[ChicagoCaseyParticipant]

* This rankings is based on now, not potential. I’m not going on what they can do in January, but right now and at the start of the season.

1.) Duke – Lost Brandon Ingram and Marshall Plummlee, but returned two key veterans w/ championship experience in Grayson Allen and Amile Jefferson. They add Jayson Tatum, Harry Giles, and Marques Bolden to the already talented roster. They have the veterans and star power to return to the top. 

2.) Kansas – I know a lot of people might be shocked that I have Kansas over Kentucky. But, as I said previously, this rankings is not for Febuary, who’s better now counts in this rankings. I love their guard duo in Graham and Mason III. They have the best freshman in my eyes in Josh Jackson. And they have sleeper sophmores in Legerald Vick and Carlton Bragg. Bragg will be a star.

3.) Kentucky – If this was January I might have him at number one but this is not January. It’s really a wait and see approach to the season. They lost everybody, but they have tons on talent that in January they can be number one. They have the best backcourt in the county in Malik Monk and De’Aaron Fox. And they have a sleeper number one overall pick in Bam Adebayo at center.

4.) Villanova – This may be a little low for them for being the defending national champions, but the three teams ahead of them are way more talented. They should expect a huge sophmore year in Jalen Brunson and Mikal Bridges. Also, they return their two best players in Josh Hard and Kris Jenkins and bring in talented big Omari Spellman.

5.) Xavier – They have a sleeper first round pick in point guard Edmond Sumner. They return a very talented roster including do-it all guard Myles Davis, Trevon Bluiett, and JP Makura. They also can expect Kaiser Gates and Sean O’Mara to improve over the year.

6.) Oregon – They return most of their key guys and add a underrated point guard in Payton Pitchard. They return Tyler Dorsey, Dillon Brooks, Christ Boucher, Jordan Bell, and Casey Benson. They also can return Dylan Ennis for a 6th season.

7.) Wisconsin – Wisconsin returns all of their starters, including Nigel Hayes, who expects to have a major senior season. Ethan Happ is expeted to be the Big Ten player of the year this season given his breakout freshman year last year. They also can expect major things from Bronson Koenig. They made in unexpected run in March Madness, they can carry over the success from last season to this one.

8.) Virginia – This may be a little high for Virginia considering they lost Malcolm Brogdon, Anthony Gill, and Mike Tobey. But, they get arguably the best trasnfer in the country in Austin Nichols. They also have arguably the best point guard in the ACC in London Perrantes. And have a great recruiting class in Kyle Guy, Ty Jerome, De’Andre Hunter.

9.) Indiana – Indiana don’t have a pure point guard, but I believe a James Blackmon Jr. and Robert Johnson backcourt can work. They also return arguably the best front court in the big ten in emerging big men duo in OG Anunoby and Thomas Bryant. They also have a talented duo in the recruiting class in Curtis Jones and De’ron Davis.

10.) North Carolina – They might have lost their two leaders in Brice Johnson and Marcus Paige, but they return a very talented roster led by Justin Jackson, Kennedy Meeks, Isaiah Hicks, Theo Pinson, Joel Berry, and Nate Britt. They have a solid recruiting class that can compete early in Tony Bradley, Brandon Robinson, and Seventh Woods. They won’t be last years team, but they will be pretty good.

11.) Michigan State 

12.) Arizona 

13.) Texas 

14.) Texas A&M  

15.) Syracuse 

16.) Purdue 

17.) UCONN 

18.) West Virginia 

19.) Oklahoma 

20.) Houston 

21.) St. Mary’s 

22.) Gonzaga 

23.) Rhode Island  

24.) Cincinnati 

25.) Harvard 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[llperez]

Almost everywhere has ucla top 20. They return 8 of their top 9 guys including two freshman from last season in Aaron holiday and Jonah bolden who should improve dramatically. Then throw in a top 5 recruiting class that addresses all their weak spots. Lonzo ball allows Bryce Alford and Isaac Hamilton to both move off the ball where They are natural scorer first and not a pgs and a defensive minded big in Ike anigbogu who is a shot blocker and tj leaf who can give them a post up presence they didn’t have a year ago.

I know they fell apart last season but they beat teams like gonzaga, Arizona and Kentucky and were competitive in almost every loss. This team should be top 10 caliber and if they can’t even be top 25 with their most talented roster in years then Steve Alford needs to be shown the door immediately.

[llperez]

Almost everywhere has ucla top 20. They return 8 of their top 9 guys including two freshman from last season in Aaron holiday and Jonah bolden who should improve dramatically. Then throw in a top 5 recruiting class that addresses all their weak spots. Lonzo ball allows Bryce Alford and Isaac Hamilton to both move off the ball where They are natural scorer first and not a pgs and a defensive minded big in Ike anigbogu who is a shot blocker and tj leaf who can give them a post up presence they didn’t have a year ago.

I know they fell apart last season but they beat teams like gonzaga, Arizona and Kentucky and were competitive in almost every loss. This team should be top 10 caliber and if they can’t even be top 25 with their most talented roster in years then Steve Alford needs to be shown the door immediately.

[ChicagoCaseyParticipant]

 I forgot all about UCLA. They should be in the 15-20 range. Love the team w/ Lonzo Ball running the point. Only thing that will miss this up is of Steve Alford force his son to play the point.

[ChicagoCaseyParticipant]

 I forgot all about UCLA. They should be in the 15-20 range. Love the team w/ Lonzo Ball running the point. Only thing that will miss this up is of Steve Alford force his son to play the point.

[DunksNJordans23Participant]

 Duke with Frank Jackson running the show at PG and Allen, Kennard, and Jones a revolving door of guys that can just flat out shoot it is going to be crazy. Strange enough I feel like Amile Jefferson will be really valuable since they have a really young front court in Giles, Bolden, and Jeter. I’m not entirely sold on Tatum since he was really the Point Forward for his high school team and seemed to do the same during the All-Star circut and was largely inefficient.

Also, I think Michigan State will creep into that top ten for the preseason since this is largely considered Izzo’s best incoming class ever.

Not exactly sold on Kentucky early. Not enough veterans so I expect them to struggle early as well, but come March they should become a top ten team.

[DunksNJordans23Participant]

 Duke with Frank Jackson running the show at PG and Allen, Kennard, and Jones a revolving door of guys that can just flat out shoot it is going to be crazy. Strange enough I feel like Amile Jefferson will be really valuable since they have a really young front court in Giles, Bolden, and Jeter. I’m not entirely sold on Tatum since he was really the Point Forward for his high school team and seemed to do the same during the All-Star circut and was largely inefficient.

Also, I think Michigan State will creep into that top ten for the preseason since this is largely considered Izzo’s best incoming class ever.

Not exactly sold on Kentucky early. Not enough veterans so I expect them to struggle early as well, but come March they should become a top ten team.

[providencefriars1Participant]

 Oklahoma and Houston are bubble teams.. I like Lattin a lot but they lose three starters and have to transition Woodard to PG.

[providencefriars1Participant]

 Oklahoma and Houston are bubble teams.. I like Lattin a lot but they lose three starters and have to transition Woodard to PG.

[ncballer]

 I don’t understand the Virginia hype on this board in general.  They lose A TON of talent.  Bennett is a wonderful in season coach, and you all could turn out to be right, I just think it is more appropriate for their preseason hype to be around the 15-25 range.

Arizona is way too low IMHO, and Louisville is also going to have a dangerous team.

Do I still look biased when I take my UNC blue glasses off in taking UNC’s roster over teams 5-9 in the OP?

I give posters props for having the balls and doing the research to post things like this.  I will post my top 10 and leave it here for critique:

1.  Duke
2. UK
3. Villanova
4.  Kansas
5.  Arizona
6.  UNC
7.  Indiana
8.  Oregon
9.  Xavier
10.  Louisville

 

 

 

 

[ncballer]

 I don’t understand the Virginia hype on this board in general.  They lose A TON of talent.  Bennett is a wonderful in season coach, and you all could turn out to be right, I just think it is more appropriate for their preseason hype to be around the 15-25 range.

Arizona is way too low IMHO, and Louisville is also going to have a dangerous team.

Do I still look biased when I take my UNC blue glasses off in taking UNC’s roster over teams 5-9 in the OP?

I give posters props for having the balls and doing the research to post things like this.  I will post my top 10 and leave it here for critique:

1.  Duke
2. UK
3. Villanova
4.  Kansas
5.  Arizona
6.  UNC
7.  Indiana
8.  Oregon
9.  Xavier
10.  Louisville

 

 

 

 

[holefillers1Participant]

 Tight list.  I might even bump Kentucky down a couple spots. Monk is a freak athlete but has a shitty handle.  Fox is a good defender but can’t really score.  I would bump Nova down too. The loss of Arcidiacono will be felt early in the season.  

[holefillers1Participant]

 Tight list.  I might even bump Kentucky down a couple spots. Monk is a freak athlete but has a shitty handle.  Fox is a good defender but can’t really score.  I would bump Nova down too. The loss of Arcidiacono will be felt early in the season.  

[YoungKINGSParticipant]

 (4) 5star recruits

6’11 Post Markkanen

6’7 SG T. Ferguson

6’4 SF Rawle Alkins

6’5 CG Kobi Simmons

Returners

SG Allonzo Trier 15 ppg

SF Ray Smith (Top 10 pick 2017)

7’0 C Ristic avg 7ppg

G Kadeem Allen 8ppg

I’m definitely putting them in my TOP 5.. Might be the most exciting team in NCAA in years.. crazy potential and a whole lot of talent w/ the athleticism to match

[YoungKINGSParticipant]

 (4) 5star recruits

6’11 Post Markkanen

6’7 SG T. Ferguson

6’4 SF Rawle Alkins

6’5 CG Kobi Simmons

Returners

SG Allonzo Trier 15 ppg

SF Ray Smith (Top 10 pick 2017)

7’0 C Ristic avg 7ppg

G Kadeem Allen 8ppg

I’m definitely putting them in my TOP 5.. Might be the most exciting team in NCAA in years.. crazy potential and a whole lot of talent w/ the athleticism to match

[shug94Participant]

 The teams I am most excited about watching?

 

Arizona, UCLA and Maryland.

I think that both Zona and UCLA have great incoming players. Lonzo Ball is gonna be a beast, and I want to see if Ray Smith is recovered from his knee injury. I guess I’ll be watching plenty of PAC-12 ball this year. And I really liked Maryland this past season. If Melo Trimble visits a sports psychologist he could be a great Senior. His main problems at the college level were consistency and confidence. And he has t-rex arms, so he will likely need to start his professional career overseas in a relatively minor league.

 

The individual players I want to watch are De-Aaron Fox and Seventh Woods. Let’s see what all the hype is about!

 

 

 

 

 

[shug94Participant]

 The teams I am most excited about watching?

 

Arizona, UCLA and Maryland.

I think that both Zona and UCLA have great incoming players. Lonzo Ball is gonna be a beast, and I want to see if Ray Smith is recovered from his knee injury. I guess I’ll be watching plenty of PAC-12 ball this year. And I really liked Maryland this past season. If Melo Trimble visits a sports psychologist he could be a great Senior. His main problems at the college level were consistency and confidence. And he has t-rex arms, so he will likely need to start his professional career overseas in a relatively minor league.

 

The individual players I want to watch are De-Aaron Fox and Seventh Woods. Let’s see what all the hype is about!

 

 

 

 

 

[BiggysmallsParticipant]

 Pretty solid list. Didn’t see any real glaring misses. I suppose UCLA would be the biggest miss but that’s one team. 

I’m not as high on teams like Syracuse, Oklahoma and Harvard but I mostly don’t know who those teams have outside of Lydon and Battle for Cuse, Lattin and Woodard for Oklahoma and Chambers for Harvard. 

Think a team like Creighton is going to be really good and spend time ranked this year. Maurice Watson and Marcus Foster could be one of the best backcourts and they return like 6 of their top 7 guys I believe. 

Also think California will be strong again. Rabb, Matthews and Bird give them 3 all-conference caliber players and Martin is a solid defensive coach. 

Also think NC State and Virgina Tech are going to give people headaches in the ACC. That conference is stupid stacked this upcoming season. 

 

 

 

 

[BiggysmallsParticipant]

 Pretty solid list. Didn’t see any real glaring misses. I suppose UCLA would be the biggest miss but that’s one team. 

I’m not as high on teams like Syracuse, Oklahoma and Harvard but I mostly don’t know who those teams have outside of Lydon and Battle for Cuse, Lattin and Woodard for Oklahoma and Chambers for Harvard. 

Think a team like Creighton is going to be really good and spend time ranked this year. Maurice Watson and Marcus Foster could be one of the best backcourts and they return like 6 of their top 7 guys I believe. 

Also think California will be strong again. Rabb, Matthews and Bird give them 3 all-conference caliber players and Martin is a solid defensive coach. 

Also think NC State and Virgina Tech are going to give people headaches in the ACC. That conference is stupid stacked this upcoming season. 

 

 

 

 

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