Yeah, I main top lane. There are a lot of champs that can work well in top lane- mages who can abuse bruisers like Ryze, Lulu, Kayle, Rumble, Kennen (an underrated pick at the moment IMO). I'm a bruiser lover myself, but it's hard to make bruisers without dashes work these days. Champs like Alistar, Irelia, Jax, Fiora, Renekton, & Trynd all do different things well, & scale well into late game. Then you have your straight up tanks like Maokai & Mundo, who are super easy to play, although your early laning isn't the greatest (but good sustain, and ranged farming tools help you get by), you become huge tanky beasts with items. I generally tend to think about what my team could use if I'm a later pick, and fit in with a pick i'm comfortable on. If I'm an early pick, I'll blind pick a power pick like Ryze/ Maokai, because I know that no matter what, as long as I farm, I'll have a strong impact on the game.
I would especially look to pick champs who can make strong teleport plays on bot lane, because double kills on bot lane can pretty much win the game.