2013

By Raphielle Johnson

All month long, CBT will be rolling out our 2013-2014 season preview. Check back throughout the day, as we’ll be posting three or four preview items every day.

To browse through the preview posts we’ve already published, click here. To see the rest of our preview lists, click here. For a schedule of our previews for the month, click here.

Basketball has five positions, but the way that the sport has grown, particularly at the collegiate level, has produced hybrid players, unusual roster makeups and far too many teams with players that don’t fit into a typical positional category. Few teams actually field a traditional starting five, which is why CBT decided to make our positional rankings reflect that.

We will be ranking:

*Lead guards
*Off guards
*Wing forwards
*Big men

Wing forwards are players that we feel cannot be designated as a member of the back court yet do the majority of their damage away from the basket. A wing player in basketball is one that requires versatility if a player’s to be considered among the elite at the position. Whether they’re a high-level perimeter shooter or a slasher who’s best when attacking off the dribble, the ability to excel in multiple facets of the game is of high importance.

Here’s our list of the 20 best wings entering the 2013-14 season:

1. Andrew Wiggins (Kansas): The Huntington Prep product arrived in Lawrence amidst much fanfare, and whether or not he’s in the spot when the season ends will depend in large part on how he handles the attention. The skill and athleticism are most certainly there, with more than a few scouts pegging Wiggins as the top pick in the 2014 NBA Draft should he enter.

2. Jabari Parker (Duke): Parker was one of the most versatile players in the country coming out of Simeon High in Chicago, as he has the ability to score both inside and out. Given his talent Parker is one of two wings expected to lead the way for the Blue Devils as they look to account for the loss of their top three scorers from a season ago.

3. C.J. Fair (Syracuse): Even with the Orange playing their first season in the ACC, it was Fair who the coaches chose as their preseason ACC Player of the Year. As a junior, the southpaw from Baltimore posted averages of 14.5 points and 6.9 rebounds per game for a team that won 30 games and reached the Final Four for the first time in a decade.

For more….