CBSSports.com Preseason Top 25 (and one)

[HooperScooper]

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebas...ar-heels-are-no-1-in-preseason-top-25-and-one

UConn number 16. I think that's pretty fair to start. If UConn beats Maryland on 12/8 then we have a lot more to talk about.

16. UCONN HUSKIES • 2014-15 Record: 20-15

The addition of Seton Hall transfer Sterling Gibbs should ease the loss of Ryan Boatright. And every other player who averaged at least 4.0 points per game is back -- including Amida Brimah, who doubles as the nation's leading returning shot-blocker and reigning AAC Defensive Player of the Year. Simply put, UConn shouldn't miss the NCAA Tournament this season like it did last season.

 

[HooperScooper]

They also ranked every team in Division 1 in this article. If these rankings hold true to actual performance we have some dregs on the schedule. CCSU and Maine are 300+, Sacred Heart is 287, USF is 286, Furman is 262, Tulane is 259 and UCF is 257. These games will be RPI killers. Hopefully we end up playing Syracuse instead of Charlotte (256).

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebas...g-of-every-college-basketball-team-from-1-351

16. UConn: The Huskies had three guys slot into our Top-100 earlier this week. If Sterling Gibbs replaces what Ryan Boatright gave them, it's not hard to envision Daniel Hamilton and Amida Brimah taking leaps forward and this team improving. Also, look for Jalen Adams to play well in his freshman year.

 

[UConnTrumbull]

Gotta win the AAC this year - especially with no SMU (I'm assuming)

 

[OkaForPrez]

Heres the Atlantis field as per the CBS all teams ranked:

10. Gonzaga The Zags probably have the best returning frontcourt in America, including potential national player of the year Kyle Wiltjer. Their key will be if they can get enough stability out of the backcourt, with Josh Perkins taking over for Kevin Pangos.

16. UConn The Huskies had three guys slot into our Top-100 earlier this week. If Sterling Gibbs replaces what Ryan Boatright gave them, it's not hard to envision Daniel Hamilton and Amida Brimah taking leaps forward and this team improving. Also, look for Jalen Adams to play well in his freshman year.

27. Texas A&M Just barely missed our Top 25 (and one), but we love the talent on the roster. Danuel House is a problem, and Jalen Jones has a really nice skillset. Freshman D.J. Hogg could come in and drain 100 3s this season. Biggest question for us is how point guard Alex Robinson grows in his second season.

30. Michigan Caris LeVert is going to have to carry a big load in his senior season -- after returning from a season-ending injur a year ago. How good is the Big Ten this season? We consider Michigan a top-30 team, yet it's entirely reasonable to see the Wolverines finishing sixth in the league.

33. Texas New coach Shaka Smart should have some nice toys to play with on a deep roster led by point guard Isaiah Taylor. There's a lot of athleticism here on the perimeter to go with an experienced frontcourt, which could lead to a surprising result in Year 1.

43. Syracuse One of those SU rosters that Orange fans are feeling ambivalent about. Perhaps a bubble team. We're not seeing top-25 caliber here, but certainly a step up from last season.

167. Washington The Huskies are the biggest question mark in the Pac-12, with what amounts to a brand new roster around Andrew Andrews due to transfers, dismissals and graduations. Dejounte Murray and Noah Dickerson are the newcomers to watch in this transition year.

256. Charlotte Mark Price comes into town for his first head job, and it'll be interesting to see how this experiment goes. The expectations will be low this year after losing most of the talent from last year's team.

 

[tcf15]

Looks like @OkaForPrez and I had the same idea. Here's the rest of our schedule

11/13

310. Maine
The Bears were one of the worst defensive teams in the country last year, allowing a 55.8 effective field-goal percentage against (worst in the NCAA). The first place to look for improvement will be there.​

11/17

174. New Hampshire
The Wildcats return all but one of their major contributors from last year, and could take a major step forward in an improved America East if things go right.​

11/21

262. Furman
After a lackluster regular season, they nearly beat Wofford for the NCAA Tourney bid. They return a lot from last year's group, and Niko Medved is well-regarded as a coach.​

12/2

287. Sacred Heart
The Pioneers made a jump from five to 15 wins in Anthony Latina's first two seasons. Getting above 15 Ws this year is a hard sell for us, though.​

12/8

4. Maryland
The starting five is going to be so good by midseason. Robert Carter is eligible following a redshirt year, and Jake Layman still doesn't get enough love nationally. A lot of pressure on Melo Trimble to perform like an All-American, but he'll have so much talent around him, the Terps should be top 10-good almost wire to wire.​

12/12

52. Ohio State
Replacing D'Angelo Russell is no easy task, but the Buckeyes bring in a top-10 recruiting class with five four-star prospects led by lead guard JaQuan Lyle. Look for them to be bubbly all season while learning on the job before coming together for a run in 2016-17.​

12/20

346. UMass Lowell
Pat Duquette will need a few more years to get the River Hawks out of the cellar of the America East.​

12/23

345. Central Connecticut State
It's the Blue Devils who aren't those other Blue Devils. This five-win team from a season ago loses its most important player, Faronte Drakeford.​

12/29

33. Texas
New coach Shaka Smart should have some nice toys to play with on a deep roster led by point guard Isaiah Taylor. There's a lot of athleticism here on the perimeter to go with an experienced frontcourt, which could lead to a surprising result in Year 1.​

1/2

259. Tulane
The Wave lost a lot to transfers this offseason, including Jonathan Stark, so they could be in for a rough year in the AAC.​

1/5

61. Temple
Jesse Morgan and Will Cummings gone. Jaylen Bond, this is your time. Fran Dunphy almost always squeezes a little extra whatnot out of his guys, too.​

1/9

62. Memphis
We admit this could be too low for the Tigers. But Memphis lacks depth and certainly lacks an amount of stability right now. Plus, Kedren Johnson's season is in doubt. At its best, Memphis could be borderline Top 25. We're not expecting that, but would love to see Josh Pastner put together that kind of team.​

1/14

49. Tulsa
Frank Haith's probably got the best team you don't know much about. Half the team and the majority of the major minutes getters are starters! This group should be playing in March's meaningful bracket.​

1/17

150. Houston
From 13-19 last season to above .500 in the year ahead for Kelvin Sampson's team. That's our forecast.​

1/19

259. Tulane​

1/23

28. Georgetown
Hoyas are the Big East's second best team, led by D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera, who not enough people know about outside the conference. And sophomore Isaac Copeland is going to have a breakout year. Watch for it.​

1/28

25. Cincinnati
The Bearcats can absolutely win the AAC, and we think Octavius Ellis is among the most valuable players Mick Cronin's ever coached.​

1/31

257. UCF
They still won't be quite up to snuff in the AAC talent-wise, but 7-6 Tacko Fall will be fun to watch when he gets minutes.​

2/4

62. Memphis​

2/7

187. East Carolina
The program has not had a four-game winning streak against D-I opponents since March of 2013. The best news for Jeff Lebo is B.J. Tyson is only a sophomore.​

2/11

61. Temple​

2/13

49. Tulsa​

2/18

24. SMU
Larry Brown will need to get his team to compete, but with Nic Moore and Markus Kennedy in tow the team has enough talent to win an AAC regular season title.​

2/20

25. Cincinnati​

2/25

286. South Florida
Orlando Antigua is a fine recruiter and molding himself into a good coach, but this is going to take more time. We think the Bulls win 11 games this season.​

2/28

150. Houston​

3/3

24. SMU​

3/6

257. UCF​

 

[OkaForPrez]

@tcf15 A lot of super frosted cupcakes in there. Going to have to take care of business at the top.

 

[HooperScooper]

Missed UMass-Lowell at 346. So that's three 300+ teams on the schedule.

 

[Waquoit]

Missed UMass-Lowell at 346. So that's three 300+ teams on the schedule.

At least it's not the 5 300+ teams on the 2005-06 schedule. But that team was undefeated at home and won 30 games.

 

[HooperScooper]

At least it's not the 5 300+ teams on the 2005-06 schedule. But that team was undefeated at home and won 30 games.

As always if you beat some really good teams on your schedule then that more than offsets the dregs on the schedule. It's when you have 20 wins and most of your wins aren't over good teams when you get hurt on Selection Sunday.

 

[auror]

Ugh 345 and 346. That's out of 351.

 

[Jay-Bone]

A lot of dangerous teams, i.e. storied programs in the 20-65 rank zone. Tough outs that don't allow us to leap frog them in the polls. Transitional years or not. Michigan, Texas, Syracuse, Ohio State, Washington, Memphis, Gerorgetown, Cincy, etc..... Hopefully some of these teams quickly move up the rankings before we play them.

 

[RipCity]

Really hope we smack Texas after they completely derailed this team last year.

 

[intlzncster]

They also ranked every team in Division 1 in this article. If these rankings hold true to actual performance we have some dregs on the schedule. CCSU and Maine are 300+, Sacred Heart is 287, USF is 286, Furman is 262, Tulane is 259 and UCF is 257. These games will be RPI killers. Hopefully we end up playing Syracuse instead of Charlotte (256).

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebas...g-of-every-college-basketball-team-from-1-351

16. UConn: The Huskies had three guys slot into our Top-100 earlier this week. If Sterling Gibbs replaces what Ryan Boatright gave them, it's not hard to envision Daniel Hamilton and Amida Brimah taking leaps forward and this team improving. Also, look for Jalen Adams to play well in his freshman year.

Wish they scheduled some of those lesser games better. UCONN could throw these on the schedule in years past because of big East comp, but now they need to be really picky about who they select.

Can't do anything about the USF, UCF, & Tulanes of the world.

 

[Huskybass]

That is a fugly schedule. No way to sugarcoat it.

 

[Tenspro2002]

Holy s*** we cannot keep scheduling 5 250+ RPI teams in the out of conference.

I thought last year we were trending in the right direction, but this is a big step backward. It's hard to see us getting a protected seed with that SOS unless we win the conference going away with a record like 28-4.

 

[OkaForPrez]

Just noticed how low CBS is on Houston. We just saw an article from NBC sports that had Houston 5th ahead of Temple and Memphis in the league.

 

[ctchamps]

Wish they scheduled some of those lesser games better. UCONN could throw these on the schedule in years past because of big East comp, but now they need to be really picky about who they select.

Can't do anything about the USF, UCF, & Tulanes of the world.

Mixed feeling about it. Those are projected numbers. By the end of the season I doubt they hold. For instance I'd be shocked if Memphis were to be ahead of Houston.
Some of it is scheduling issues. Can't always select what is wanted.
Some of it is by design. Most every poster is excited about this team with one major proviso: will this team gel. Cupcake games are an RPI killer. Players may get more out of practicing one another. But the nuances of the game (instincts how team mates anticipate and do things) can't be learned in practice or playing against opponents that have a reasonable chance of beating the team.

 

[Waquoit]

It really isn't fair to the fan base that buys tickets and goes to games. Eight out of the first nine home games are totally crap. The best of those is #174, 2nd best #262. Fans should be able to take the $240. as a charitable donation.

 

[jleves]

It really isn't fair to the fan base that buys tickets and goes to games. Eight out of the first nine home games are totally crap. The best of those is #174, 2nd best #262. Fans should be able to take the $240. as a charitable donation.

That made me chuckle.

 

[HuskyCLT]

How far do you think Kentucky and Kansas get dropped down (in the rankings) if Labissiere and Diallo, respectively, are both ruled ineligible to play? Both look pretty dicey to get cleared by the NCAA and both were supposed to be talented impact freshmen and probably starters.

 

[4in16]

How far do you think Kentucky and Kansas get dropped down (in the rankings) if Labissiere and Diallo, respectively, are both ruled ineligible to play? Both look pretty dicey to get cleared by the NCAA and both were supposed to be talented impact freshmen and probably starters.

Probably not at all, just because they are UK and KU. If it was UConn they'd drop out of the polls.

 

[Yankees32123]

How far do you think Kentucky and Kansas get dropped down (in the rankings) if Labissiere and Diallo, respectively, are both ruled ineligible to play? Both look pretty dicey to get cleared by the NCAA and both were supposed to be talented impact freshmen and probably starters.

Kentucky falls anywhere from 3-10. 3 would be with the UK media bias, and 10 the realistic ranking IMO. Kansas would be anywhere from 6-12 because as good as their backcourt is, their frontcourt would be skeletal. They'd have Perry Ellis and a bunch of unproven/unreliable guys like Jamari Traylor, Landen Lucas, and Carlton Bragg.

 

[Leebo]

I have to imagine, just from a logistical perspective, the preseason poll with UK really highly ranked will come out, and then if Labissiere doesn't play in their early games, the voters will continue to hold UK at whatever ranking they had them at until they lose. Just knowing how voters work, they seem like they'd be reluctant to move a team down for a reason other than a loss, even if not having Labissiere means they would have initially put UK lower.