UL should run away at #1. They should be in the top 5 all year and shoot for a NC this year. This is going to be their best team in years and if they can't do it this year, it will be a disappointment.
Cuse is interesting. I'm not as high on them as they are. They lost a ton in Joseph, Waiters, Melo and Jardine. That's a total of 42 points, 15 rebounds, 4.6 steals and 3.9 blocks. Not to mention 107 minutes. They have some talent but they will need a lot of improvement this year to be a top 10 team. MCW especially will need to make a leap. I would drop them down a notch.
ND will be solid, but similar to last year. I could see moving them to #2, they didn't lose much and Cuse probably has more question marks/unproven players than ND. Both rely on systems to get results though.
Marquette at #4 seems a bit high. They lost Crowder and DJO. That was their heart and soul. Not to mention 26 pts and 70 minutes of PT.
Pitt lost Gibbs, but pick up a PG and Adams. Adams will need to be as good as everyone says for them to be #5 and Pitt doesn't have the best reputation with high rated bigs the past two years. This seems high if Adams doesn't dominate.
Georgetown: Lost their 3 best players. Porter is nice but not sure what else they can rely on. They need some big help from freshmen and bigs who haven't produced in the past (like Sims this past year).
Cincy: losing Gates could hurt them, he was really their only dependable big. Their bigs are almost as bad as UConn's (or at least as unproven). Getting Kilpatrick back was huge for them.
USF: shocked people last year. Losing Augustin will hurt, but won't kill them. They looked a ton better when they got a PG and their pace will annoy plenty of teams.
Rutgers may actually be decent this year, but they are Rutgers.
SJU: seems like they should be higher, but they lost Harkless and are going to rely on a bunch of freshman and sophomores. Not to mention who knows if Lavin will be back (Dunlap is gone), so not sure who will coach. They could jump up this list if they mesh well. They have a good amount of talent assuming everyone is eligible.
Nova, may actually be worse than this ranking.
Seton Hall: Edwin is nice, but...who else do they have
Providence: if Ledo is eligible and lives up to his hype, and Dunn gets healthy and does the same they could move up. Council, Cotton and Henton are a good 1-3 even without Ledo/Dunn. I guess they go with Batts and Kofane up front? Serious 4 guard look if Ledo/Dunn come in and run stuff. I might move them up based on the two teams above them.
DePaul, who knows. They were bad last year and probably will be again.
UConn could be a lot better than expected this year and would have actually been poised to have a very good year if AO/RS had stayed, considering what everyone else lost.
