College Basketball: Surprise Teams

Cincinnati: Mick Cronin's teams will always fight you to the end, and with Yancy Gates and John Riek joining Deonta Vaughn, the Bearcats may have enough talent to surprise some teams in the Big East.

Jason Brubaker

Syracuse: In this year's big, bad Big East, the 'Cuse seems to be getting overlooked with all the talk about UConn, Pitt and Louisville.  With a deep, veteran, talented team the Orangeman should be a dangerous team this season.

Jeff Fox

Penn State: This is a decent team in regards to talent, and I think that things will turn in favor of Coach DeChellis at some point. For my sake, and probably his too, I hope this is the year.

Raphielle Johnson 

Baylor: Senior-laden team, great coach, star in the making with LaceDarius Dunn.  All the makings of a Sweet Sixteen team or better.

Kevin McNeill

Florida: Will the Gators win the title this year? No. But they’ll be dangerous in the NCAA Tournament again, perhaps showing early signs of an epic 2010 run.

Shawn Siegel

Syracuse: There could be some addition by subtraction going on with Donte Green, who couldn't defend and shot the Orange out of games, in the NBA. Add a healthy Devendorf and Andy Rautins, plus a ready-to-breakout Paul Harris and the Orange could crack the top 15.

Jason Tomassini

Texas: Forget about Kevin Durant and D.J. Augustin, the Longhorns have more players ready to step up. A.J. Abrams and Damion James are next on the list.

Joel Welser

Wake Forest: Sure the media projected the Demon Deacons as the third best team in the ACC already, but the return of James Johnson and Jeff Teague coupled with a trio of blue chip recruits, means that Wake could leap frog Duke in the conference standings.

Joey Whelan