Huskies and Blue Devils Top Polls

While everyone loves March Madness, real college basketball fans love Midnight Madness, when college programs can officially practice for the first time in the year. Unlike professional basketball, where the cast of characters is the same year after year, college ball allows for new faces to emerge every fall, with every team having legitimate hopes of attaining a national championship. Ultimately, a team may appear out of nowhere to win, yet at the start of the season it is often the "usual suspects" at the top of the polls. This year is no different with the UConn Huskies and the Duke Blue Devils voted to be the preseason number 1 and 2 teams.

UConn is lead by All-American Emeka Okafor and guards Ben Gordon and Taliek Brown. Okafor is thought to be one of the leading candidates to be selected first in the 2004 Draft, dominating the court on both the offensive and defensive sides of the ball. Although, until last year, Okafor, with his defensive shot blocking, was only a one-dimensional player, last season he emerged as a true inside scoring threat.

Their team should also be greatly improved with the addition of top-10 recruit Charlie Villanueva. He is definitely a Top-10 recruit and has a great chance of being the Big East freshman of the year. Coach Jim Calhoun has been able to produce a winning program for the last 10 years, and this season he looks to ride the back of Okafor to national dominance.

Duke is back with another strong team after only losing seniors Dhantay Jones and Casey Sanders. Leading the team will be super sophs J.J. Reddick, Shelden Williams, Shavlik Randolph, and Sean Dockery. After recovering from hip surgery and gaining 30 pounds of muscle, Randolph is certain to be much more of an inside presence this time around.

Most importantly for the Blue Devils is the addition of freshman Luol Deng. He is considered to be the best incoming freshman in the nation and fashions his game after Grant Hill. Deng was born in Sudan, raised in England, and finished his high school career in Blairstown, NJ alongside Villanueva. Coach K (Mike Krzyzewski) has already proclaimed that Deng is Duke's best player and will give the Devils more help inside and out. Captains Daniel Ewing, Chris Duhon, and Nick Horvath with all provide valuable leadership on this youth-filled team.

The ACC will be an interesting conference this season with the homecoming of former North Carolina Tarheels' assistant Roy Williams. Williams returns to lead his trio of sophomore superstars to national dominance. Point guard Raymond Felton, swingman Rashad McCants, and bigman Sean May look to show the Blue Devils that the Tarheels are the superior North Carolina program once again.

Lute Olson's Arizona Wildcats once again look like a Top-10 team. Despite the loss of All-Americans Luke Walton and Jason Gardner and senior Rick Anderson, the cats reloaded just like any year. Freshmen Mustafa Shakur enters at the point, and will probably be one of the biggest impact freshmen in the country.

Gonzaga's Bulldogs have become the kings of the mid-major conferences over the last few years, and coach Mark Few claims to have his best team ever. They are the nation's Cinderella no longer, although anyone who called them a Cinderella for the last three years hasn't been paying attention very well. Preseason All-American Blake Stepp, Corey Violette, and transfer Errol Knight look to lead this team to the top of the WCC Conference and back to the NCAA Tournament. Despite an opening night loss to the highly ranked St. Joe's Eagles, this team has their sights set on the Final Four.

Even with the loss of Carmelo Anthony, the Syracuse Orangemen may be a Top-10 team. Anthony leaves the biggest gap of any departing college player, but the Orangemen still have a solid team led by sophomore Gerry MacNamara and junior Hakim Warrick. After an exhibition loss to the mighty Harlem Globetrotters, this Big East power is ready to show the nation that they are more than Carmelo's sidekicks.

The Kansas Jayhawks are another team that underwent a major overhaul during the summer as a result of Roy Williams' exit to North Carolina. Illinois' Bill Self quickly stepped in to help the Kansas program. Unfortunately for Kansas, not only did they lose their coach, but they also lost senior All-Americans Nick Collison and Kirk Heinrich. This year they will be led by guard Aaron Miles and Wayne Simien, who missed the majority of last year with shoulder ailments.