Blue Ribbon: 2010-11 College Yearbook

Blue Ribbon Yearbook previews the 2010-11 season, exclusively on Insider

Updated: November 5, 2010, 11:20 AM ET

Blue Ribbon Yearbook

Editor's Note: ESPN Insider has teamed with Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook to provide a comprehensive look at 335 Division I teams. To order the complete 2010-11 edition of Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook, visit www.blueribbonyearbookonline.com or call 1-877-807-4857.

(Information in these team reports is through Oct. 1)

Conference	Team Previews	Quick Hit
ACC	NC State Boston College \| Clemson Duke \| Florida State Georgia Tech \| Maryland Miami \| North Carolina Virginia \| Virginia Tech Wake Forest	Duke: "Duke might very well be the nation's most talented team this season, but last year's Blue Devil team proved that the most talented team doesn't always win."
America East	Maine Albany \| Binghamton Boston U \| Hartford New Hampshire Stony Brook \| UMBC Vermont	New Hampshire: "The Wildcats can't be considered favorites to win the America East. But of the teams that finished in the bottom half of the league last season, they're the best bet to surge close to the top three this winter."
Atlantic Sun	Jacksonville Belmont \| Campbell East Tennessee State Kennesaw State Lipscomb \| Mercer North Florida \| Stetson	Mercer: "One of the key intangibles for the Bears is that once again the conference tournament will be in their building. After a sixth-place finish last season, Mercer stunned two of the league's regular-season co-champions to reach the A-Sun final."
A-10	Richmond Charlotte \| Dayton Duquesne \| Fordham George Washington La Salle Massachusetts Rhode Island St. Bonaventure Saint Joseph's Saint Louis \| Temple Xavier	Temple: After three consecutive trips to the NCAA Tournament, the Owls have finally convinced doubters they're the best the A-10 has to offer. Most of the credit has to go to Dunphy and his coaching staff, who've not only installed a system that works but recruited players who thrive in it. "
Big East	Pittsburgh Cincinnati \| Connecticut DePaul \| Georgetown Louisville \| Marquette Notre Dame \| Providence Rutgers \| Seton Hall South Florida \| St. John's Syracuse \| Villanova West Virginia	Connecticut: "After winning 18 games a year ago and falling back into the pack in the Big East, UConn needed a talent injection. Calhoun and his staff seem to have provided one, but it's hard to believe a team that lost Stanley Robinson and Jerome Dyson, along with valued forward Gavin Edwards, will be significantly better based on the play of freshmen."
Big Sky	Montana Eastern Washington Idaho State Montana State Northern Arizona Northern Colorado Portland State Sacramento State Weber State	Montana: "Montana must replace most of its perimeter players, a group that includes Anthony Johnson, who scored a Big Sky Tournament-record 42 points while helping the Grizzlies beat regular-season champion Weber State in the Big Sky finals to earn the automatic NCAA tournament berth."
Big South	Virginia Military Charleston Southern Coastal Carolina Gardner-Webb \| High Point Liberty \| Radford UNC Asheville \| Winthrop	Liberty: "While there's more experience, freshmen Baird, Phillips, Sanders and Ogukwe all have to provide minutes as important reserves and junior college star Brown is expected to step in and start at forward. The Flames are still young."
Big Ten	Ohio State Illinois Indiana Iowa Michigan Michigan State Minnesota Northwestern Penn State Purdue Wisconsin	Ohio State: "Is it crazy to think the Buckeyes could be better this season without all-world superstar Evan Turner?"
Big 12	Kansas State Baylor \| Colorado Iowa State \| Kansas Missouri \| Nebraska Oklahoma Oklahoma State Texas \| Texas A&M Texas Tech	Texas: "Perimeter scoring shouldn't be a problem, but Texas does have some issues to sort out at point guard and center. The good news is that all of the players involved are talented and should presumably be playing pretty well by January."
Big West	Pacific Cal Poly Cal State Fullerton Cal State Northridge Long Beach State UC Davis UC Irvine UC Riverside UC Santa Barbara	Pacific: "Big West contenders come and go. Champions one season become also-rans the next with regularity. Pacific is the constant."
Colonial	VCU Delaware \| Drexel George Mason Georgia State Hofstra James Madison Northeastern Old Dominion \| Towson UNC Wilmington William & Mary	Old Dominion: "ODU also served notice to the CAA by the manner in which it won last year. ODU has long won in the CAA with changing and confounding defenses and bludgeoning rebounding prowess. Last season saw a departure from the usual offensive ineptitude of the past."
Conference USA	UAB East Carolina \| Houston Marshall \| Memphis Rice \| SMU Southern Miss \| Tulane Tulsa \| UCF \| UTEP	UTEP: "Floyd's hiring at UTEP certainly generated headlines, as it occurred in the midst of an NCAA probe into violations that occurred during his tenure at USC. Though Floyd was not specifically charged with any violations, he was fortunate to land at a place where he was already a beloved figure."
Horizon	Milwaukee Butler Cleveland State Detroit \| Green Bay Illinois-Chicago Loyola (Ill.) Valparaiso Wright State Youngstown State	Detroit: "After just two seasons, everyone linked to the Perry Watson era is gone from Detroit's roster. Coach Ray McCallum authored a quick turnaround, producing a 20-game winner in just his second season. But his rebuilding process is far from over."
Independents	Longwood Cal State Bakersfield Chicago State NJIT \| Savannah State Texas-Pan American Utah Valley State	Chicago State: "Success this season hinges upon guard play. The best-case scenario is that Harris and Simmons can run the show. If they falter, Martin and even Wall are options there. Martin and Wall, who both hail from New Orleans, are the only players on the new roster not from Chicago."
Ivy	Princeton Brown \| Columbia Cornell \| Dartmouth Harvard \| Penn Yale	Cornell: "The other Ivy teams have grown weary of getting beat up by the Big Red and will be looking to exact their revenge this season. They'll show no mercy as Cornell goes through its growing pains."
MAC	Kent State Akron \| Ball State Bowling Green \| Buffalo Central Michigan Eastern Michigan Miami-Ohio Northern Illinois Ohio \| Toledo Western Michigan	Ohio: "Sophomore Ivo Baltic could be the X-factor here. The Bobcats will learn early where they stand with non-conference games against Kansas, Temple, Oakland and Illinois State."
MAAC	Fairfield Canisius \| Iona Loyola Manhattan Marist \| Niagara Rider \| Siena St. Peter's	Siena: "Now, Fran McCaffery is coaching the Iowa Hawkeyes and Mitch Buonaguro is carrying the torch for a program that has won three straight MAAC championships and elevated its national profile as one of the top mid-majors in the land."
MEAC	Norfolk State Bethune-Cookman Coppin State Delaware State Florida A&M Hampton \| Howard Maryland-Eastern Shore Morgan State North Carolina A&T South Carolina State	Morgan State: "Consider that Morgan State set a program record for wins and dominated the MEAC last season while operating with only 10 scholarships. The Bears are still two scholarships down this year but remain the most talented team in the league."
Missouri Valley	Wichita State Bradley \| Creighton Drake \| Evansville Illinois State Indiana State Missouri State \| N. Iowa Southern Illinois	Southern Illinois: "If the newcomers play like he hopes, the Salukis can make a run at the top four in the Missouri Valley, a 20-win season and some sort of postseason berth."
Mountain West	San Diego State Air Force \| BYU Colorado State New Mexico TCU \| UNLV \| Utah Wyoming	San Diego State: "Steve Fisher has been through this before, and if history is any indication, it should be a big season for his San Diego State men's basketball squad."
Northeast Conference	Long Island Central Connecticut State Fairleigh Dickinson Monmouth Mount St. Mary's Quinnipiac Robert Morris Sacred Heart St. Francis (N.Y.) St. Francis (PA) Wagner	Quinnipiac: "The Bobcats lost a couple key pieces to last year's team, but the roster is far from depleted."
Ohio Valley	Tennessee Tech Austin Peay Eastern Illinois Eastern Kentucky Jacksonville State Morehead State Murray State Southeast Missouri State Tennessee State Tennessee-Martin	Morehead State: "Faried, a 6-8, 230-pound forward/center, is one reason they'll be back. The 2010 OVC Player of the Year entered the NBA draft but pulled out in the summer to play his senior season at Morehead."
Pac-10	Arizona State Arizona California Oregon Oregon State Stanford UCLA USC Washington Washington State	UCLA: "If anything good came out of last season's debacle, it was the emergence of a pair of sophomore forwards, 6-8, 235-pound Reeves Nelson (11.1 ppg, 5.7 rpg) and 6-8 Tyler Honeycutt (7.2 ppg, 6.5 rpg), to go along with fellow returning starter Malcolm Lee (12.1 ppg, 3.1 apg), a 6-4 junior."
Patriot	Army Navy American \| Bucknell Colgate \| Holy Cross Lafayette \| Lehigh	Colgate: "With Hoban as the lone senior on the roster, if Colgate can find its way to the top of the league, it might be the start of a multi-year run for the Raiders. But it's just as likely this young team is a year away from being ready to contend."
SEC	Florida Alabama \| Auburn Arkansas \| Georgia Kentucky \| LSU Mississippi State \| Ole Miss South Carolina Tennessee Vanderbilt	Kentucky: "But if Kanter can play, this team, even though it doesn't have the pure talent of a year ago, might be deeper and more athletic overall. That will be enough to return Kentucky to the NCAA Tournament, with the possibility of making another Elite Eight run."
Southern	Wofford Appalachian State Chattanooga The Citadel College of Charleston Davidson Elon \| Furman Georgia Southern Samford UNC Greensboro Western Carolina	Davidson: "Not that the Wildcats were bad last season. Sixteen victories and an 11-7 mark in the league is respectable in anybody's book, especially for what most consider a rebuilding year. It just wasn't success at that same level."
Southland	Lamar Central Arkansas McNeese State Nicholls State Northwestern State Sam Houston State Southeastern Louisiana Stephen F. Austin Texas A&M-CC Texas-Arlington Texas-San Antonio Texas State	Sam Houston St.: "The combination of returning talent and an influx of newcomers at those positions should provide enough alternatives for Hooten to find a winning backcourt combination. And the Bearkats should once again emerge as one of the Southland's elite and a potential 2011 NCAA Tournament team."
Summit	North Dakota State IPFW \| IUPUI Oakland \| Oral Roberts South Dakota State Southern Utah UMKC \| Western Illinois	Western Illinois: "Western Illinois has built itself an identity (defense) and grown a Summit League star (Ceola Clark). Those are two pieces to the puzzle. But with so many questions marks in the frontcourt, it's hard to project the Leathernecks making a move into the league's first division."
Sun Belt	Arkansas State Arkansas-Little Rock Denver Florida Atlantic Florida International Louisiana-Lafayette Louisiana-Monroe Middle Tennessee North Texas South Alabama Troy Western Kentucky	Western Kentucky: "The Hilltoppers looked like a good team at times last season, particularly when high-energy power forward Sergio Kerusch (14.3 ppg, 7.2 rpg) returned after missing 14 games with a foot injury. After going 7-7 without Kerusch, WKU won 9-of-11 before a hard-fought 54-48 semifinal loss to Troy in the Sun Belt Tournament."
SWAC	Grambling Alabama A&M Alabama State Alcorn State Arkansas-Pine Bluff Jackson State Mississippi Valley State Prairie View A&M Southern Texas Southern	Southern: "If the Jags want to escape the bottom of the SWAC's second division, they'll need to improve on last year's lousy shooting, dreadful 1:1.3 assist-to-turnover ratio, poor free throw shooting, inadequate rebounding and overly generous defense."
WAC	New Mexico State Boise State Fresno State Hawaii Idaho Louisiana Tech Nevada San Jose State Utah State	Nevada: "There's no arguing David Carter is faced with the difficult task of rebuilding the program he helped construct as an assistant to now-Georgia coach Mark Fox. It's a little different when you're sitting in the first chair as opposed to a couple of seats down."
WCC	Saint Mary's Gonzaga Loyola Marymount Pepperdine Portland San Diego San Francisco Santa Clara	St. Mary's: "Before Saint Mary's fans panic over losing big men Omar Samhan and Ben Allen, they should remember how effectively Patrick Mills and Diamon Simpson -- and four other regulars -- were replaced last season."