[DJSCBBBParticipant]

1. Arkansas
2. Gonzaga
3. UCLA
4. UNC
5. Kentucky
6. Duke
7. Texas Tech
8. Michigan
9. Providence
10. Auburn
11. Purdue
12. Kansas
13. Texas A&M
14. Indiana
15. Oregon
16. Ohio State
17. Virginia
18. Dayton
19. Xavier
20. Alabama
21. Villanova
22. Tennessee
23. West Virginia
24. Texas
25. Iowa State
And 1 – Illinois

[DJSCBBBParticipant]

I totally forgot about Houston they’d probably go about 10th

[NorrinRaddParticipant]

I was working on the same thing… guess I’ll drop mine on here. I like your rankings a lot. All the teams in your top 25 should be competitive.

1 OR 2 SEEDED TOURNAMENT TEAMS

#1 – UNC
#2 – Duke
#3 – Gonzaga
#4 – Tennessee
#5 – Kentucky
#6 – Arkansas
#7 – Texas Tech
#8 – Arizona

TOP 4 SEEDED TOURNAMENT TEAMS

#9 – UCLA
#10 – Oregon
#11 – Villanova
#12 – Creighton
#13 – Cincinnati
#14 – Houston
#15 – Miami (FL)
#16 – Texas

TOP 25 RANKING TEAM AND IN THE TOURNAMENT

#17 – Seton Hall
#18 – St. Louis
#19 – Providence
#20 – Iowa State
#21 – Illinois
#22 – Indiana
#23 – Alabama
#24 – Auburn
#25 – San Diego State

TOP 50 RANKINGS

Florida State
Louisville
Virginia
Virginia Tech
UConn
Xavier
Purdue
Michigan
Michigan State
Penn State
Wisconsin
TCU
Baylor
Kansas
Oklahoma
Arizona State
Colorado
USC
Washington State
Florida
LSU
UAB
VCU
Boise State
Wyoming

TOP 75 RANKINGS

Memphis
Eastern Michigan
Loyola-Chicago
Drake
Mississippi State
Ole’Miss
Texas A&M
Missouri
Georgia
Vanderbilt
Washington
Stanford
Maryland
Rutgers
Iowa
Notre Dame
NC State
Oklahoma State
West Virginia
San Francisco
Fresno State
Grand Canyon
St. John’s
Tulane
Toledo
Dayton
UC Santa Barbara
Oral Roberts
Towson
Liberty
Iona
Furman

[armchairgmParticipant]

Not going to do a top 25, but I think at the end of the day one of these 3 will be the champion next year Duke, Arkansas, or North Carolina.

[NorrinRaddParticipant]

Definitely in my top tier… man! I was watching going to watch Baylor vs Brazil on ESPN+ and it just doo-doo on me… you know where I can watch it? I think I’m going back to the GSW summer league if not…

[BothTeamsPlayedHard-Participant]

The transfer portal makes these preseason Top 25 predictions rough. Seton Hall, Creighton, Memphis, and Baylor should probably be Top 25. While Seton Hall lost Jared Rhoden, Bryce Aiken, and Myles Cale, they retained Kadary Richmond, Alexis Yetna, Jamir Harris, Tyrese Samuel, and Trae Jackson. Additionally, they added experienced starters with 3-year starter Al-Amir Dawes from Clemson, 2-year starter Dre Davis from Louisville, Femi Odukale from Pitt, and tourney heartthrob KC Ndefo from Saint Peters. I like that rotation with six senior or beyonds and three juniors to get Shaheen Holloway off the a fast start. I think Richmond can have a breakout season as Rhoden and Cale were such longstanding dominating figures that he had to be deferent, but now will have more opportunities. Dawes gives them a very threatening shooter, Odukale will not be in the mess that was Pitt, and Ndefo will help anchor the interior of the defense with their returning bigs. If they get anything out of freshmen JaQuan Harris or Jaquan Sanders, it should be gravy. Their Gavitt Tipoff opponent is hosting Iowa, and they can probably be in just about everyone’s Top 25 shortly there after. Creighton returns their three highly rated freshmen from last year in Ryan Nembhard, Trey Alexander, and Arthur Kaluma. While only tangential to the college season, Kaluma is a strong candidate to go from draft afterthought to 1st rounder. Ryan Kalkbrenner was pretty close to being Walker Kessler last year, but without ESPN broadcasting any of his games. They also add Baylor Scheierman who could be the kind of marksman who uses the chance to up-transfer into removing a good deal of doubt about his ability to get to the NBA. I am less sure of their depth, but if they can get regular production from TCU-transfer Francisco Farabello, Shereef Mitchell, John Christofilis, or one of their freshmen they should have enough. Last year, Memphis had NBA prospects who weren’t ready for college, which meant they got a lot of attention for a team that was not all that good. Now, they have a ton of good college players. Kendric Davis is a stud. He is 5’10” or 5’11” so he will never be much of a draft prospect, but he is a great basketball player whose flaws are largely just due to his size. Emmanuel Akot will be a sixth-year player. It took a while for him to become a good college player, but he is one now. I don’t see that changing when changing schools. Kaodirichi Akobundu-Ehiogu should be a major shot blocker who can split minutes with Malcolm Dandridge. Add in returning senior or beyonds in Alex Lomax, DeAndre Williams, and Dandridge, and I like what I see. My concern is perimeter shooting beyond Davis and Akot. Will Jayden Hardaway play enough to help in that area? Will Chandler Lawson, Georgia Southern transfer Elijah McCadden, or UTEP transfer Keonte Kennedy help in that area when none have previously? It isn’t a perfect collection, but certainly top 25. Baylor has earned the benefit of the doubt with assembling teams of freshmen and transfers. Jalen Bridges is a big fish from the transfer portal who is another candidate to breakout in the draft because he has the prototypical wing size and great athleticism. Dantwan Grimes is an athletic All-American Juco transfer. Sometimes, it takes a year for the juco transfers to adjust their game from the juco way to D1, but at this point I have to give Baylor the benefit of the doubt. They also add one of the many one-and-done candidate freshmen in Keyonte George. I don’t know much about him yet, but I guess I have to respect the 2021 FIBA 3×3 U18 World Cup MVP. I didn’t know that was a thing. Adam Flagler was their leading scorer last year, and is back. LJ Cryer battled through injuries, but is back. If healthy, he is one of the best three-point shooters in the country. Flo Thamba will be back for his 5th year. Langston Love was an elite recruit who got tore his ACL in last year’s preseason. It sounded as though he was going to be an immediate contributor prior to that injury. Recoveries happen at different paces, but he should be 12-months clear by the time the season starts. Of the teams I listed, their profile is the most iffy.

Houston is top 25, but losing Fabian White, Josh Carlton, and Taze Moore leaves their frontcourt light. Jarace Walker will have to step in from day one, and that alone might not be enough. J’Wan Roberts will have to take a big step forward, and either Ja’Vier Francis or Kiyron Powell will have to contribute. Houston has proven to be a developmental program, so it is possible, but I wouldn’t put them Top 10. Sasser, Shead, and Mark make for a very good three-guard look, but will need that frontcourt to come through if they are to get to the second weekend in March.

I also have my doubts about Ohio State being Top 25. I was not overly impressed with their squad beyond Liddell and Branham. Tanner Holden is transferring in after averaging 20 PPG at Wright State, but was really dependent on scoring at the rim. It won’t be as easy for a 6’6″ wing to get to, and score at, the rim in the Big Ten as it was in the Horizon.
Isaac Likekele was maddening at Oklahoma State. He plays like his hair is on fire, for good and bad results. Sean McNeil is a solid shooter if you can get him open and the ball to him. Who is going to be Ohio State’s point guard to do just that? Then you get to the front court. Good for Seth Towns getting his undergad degree from Harvard and grad degree from Ohio State, but he started playing college basketball when Obama was the president. The poor guy hasn’t been healthy in years. Justice Sueing’s best year was in 2018-19. Zed Key looks too much like Stephen A Smith to have faith in him on the basketball court. The Buckeyes need too many home runs from their recruiting class to be Top 25, and they lack the track record of Duke to be confident in having an entire class of them to come through immediately.

[NorrinRaddParticipant]

You bring some valid points. I did consider Ohio State but I think they will be around a .500 team because of their schedule. Tanner Holden will have to carry them more than Branham and Liddell did. You could be right though on Ohio State… We’ll see.

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