have to be praying that this trio can overcome their inexperience and lead the legendary UNC program back to glory.