Patrick Stevens The Washington Times - June 17, 2008, 01:21PM

The NBA Draft deadline has come and gone … and there is zero question who will begin next season at No. 1.

It is North Carolina, which will get Ty Lawson, Wayne Ellington and Danny Green all back for next season —- along with Tyler Hansbrough, Marcus Ginyard, Deon Thompson and a loaded recruiting class.

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Texas, with the return of A.J. Abrams, also receives a boost. The biggest losers? Probably UCLA and West Virginia; the Bruins couldn’t count on losing Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, though the Mountaineers not retaining Joe Alexander shouldn’t rate as a giant surprise at this point.

So here, in list form (tweaked yet again for a few oversights from earlier), is an early (but not as premature as the last two tries) look at a top 35:

 

1. North Carolina

2. Connecticut

3. Texas

4. Louisville

5. Pittsburgh

6. UCLA

7. Purdue

8. Duke

9. Notre Dame

10. Memphis

11. Tennessee

12. Michigan State

13. Kansas

14. Villanova

15. Florida

16. Gonzaga

17. Wisconsin

18. Ohio State

19. Oklahoma

20. Miami

21. Davidson

22. West Virginia

23. San Diego

24. Arizona State

25. Georgetown

26. Xavier

27. Southern California

28. Marquette

29. Kentucky

30. UNLV

31. Arizona

32. Wake Forest

33. Virginia Tech

34. Clemson

35. Syracuse