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The Dominant Basketball Program For Next 5 years (updated)

Bumped from the diaries. GO BRUINS. - N

For little more than a week CBS Sportsline's Garry Parish has been writing a series on programs that in his mind will dominate the college basketball world for next five years. He started with number 4 working his way up. The rankings according to Parrish:

  1. North Carolina
  2. Kentucky (although I think this is a bit premature)
  3. Ohio State
And the number 1 came out today. No writeup yet.

So which basketball program is set to dominate the college basketball scene in next 5 years?


From dsopfe's photostream

You can find out why Parrish picked the Ben Ball warriors as the number 1 team in America by going here and clicking on the video with images of a student section all too familiar to BN.

The article is now up on Sportsline.com:

The case for the Bruins: UCLA meets every possible criteria, and well. Cherished tradition? Eleven national titles and John Wooden behind the bench of most home games covers it. Nice facilities? There's a $120 million renovation to Pauley Pavilion on the way. Great league affiliation? The Pac-10 was arguably the nation's best last season. Coach who can both recruit and X-and-O? Ben Howland might be the best at combining those two traits. Strong recruiting base? Top 10 prospects are as common as eating disorders in southern California.

Seriously, what's not to like about UCLA and where it's headed?

The Bruins have been to back-to-back Final Fours and are projected to make another next season. They've got a top five prospect named Kevin Love about to enroll alongside a top 65 prospect named Chace Stanback, and three top 30 prospects from the Class of 2008 -- No. 13 Malcolm Lee, No. 23 Drew Gordon and No. 26 Jerime Anderson -- have already committed to join them the following season. Meanwhile, Scout.com's third-best rising senior, Jrue Holiday, is also a likely addition given how he has narrowed his possible list of destinations to UCLA and Washington. And the No. 1 player in the Class of 2009, Renardo Sidney, resides just 30 miles away, meaning it's reasonable to assume he'll one day be a Bruin, too.

Put another way, there's a better chance of Iraq turning around than there is of UCLA slipping anytime soon. A 12th national title is coming, if not a 13th, a 14th ... you get the point.

And the key to all this: That's why Ben Howland is the key.

There are lots of coaches who are skilled recruiters, just as many who are brilliant tacticians. But the list of men who genuinely excel in both areas is relatively short, and Howland's name is cemented on it. His recruiting accomplishments (Jordan Farmar, Arron Afflalo, Darren Collison, Love, the 2008 class) speak for themselves, but his uncanny ability to prepare, adjust and position his players for success is a little less tangible, though a tale from two seasons ago should help place things in perspective.

Now only if we can get a Ben Howland like coach (or someone who has half his leadership/coaching skills) to lead our football program.

Go Bruins!!!!

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of BruinsNation's (BN) editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of BN's editors.

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