2001 Winners

1) North Carolina (230 pts)

#11 Jawad Williams

#25 Jackie Manual

#37 Melvin Scott

Matt Doherty acted decisively in getting Manual just days after taking over the helm in Chapel Hill. His aggressive recruiting style continued to pay big dividends as he picked up Williams and Scott, despite UNC’s late start with both. The only down side is that the Heels missed out on the big man (#5 Cisse, #8 Diop, and #13 Harrison) they wanted so badly.

2) UCLA (218 pts)

#19 Cedric Bozeman

#28 Dijon Thompson

#39 Andre Patterson

#100 Michael Fey

A banner year for the Bruins as they clean up on lots of in-state talent. Bozeman’s recommitment to UCLA makes this group one of the nations very best.

3) Louisville (192 pts)

#12 Carlos Hurt

#57 Brandon Bender

#46 Greg Tinch

Dennis Coutee

Larry O’Bannon

Denny Crum started off this class on a high note getting Hurt and Rick Pitino finished up with a bang getting Bender.

4) Kansas (177 pts)

#15 Aaron Miles

#20 Wayne Simien

#91 Keith Langford

Roy Williams considered taking the UNC job but then elected to stay in Lawrence. Such a scenario could have easily wiped out recruiting for a year or two but KU recovered nicely picking up a couple of top 25 caliber players in Miles and Simien.

5) NC State (171 pts)

#7 Julius Hodge

#60 Levi Watkins

#65 Josh Powell

Jordan Collins

Illian Evtimov

The Pack picks up a future superstar in Hodge and 4 solid contributors. If he stays away from the NBA for another season or two, Damien Wilkins (a former top 10 caliber player) could team up with Hodge to form an explosive 1-2 punch.

6) Florida (170 pts)

#10 David Lee

#22 James White

The loss of #6 Kwame Brown dropped the Gators out of the top spot. While technically tied with Michigan State in terms of points, UF gets the nod here as James White is under-rated on RSCI due to his prep school status.

7) Michigan State (170 pts)

#2 Kelvin Torbert

#30 Alan Anderson

Chris Hill

Torbert joins former top 5 PG Marcus Taylor to form what may be the most talented young backcourt in the nation.

8) Arizona (164 pts)

#31 Dennis Latimore

#53 Will Bynum

#69 Salim Stoudamire

#87 Channing Frye

Isaiah Fox

Losing Rick Rickert to Minnesota after he had verballed to Arizona stripped this class of its marquee player. The Wildcats can’t be too upset, though, with this deep class of quality players.

9) Missouri (144 pts)

#34 Robert Whaley

#58 Najeeb Echols

#67 Duane John

Jeffrey Ferguson

John would be ranked higher if he wasn’t at a prep school, Whaley would be higher if he had put out more effort during the summer, and Echols would be higher if he were half as good as he thinks he is (the fact that 57 guys are ranked higher didn’t cause him to think for a time that he couldn’t go straight to the NBA!). In other words, this bunch has a huge upside if they can convert potential into reality.

10) Alabama (139 pts)

#16 Maurice Williams

#47 Earnest Shelton

The Tide continues to roll in the area of recruiting under Mark Gottfried as they pick up a dandy backcourt combo in Williams and Shelton.

Honorable Mention:

  • California (137 pts)

  • Kentucky (135 pts)

  • Michigan (134 pts)

  • Memphis (123 pts)

  • Stanford (121 pts)

  • Georgia Tech (112 pts)