Drexel's Frantz Massenat, Lehigh's C.J. McCollum ranked among nation's best players

I don't normally pay attention to offseason rankings of players, teams, coaches, arenas, and so forth. But if you're going to claim that a player from Lehigh is among the 10 best in the nation, I'll perk up.

That's what The Big Lead has done today. Jason McIntyre ranks Mountain Hawks guard C.J. McCollum at No. 9, much higher than a lot of better-known players from BCS-conference schools.

You have to think this wouldn't have happened if Lehigh hadn't upset Duke in last year's NCAA Tournament. Among the big names ranked below McCollum are Missouri's Phil Pressey (No. 24), UConn's Alex Oriakhi (No. 32), Louisville's Peyton Siva (No. 33) and N.C. State's C.J. Leslie (No. 42).

Drexel guard Frantz Massenat is the only player from any of the city schools on the list. He checks in at No. 47, which is still good enough to beat Duke's Mason Plumlee (No. 48) and Syracuse's Brandon Triche (No. 49).

Former La Salle big man Aaric Murray, now at West Virginia, is also on the list at No. 41. That he's ranked higher than Leslie is interesting, considering that Leslie's decision to return to the Wolfpack for the coming season could make them the preseason No. 1 team in the ACC.

Also of note is the fact that Cornell's Shonn Miller is the only Ivy League player on the list at No. 50. I'm just a mainstream media writer, but I'm surprised that Miller got in ahead of Harvard's Kyle Casey.

Ah, well, it's July. What else have we got to talk about?