Being young is good in college basketball, but not always. Worse than losing a great player in recruiting is signing a player who can't help you win in your league and who you're stuck with for four years. Young players are useful only if they are talented.
With that in mind, here are 10 teams in college basketball that have good young talent right now, with more coming in, and will likely withstand graduation losses and early exoduses to the NBA. These teams should be really good a year from now. The Big East is loaded with quality young talent, and Providence, West Virginia, Notre Dame and DePaul easily could have made my list. (Teams listed in no particular order.)
Indiana
The Hoosiers' young roster will be able to absorb the loss of senior Verdell Jones III, and the core of coach Tom Crean's surprising team -- with freshman center Cody Zeller leading the way -- will welcome ESPNU's No. 8 recruiting class. In fact, even after juniors Jordan Hulls and Christian Watford graduate, the program will still be on solid footing. While Hulls has done an admirable job at point guard, 5-foot-10 Yogi Ferrell, a top-40 recruit, will allow Hulls to play off the ball next season and concentrate on his scoring more.
North Carolina State
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Fran Fraschilla
College BasketballABOUT THIS BLOG
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Fran Fraschilla is an analyst for ESPN and was previously the head coach at New Mexico, St. John's and Manhattan.
Joe Lunardi is the resident bracketologist for ESPN.
Seth Greenberg is an analyst for ESPN and was previously the head coach at Virginia Tech, South Florida and Long Beach State.
