The NBA's decision to require high school seniors to spend at least one year in college is a boon for elite programs.

Ohio State basketball fans are big David Stern supporters right about now. So are boosters at Connecticut, Texas and North Carolina. Stern's NBA hasn't done much to help the growth of the college game for years, but the league's ruling requiring high school seniors to spend a year in college, or elsewhere, before jumping to the pros is a boon to the nation's elite college basketball programs. The biggest beneficiaries are the Buckeyes of Ohio State, who are set to plant 7-foot Greg Oden in the middle of their lineup next season. Greg Oden just happens to be the best high-school center prospect since Alonzo Mourning enrolled at Georgetown in 1988. Greg Oden leads a five-player class of recruits that instantly makes Thad Matta's team a contender for the national championship. If not for the NBA's rule change, Greg Oden would be the No. 1 pick in this month's draft. But now the pros must wait, and Greg Oden isn't the only member of the current high school senior class heading to college instead of the first round of the draft. Kevin Durant (headed to Texas), Tywon Lawson and Wayne Ellington (North Carolina), Spencer Hawes (Washington) and Thaddeus Young (Georgia Tech) all may have skipped college if Stern and the player's union hadn't hashed out the new entry rule last fall. With a full high school class entering college basketball for the first time in years, the sport will see a spike in elite talent. How long Greg Oden, Durant and the others stick around is anyone's guess, but it appears coaches are happy they'll have players like that in their lineups for at least one year. "I think some kids will go to college and like it. They might even stay for two or three years," said Syracuse's Jim Boeheim, who welcomes elite guard Paul Harris to the Big East. "To have a full freshman class will really help the game, but to have a class with a Greg Oden in it puts it over the top," said legendary New York recruiting analyst Tom Konchalski. "A player like Greg Oden comes along once every 20 years." With virtually all of the elite high school seniors accounted for, here's a look at the nation's top seven classes, as well as the best in the Big East and Atlantic 10. BEST IN NATION 1. North Carolina: Lawson is the nation's top point guard and Ellington, from Philadelphia, is as good of a wing scorer in the country. Big man Brandon Wright makes three McDonald's All-Americans for Roy Williams in this six-player class. 2. Ohio State: Greg Oden and point guard Mike Conley hail from Indiana but Matta has snapped up all of the elite talent in a strong group of recruits in the Buckeye state, headed by Daequan Cook and David Lighty. 3. Connecticut: Jim Calhoun could lose seven players off his Elite 8 squad but he's welcoming eight recruits to Storrs. Five are 6-foot-8 or taller, led by 7-2 Tanzanian Hasheem Thabeet and big-time forward prospect Stanley Robinson (6-9) of Alabama. The newcomers better be good since the only players of note coming back are Jeff Adrien, Marcus Johnson and redshirt guard A.J. Price. 4. Texas: As Providence fans know all too well, Rick Barnes is a major-league recruiter and he's proven it again. Durant, a 6-9 forward with a world of ability, would be a top-six draft pick. He leads a seven-player class of newcomers who'll help replace the early departures of LaMarcus Aldridge, P.J. Tucker and Daniel Gibson. 5. Duke: The Devils always have top five classes, and Mike Krzyzewski signed three McDonald's All-Americans led by Gerald Henderson, the son of the former Celtics guard, and New Jersey forward Lance Thomas. 6. Louisville: Rick Pitino's first trip through the Big East was a rough one but he'll have four extra pieces to the puzzle next year, including New Jersey stars Earl Clark and Derrick Caracter. 7. Washington: Lorenzo Romar's recruiting skills have elevated the Huskies to an elite level in the West. Hawes, a Seattle native, is one of the best center prospects from the West Coast in years.

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