Pac 12 Preview: Aaron Gordon, Arizona Clear Favorites

The long wait will soon be over when the first full slate of NCAA basketball games of the 2013-14 season will tip-off on Nov. 8. Some of our favorite players have moved on the ranks of professional athletes, new recruits have been polishing their games in gyms with recognizable logos on the court, and schools have switched conference allegiances. Through a series of conference previews, the BDD crew will do its best to prepare you for the next 4.5 months of collegiate hoops.

 

Arizona freshmen Rondae Hollis-Jefferson (left) and Aaron Gordon (right) look to make a splash in the Pac-12 this season. (bleacherreport.com)

Favorite: Arizona
Sean Miller's club is the clear favorite, receiving 21 of 23 first-place votes from the Pac-12 media. The Wildcats lost their top two scores from last season in Mark Lyons and Solomon Hill, but part of Arizona's perceived success lies in the arrival of hyped freshman Aaron Gordon, the No. 4-ranked player in the ESPN 100 rankings. Arizona also has another McDonald's All-American in Rondae Hollis-Jefferson to compliment Gordon, as well as guard Nick Johnson, who averaged 11.5 points per game last season, and 7-foot sophomore Kaleb Tarczewski. This Wildcats team will be fairly young but loaded with talent that should be clicking by conference play.


Dark Horse Team to Watch: California
The loss of Allen Crabbe is significant, but if the Golden Bears can patch the scoring hole left by Crabbe, this could be a dangerous team. Seniors Justin Cobbs (15.1 ppg, 4.8 apg) and Richard Solomon (8.9 ppg, 6.8 rpg) will look to make the most out of their senior campaign and will have the help of freshman Jabari Bird, a McDonald's All-American shooting guard and No. 23 player in the ESPN 100. Cal was picked fifth by the Pac-12 media, but the Golden Bears' potential is greater. 


Player of the Year: Aaron Gordon, Arizona
It's tough not to pick the player that has had this much hype surrounding him. He will be the most talked about player in the conference, and has the luxury of playing on what many feel is the conference's best team. Remember this dunk? Gordon has a ton of raw talent and with Lyons and Hill gone, he will have an opening to make his presence known early on.


Coach of the Year: Tad Boyle, Colorado
This was a difficult selection, as Arizona's Sean Miller is always going to be a high candidate and if Steve Alford can turn UCLA around in his first season, it would be tough not to give him the honor. But Alford also has a ton of pressure on him and changing the culture in LA may take a bit more time. That's why I like Colorado's Tad Boyle. The Buffaloes lost Andre Robinson but are returning juniors Spencer Dinwiddle and Askia Booker, who were first and second on the team in scoring with 15.3 and 12.4 ppg respectively. Boyle will have to find someone to crash the boards as well as Robinson, but overall has a talented team that has played together before. Boyle is testing his team early with non-conference games against Baylor, Kansas and Oklahoma State from the Big 12, and the Buffs could be seasoned and balanced enough by January to make a run at the Pac-12. 


Newcomer of the Year: Aaron Gordon, Arizona
I know, I know, this isn't a very original pick, but sometimes the obvious choice is the correct answer. It's difficult to find flaws in his game, and Gordon will get tested early in the season against games versus UNLV and Michigan to get some of the freshman jitters and kinks worked out. It's obviously tough to judge a player who has yet to play a game of college basketball, but Gordon's potential is that he could be a star.

Andrew Wiggins, Marcus Smart Will Share Big 12, National Spotlight

Oklahoma State's Marcus Smart turned down the NBA this year. He will now battle KU's Andrew Wiggins for the Big 12 crown. (sportingnews.com)

Andrew Wiggins will have the spotlight on him at Kansas this season. And not just in the Big 12, but across the country, Wiggins will be one of the biggest storylines in college basketball.

It's justifiable. Wiggins was called the best high school prospect since LeBron James. He's already being labeled as the No. 1 pick in the 2014 NBA Draft. His choice of Kansas sent the Jayhawks from a team predicted to be around the top-20 or top-25 mark before his announcement to a top-five squad that might challenge Kentucky after the announcement.

Wiggins' presence is shadowing another extremely hyped player south of Lawrence, Kan., who made a big decision of his own this summer. Oklahoma State's Marcus Smart was a potential top-five pick in this summer's NBA Draft as a freshman, but Smart decided to come back to school for another season. Don't mistake this move as a admittance that he wasn't talented enough. Now the Kansas freshman and OSU sophomore might be No. 1 and No. 2 in the 2014 NBA Draft.

Jan. 18 and March 1. Those are the dates Kansas and Oklahoma State (Wiggins and Smart) face off in what, as of now, looks to be a two-team battle of Goliaths for the Big 12 crown. And what a battle this will be. Oklahoma State is returning nearly its entire squad, while KU is replacing its starting five, but has one of the most talented freshman classes in the nation on campus this year.

The two players, who will share the attention in the Big 12 and nationally, will do so for different reasons.

Wiggins will have a lot of the spotlight because, for one, he is a freakishly gifted athlete, and two, people want to see what he can do at this level and if the hype is justified. The same can be said for other immensely talented freshman coming in: Julius Randle, Aaron Gordon, Jabari Parker, and so on.

Everyone will be looking at Smart to see if coming back another year was worth it, and how much he improves. Smart is projected by DraftExpress as the No. 5 pick in next year's draft, behind three freshmen and an Aussie named Dante Exum. But draft stock doesn't have much of an implication when it's months before the season.

Smart was arguably one of the top 10 players in the country last season, and a CBSSports survey of coaches that asked which player they would like to have the most, the No. 1 answer was Smart at 34 percent. Wiggins was the third most-selected player behind Doug McDermott.

Smart can score. He was No. 2 in the Big 12 last season in points produced and points produced per game, only trailing Baylor's Pierre Jackson. His 15.4 ppg was good for No. 5 in the conference, as was his 4.2 assists per game. Smart is just as skilled on the defensive side, leading the Big 12 and coming in fourth and second in the NCAA, respectively, in steals and steals per game. Smart also had the second highest defensive rating, behind only Kansas shot-blocking extraordinaire Jeff Withey.

It's hard to remember that was his freshman season. Freshman go through transitional struggles and can normally be inconsistent. Look at the guy who Smart shared the attention with last year. Kansas' Ben McLemore had a tendency to get lost in games. Smart was much more consistent with the pressure of a fantastic freshman on his shoulders, and it would be surprising if he has not improved this season.

Kentucky's once again loaded freshman class will get plenty of national buzz, as will freshmen stars like Randle, Gordon and Parker. Doug McDermott might be the best scorer in the country at Creighton. But two of the best players in college basketball next year come from the Big 12, which is why everyone is circling Jan. 18 and March 1 on their calendars.

The national spotlight is big enough for two, and Wiggins and Smart are big enough stars to be in the national spotlight. Both are coming in with different circumstances, but have the same thing to prove, which is that they're worth the hype.

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VIDEO: High School Senior Aaron Gordon With Monster One-Handed Alley-Oop

High School sophomore Victor Dukes caught the nation's attention earlier this year by dunking over and on a defender (literally, as he used the defender's torso as a takeoff ramp).

Dukes has been overthrown by Archbishop Mitty (Calif.) senior and No. 6 Rivals 2013 recruit Aaron Gordon at the Hoopshall Classic last weekend.

What makes this play so difficult is that it started from a baseline out-of-bounds play. The 6-foot-8 Gordon received a perfect pass, grabbed the ball with one hand and threw it down, as well as the defender. Gordon showed tremendous strength absorbing the contact from the defender and finishing the play with force.

Arizona and Kentucky are among the finalists to land Gordon and must already be picturing him produce the same level of skill and power at the next level. If his stock wasn't already so high, that is the kind of play that turns heads and makes a player known.

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