06-07 Top Guards (Updated 5pm)

06-07 Basketball General Rankings & Lists125

With basketball approaching before you know it, Gary Parrish ranks his top 20 point guards in America in this column.

The ACC lands three of the top 10 playmakers, but none of the next ten. Obviously Dick Vitale wasn’t doing the list or you could automatically add a Duke player to the list to give the ACC four slots.

4. Sean Singletary (Virginia): Singletary last season became the first Virginia player to be named first-team All-ACC since Bryant Stith in 1992. That’s a long time. That’s impressive. That’s why you shouldn’t be surprised when this classic lead guard who can score at a high rate — he averaged 17.7 points per game as a sophomore and put 35 on Gonzaga — has the Cavaliers back in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2001.

6. Tywon Lawson (North Carolina): Every time you put a freshman on a list like this, people are bound to send e-mails featuring the phrase “but the kid hasn’t even played a game yet.” Please, save the e-mail. Lawson has played lots of games, thousands of games. That he hasn’t yet done so at the college level is inconsequential, and you’ll see that once he’s running Roy Williams’ Tar Heels up and down the court in 30-point victories.

8. Jamon Gordon (Virginia Tech): Gordon is really a combo guard, but one who is good enough with the ball to play the point, evidence being that his assist-to-turnover ratio was better than 2-to-1 last season. If he’s too high on this list, so be it. I’ve always been a sucker for point guards hard enough to average 6.0 rebounds per game.

Additionally, CBS has listed their top 20 shooting guards in the country (Link). “Interestingly”, UNC’s Wayne Ellington – who has never played a second of college basketball – is the 7th best shooting guard in the country. Wow!

7. Wayne Ellington (North Carolina): I’m not sure Ellington is the next Michael Jordan, but he can certainly be the next Rashad McCants. The 6-4 talent just might challenge Tyler Hansbrough for the team’s scoring title, and do so within the flow of the Tar Heels’ offense. With so much depth, North Carolina should play even faster — and score more — than normal. Among others, Ellington will benefit, and he could be the ACC’s Freshman of the Year.

12. J.R. Reynolds (Virginia) 6-3 Sr. 17.0 3.1 Along with Sean Singletary, gives Virginia one of the best backcourts in the nation

15. Gerald Henderson (Duke) 6-5 Fr. NA NA He won’t shoot it as well as Redick, but he’ll dunk a lot better.

18. Anthony Morrow (Georgia Tech) 6-5 Jr. 16.0 4.5 Back injury could sideline him until late November.

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06-07 Basketball General Rankings & Lists

125 Responses to 06-07 Top Guards (Updated 5pm)

  1. jncope 10/04/2006 at 12:13 AM #

    I think we will do a lot better this year than the so-called experts are predicting. Atsur is an excellent player. I think it will be interesting to see if Sid uses him to run the offense like Herb did or if Sid frees him up from some of the ball-handling so he can focus on shooting the lights out.

    The good thing about all of the gloom and doom predictions from the experts (and to a lesser extent the naysayers on this site) is that if we do even reasonably well, people will be talking about what a great job Sid performed. They will go on and on about the recruiting class decommits, B-Rack leaving for Baseball, etc… and how Sid still got excellent results. That kind of “excellent coach” buzz could make it easier for Sid to sign more of the guys he wants.

  2. bTHEredterror 10/04/2006 at 1:56 AM #

    “I think it will be interesting to see if Sid uses him to run the offense like Herb did or if Sid frees him up from some of the ball-handling so he can focus on shooting the lights out.”

    I too wonder if Sid might use a PG by committee approach this year, or letting Grant handle a lot of the time, or maybe Ferguson who may have the skills to be passable when he becomes eligible, strictly to let Atsur show his ability in his natural position. Wherever he plays, I believe in #14 and I bet he has a great year.

    I think Fells might explode this year. He has pro caliber tools, and a year to craft his quick release. Sid is likely to use him as a true wing, where he will be able to get to the baseline and create, rather than cut him inside out of the lane to start a double high set, and hope he can find a jumper.

    The biggest change I can portend is going to be the freedom the players have to be creative, and watching them get better at it over the course of the season as they learn.

    One good thing, we’ll know before Christmas what kind of team we have, they’ll have played Michigan, Virginia, Cincinnati, WVU, and Bama by then. So we’ll have a good idea whether to bring Kleenex or Halls’ mentholyptus to the conference games. In recent years, Christmas meant we’ll see what we have in two weeks when the conference games start.

    I hope we see Wright’s name on that list next year, with a fat NC State beside it.

  3. Mr O 10/04/2006 at 8:19 AM #

    How can anyone KNOW what they are going to see next year and beyond with Lowe as our coach?

    I understand optimism, but in terms of what we will see it is a total guessing game. Our only chance to win next year may be to play a similar style to what Herb did in his first season – ultimate slow ball.

  4. RickJ 10/04/2006 at 8:37 AM #

    Mr. O – It is easy to know what is going to happen if you believe Herb Sendek is a terrible coach, the Princeton office is the worst offense ever devised since the first peach basket was nailed to a YMCA wall in Springfield, Mass and you consider that Herb never finished in last place in 10 years in a much tougher league than the current ACC. As depleted as our team is now, it looks like a juggernaut compared to our 1997 roster that didn’t finish in last place.

    And no, I don’t wish Herb was still our coach and I am ecstatic about Lowe and our current staff.

  5. Wulfpack 10/04/2006 at 8:41 AM #

    ^I’ll second that RickJ. I do think there is going to be a steep learning curve for Sid. He’s never coached a single college game. Mistakes are going to be made, he’ll have to learn quickly. Am I optimistic? Sure. But I have very low expectations this year. Sid has a bare cubbard, maybe he can make some wine out of grapes.

  6. Mr O 10/04/2006 at 8:47 AM #

    RickJ: Did we not finish last in Herb’s first season? I know we were in the play-in game, maybe we finished 8th. I think we went 4-12 IIRC after an 0-8 start in the league.

  7. RickJ 10/04/2006 at 8:56 AM #

    Mr. O – Georgia Tech finished last at 3 – 13 and we did finish 4 – 12. I had forgotten about the 0 -8 start. So we finished that year 7 – 5 counting the tourney.

  8. noah 10/04/2006 at 9:42 AM #

    The coaching job Herb Sendek did in his first season was one of the greatest coaching jobs I’ve ever seen. Say what you want about the rest of his tenure, that first season was a miracle. The only team less talented was probably the first one or two Ga. Tech teams when they first entered the conference.

    The 1993 season was quite possibly the most thoroughly demoralizing basketball season ever. Tony Robinson’s suicide. Jim Valvano’s cancer. Losing by eleventy-five points every night. Mark Lewis was just about the only player who showed up and played hard every night.

    I remember seeing Migjen Bakali at one of the clubs near campus one night completely blitzed, head down on his arms. I told him I enjoyed watching him play and appreciated the effort. He told me he was quitting the team. Got up, walked away and ordered more booze.

    I have a feeling next year might be worse than 1993. I just no one commits suicide.

  9. packfanstk 10/04/2006 at 9:51 AM #

    The biggest miracles of Herb’s first season were the three blown huge leads in the last minute against Carolina (2) and Virginia. That team should have finished no worse than 7-9 with a sweep of the Holes. The handwriting was on the wall early, if we could have taken off our red glasses and seen it. We stupidly thought the Tournament run was the omen of things to come. Instead, the last minute meltdown became the Wolfpack’s calling card for the next decade.

    As for this year’s team being so much more talented than the 1997 team, perhaps, but not as much as is being made out by some. Danny Strong and CC Harrison would easily be starters on this team, and Jeremy Hyatt would see 25 minutes a game, if not be a starter.

  10. RickJ 10/04/2006 at 10:47 AM #

    “The biggest miracles of Herb’s first season were the three blown huge leads in the last minute against Carolina (2) and Virginia. That team should have finished no worse than 7-9 with a sweep of the Holes.�

    You have every right to believe that Herb’s first team should have swept Dean Smith’s team led by Vince Carter and Antawn Jamison. We’ll just have to disagree on that one.

  11. PBdafan 10/04/2006 at 10:47 AM #

    Why does every discussion about basktball denegrate into another round of Herb bashing? Whatever you feel about him as a coach, he was and is a class individual, and has never taken a shot at his former school. It really is time to move on. Just join in the excitement of a fresh start with a passionate new coach.

  12. primacyone 10/04/2006 at 11:00 AM #

    From this link comes the following titled “A Wright/Freeman Backcourt?”: http://blog.washingtonpost.com/recruitinginsider/

    “Could Georgetown land two of the Washington area’s top guards? It seems possible, if not likely.

    All-Met guard Austin Freeman of DeMatha committed to the Hoyas before last season and two-time All-Met guard Chris Wright of St. John’s has narrowed his choices to Georgetown, North Carolina State and Pittsburgh.

    Wright has taken official visits to all three of those schools, as well as Wake Forest, though the Demon Deacons no longer are under consideration, according to Wright’s father, Orlando.

    “Those are the final three,” Orlando Wright said. “There are no more visits. No more places he’s going to go.”

    Chris Wright had committed to N.C. State in January, but opened things up after Herb Sendek left for Arizona State following the season. New Wolfpack Coach Sidney Lowe has kept State in the mix.

    Wright could make his choice in time to sign a letter-of-intent during the early period next month.”

  13. BJD95 10/04/2006 at 11:05 AM #

    Yes, lay off the Sendek stuff a bit, please. And I don’t see how anyone can find fault with the way that first Sendek team ended the season. He did a great job in Year One. That team was severely outgunned, and never should have been in a position to even stay within single digits of UNC.

  14. redfred2 10/04/2006 at 11:10 AM #

    Although I don’t see as quite the astonishing feat as some do here, I have never said that Sendek didn’t right the ship, and fairly quickly. I just don’t think that a few good years of work had earned the guy a decade of undying worship. I do not like it but the Priceton scheme but it may be great, but only you have the personell and when it is handled properly. It never was. I also did not want Herb Sendek to be thrown under the bus for his earlier efforts, but I did expect him to have the ability to adapt and evolve into something more over time. He never did.

    The tradition of NC State basketball greatness was still very much alive in people’s minds when Herb Sendek took over the program. Back then there was an ability to reach back grab onto some of the spirit and history that made the Wolfpack basketball what it once was. That opportunity was ignored and wasted.

    What I am saying is that the damage to the overall program now, that was caused by not grabbing onto and perpetuating that great basketball tradition of years ago, is much more of a set back than the many terrible happenings of 1993. This basketball program was a grand old institution that had it’s place among the greats in the history, now it has been reduced to an infant once more. No identity, no soul, no nothing to latch onto or have faith and believe in anymore. Noah’s own comments state it as plainly as anything I’m saying here.

    The former coach was allowed to coach his unwaivering style, without ever promoting the NC State that I grew up loving, and that is not Herb Sendek’s fault. But it is Sidney Lowe who now has inherited the burden of all of the neglect that the once great NC State basketball program has suffered over the past so many years. He now has to take a once proven and household name and will have to try to re-invent the wheel with the shambles that are left behind.

    I agree, the circumstances of 1993 were terrible, those things hurt every true Wolfpack fan beyond belief. What you folks do not understand is that all of those factors that make us older fans what we are today, 1973-74, 1 David Thompson, Tommy Burleson… 1983 Sidney Lowe, Derrick Whittenburg… hall of famer Everett Case who started the tradition of cutting down the nets and the noise meter…Stormin Norman Sloan…Jimmy V…even 1993…and on and on, those memories were totally erased from the present by the denial that ever existed. Those things that that made the program one to love and us fans who we are today, were swept aside and became totally unimportant under the former coach and administrators. Those simple refusals or the ignorance of not reaching back did more damage to the NC State basketball program than anything sanctions the NCAA could ever place on our backs.

    The RBC should have always been loaded down with those links back, and there should been maximum effort placed on them keeping them alive in the minds of the next and younger generation of faithful.

    I guess it’s time to start anew.

    That’s my sermon for the day.

  15. packbackr04 10/04/2006 at 11:26 AM #

    Mr O^^ i think we can slow it down and not play that boring princeton junk…. look at what V did against much more talented teams like say ummm… HOUSTON. We slowed the ball down to a creep in that game, but it was not boring. in fact, it was a helluva game. we held the ball, waited for our shots to open up and took them. Slowing the ball down and controlling the clock is what smart teams that are outmanned do. ANd i think we will see some of that slow game this year as sid is trying to put his system in place.

  16. packbackr04 10/04/2006 at 12:01 PM #

    great find primacy^^^^ man i hope wright does the right thing and come to play at NC STate…. Sid should be all over this kid. calling, texting, whatever he can. He could walk on that court as a true freshman and get starting playing time in the ACC. what more could he want, an offense designed by the best point guard state has ever had solely for and around him…. IF Sid lands Wright, i think you could see the dominoes start to fall into place for Wolfpack basketball. Because you know Smith, Sutton, and Hickson all want to play on a team with a great guard who can create and dish… it makes their jobs so much easier and it makes them look good. Go Sid, and Go Pack!!!!!!! COme on CHris, we want you in wolfpack red!

  17. packbackr04 10/04/2006 at 12:05 PM #

    BTW- has anyone petitioned to have the court named?? My vote goes to Case Court.

    I can hear it now … Dickie V yelling on TV about how “opponents hate to go to raleigh and play on Case Court baby! its pandemonium down there at courtside baby!!”

  18. CaptainCraptacular 10/04/2006 at 12:23 PM #

    I’m agree with packfanstk: Tyrese Rice is going to surprise some people this year. He was up and down as a freshman, being the BC sparkplug in quite a few ACC games but disappearing against Duke and Villanova. But when he had it going he showed flashes of greatness. If he gets more consistent he has the potential to be all-conference.

    As for the Pack, I would anticipate the first half of the season to be much rougher than the 2nd half as the players get used to the new system and Sid gets used to the college game again. I could realistically see us going 2-6 in the ACC first half, but then making a semifinal run in the ACC tourney.

  19. class of 74 10/04/2006 at 12:48 PM #

    Soon, we will all find out for certain what Sid can do, but for me, I saw enough in him as a player to know he completely understands the game. And I think he will prove to be just as smart and tenacious in recruiting as he was as a player on the court. If he is the recruiter I believe him to be, we are in for a great ride over the next twenty some years.

  20. ShootingGuard 10/04/2006 at 1:17 PM #

    “As depleted as our team is now, it looks like a juggernaut compared to our 1997 roster that didn’t finish in last place.”

    Not that such a debate really matters—because the 2006-2007 results will likely go down as equally terrible as 1997 was—but I get tired of people trying to act like this year’s squad that Sid is so ahead of what Sendek inherited…

    Sure, if Ced and Brack were coming back and Werner and Davis were rounding out the incoming freshman class, then, sure, Sendek’s 5 NCAA’s and continuous recruiting efforts would have left Sid on MUCH better footing—BUT, unfortunately, NONE of that happened…

    As it is, Sid has 1 guy (Atsur) who as ever played significant minutes in the ACC to lead this team. As fundamentally sound as Atsur is, he is really the kind of ROLE player that every great team needs but he CANNOT carry this team on his back. It is NOT in anyway a cut on Atsur, but he is just not that kind of player—few are.

    Beyond Atsur, Grant has shown some flashes of excellence, and I like his potential along with the POTENTIAL of Costner, Fells, and MacCauley…But, again, unfortunately, injuies and/or the doghouse and/or ????? kept any of these guys from really getting the experience they needed to ensure that Atsur would have the help he needs. We need ALL of these guys to play WAY above their experience to have a good season. Plus, we need all of these guys to play like iron men EVERY night because the bench includes ONLY Ferguson, Horner, and Lew who are all, by no fault of their own, UNPROVEN as well and MUST rise above their inexperience for this team to have a good season.

    To say that our current team, as inexperienced as it is (AGAIN, through no fault of their own) should be expected to produce markedly different results than the 1997 team MAY be putting a little too much pressure and expectations on these kids—very unfair.

    Osh Benjamin was a top rated recruit who was expected to be the bridge to great success for State. Lowe would love to have him on the current team.

    CC Harrison was the kind of hot shooter that could get hot and win the game almost on his own (ala UNC in 1998). There is plenty of potential on the current team, but no one has stepped up just yet. Plus, CC must have been pretty special because Sendek never signed another recruit or put another player on the floor that could shoot like CC in the 8 years after he left…Lowe would take CC right now.

    Danny Strong had a lot of the same qualities CC had—including the all important ability to shoot it right in your face regardless of the defense you are playing. I’m sure Lowe wouldn’t have minded having him as an option this year—great 3 pt shooting can be a great equalizer when you are outmanned.

    Jeremy Hyatt was scary crazy with the ball many times, but he had his moments.

    Sendek ran off players already in the program by his own choice—guys like Ivan Wagner who did well at Texas, Andre McCollum who did well at ODU, and Marco Harrison who was a big man with some potetential (although he was notoriously lazy). So, no one can cry that Sendek didn’t have more than 4 non-freshmen coming back—he chose to cut back and start over. Lowe’s numbers are so depleted, he’s not running anyone off but is, instead, opening up his arms for Brackman and begging the NCAA to let Degand and Harris play.

    Sendek also had Thornton and Gainey who both went on to play major ACC minutes as well as Tim Wells who played a lot more minutes mysteriously after the fanbase raised hell about his Senior Day snub.

    SO, I am NOT saying that the 1997 team was great—Osh, CC, etc. didn’t have everything they needed to return State to greatness. NOR am I talking down the current kids—ALL of them have the potential to do GREAT things and I hope they are able to overcome their inexperience and the lack of depth to do it SOONER rather than LATER when they have more help. They just need a few more players—like Wright, Hickson, Smith, and others to get to the next level…

    I AM debunking all this TOTAL CRAP about how Lowe has it SO much better than Sendek did when he arrived on the scene. Thanks to the AD’s DESTRUCTIVE Marketing/PR campaign and the holes that have opened up due to the exit of several seniors + Ced & Brackman + Werner & Davis, Sidney Lowe’s situation is simply NOT markedly better than Sendek’s was…in fact, one could easily argue that it is worse on many levels, at least for the upcoming seaons, although Lowe is hot on the recruiting trail seeking to change that situation quickly…

    Atsur+Grant+Fells+Costner+MacCauley & Ferguson+Horner+Lew have the POTENTIAL to do some good things…when they are not exhausted or in foul trouble…

    But, just on sheer numbers and experience alone, I’m not sure how anyone can say that they have any better foundation to justify appreciably higher expectations than Osh+CC+Strong+Hyatt & Wagner+McCollum+Harrison & Thornton+Gainey+Wells…

    THIS IS A REBUILDING JOB, GUYS!! THE RABID APPETITE OF THE FANBASE FOR CHAMPIONSHIPS JUST LIKE IN THE OLD DAYS CAN’T CHANGE THAT!!

    HOPEFULLY, WRIGHT AND HICKSON AND SMITH AND OTHERS SEE ALL OF THOSE AVAILABLE MINUTES AND THE CHANCE TO COME IN AND BECOME HEROS OF THAT SAME RABID FANBASE THAT HAS KNOWN GREAT PLAYERS SUCH AS SIDNEY LOWE AND GREAT SUCCESS LIKE 1974 AND 1983 AND THIRSTS FOR A RETURN TO GLORY AND THE CROWNING OF NEW ALL-TIME GREATS!!

  21. Dan 10/04/2006 at 1:36 PM #

    Did someone just mention Danny Strong? Strong was a great set up shooter, but when that guy shot off the dribble people got hurt.

    Lets not talk ’97 too much. That year hurt me.

  22. redfred2 10/04/2006 at 1:48 PM #

    “Our only chance to win next year may be to play a similar style to what Herb did in his first season – ultimate slow ball.”

    Uh, I do not how to stress this any harder than it already has been, and in reference to both the football and basketball scenarios, this is NOT about ONE season that is already in progress or ONE season that is already staring us straight in the face, it is about development for the FUTURE.

    Not at all about right now, but about overall progress for THE FUTURE.

    All I can say is that you can throw out stat after stat, compare HS to LR and make all the points you like, X’s & 0’s and statistical data from every media source known to mankind, but there is one thing that is clearly apparent to me, you guys have no idea what it takes, have never experienced, or how any idea how it feels to have a legtimate basketball program. Or a championship in anything.

  23. packbackr04 10/04/2006 at 1:53 PM #

    shooting^^^ i totally agree, i am amazed how many posters here and wolfpack faithful that i personally talk to think that Sid has inherited a far better program today than Herb did 11 yrs ago. I would make the same arguments that you make, and say that both Sid and Herb walked into rebuilding programs. The thing that irks me most is, like you mentioned above, Herb HAS left the cupboard ENTIRELY BARE!!!

    From what i heard After the Valvano stuff went down, State hired Les to “clean up” the program. Les’ job was more about cleaning up our image than it was winning championships. After a few years of Lousy Robinson they brought Herb in to win games. Herb was hired here to get the program back on the map, so to speak. He was a decent coach and we won plenty of ball games under him. Where he failed was in promoting and embracing the UNIVERSITY…not his silly system. Had he gone out there and sold NC STATE for 10 years i think he would still be our coach. It was his unwaivering thought process that the princeton offence was the end all-be all that cost him the fan support. It is also the reason we ended up having to release horner and Davis from their LOI’s. They didnt know anything about NC state. All they knew was that they were going to play some hybrid offense. That is Herbs fault and herbs alone (well and Jeds for allowing to happen under his watch but that is neither here nor there). Hence the situation Sid is in today. He is in the exact same boat Herb was in 10 yrs ago. rebuilding a devastaed and depleted program.

  24. BJD95 10/04/2006 at 2:06 PM #

    The difference is that the PROGRAM was a laughingstock when Sendek took over. Now, the ROSTER is just severely depleted. Both involve rebuilding, but they are distinguishable.

    I think this team will fall off towards the end of the season, due to simple fatigue and the potential for nagging injuries to linger (b/c time off won’t be an option). I would be very, very happy if we win 6 ACC games next year.

  25. burnbarn 10/04/2006 at 2:27 PM #

    thank you BJD

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