CBSSports.com Top 25 and 1

[wingsfan055]

It's Cam Spencer or bust for repeat title chances.

 

[3rdbass]

It's Cam Spencer or bust for repeat title chances.

I'm not sure about that. I think there is still quite a few good players in the transfer portal who are shooters that can help. Let's give it time to see how this off season pans out before stating whether we have a chance or not. Either way we should be really good next year with a lot of young exciting players coming off the bench and at least one starting.

 

[Waquoit]

It's Cam Spencer or bust for repeat title chances.

Our title chances depend on a Rutgers guy?

 

[superjohn]

Why is Kansas #1 everywhere? Dajuan Harris, Timberlake, KJ Adams, McCullar, Dickinson is a very good lineup on paper but it doesn't seem super dynamic. Elmarko Jackson is a great recruit. Are they expecting the highly ranked freshmen who averaged 2 points per game last season to have major leaps? Are they expecting the Texas transfer to make a big leap?

They lost far and away their two best players in Jalen Wilson and Gradey .

 

[auror]

Why is Kansas #1 everywhere? Dajuan Harris, Timberlake, KJ Adams, McCullar, Dickinson is a very good lineup on paper but it doesn't seem super dynamic. Elmarko Jackson is a great recruit. Are they expecting the highly ranked freshmen who averaged 2 points per game last season to have major leaps? Are they expecting the Texas transfer to make a big leap?

They lost far and away their two best players in Jalen Wilson and Gradey .

Bill Self has a lot to do with it.

 

[superjohn]

Bill Self has a lot to do with it.

True, he's an awesome coach.

 

[HooperScooper]

#11 here also.

11. UConn
247Sports overall class rank: No. 5
Andre Jackson moving on likely kept UConn from a spot just outside the top 5, but this is still a tough team to match up with, thanks to the return of Tristen Newton and Alex Karaban and the likely emergence into stardom for Donovan Clingan. Ultimately, the freshman class will help determine the Huskies’ ceiling.

College basketball rankings: 247Sports' preseason Top 25 after NBA stay-or-go decisions

With NBA decisions out of the way, the college basketball landscape is a lot clearer

247sports.com

 

[Huskyforlife]

All these rankings prove is we don’t get the coach bump from the media that the top guys get. I hope Dan is paying attention.

 

[CL82]

Bill Self has a lot to do with it.

He's paying off the guys doing the rankings?

 

[businesslawyer]

I think the range we’re being predicted in is more than fair. We lost three outstanding players from a team that was dominant in the NCAA tournament but, to be fair, finished 4th in its conference and lost in the conference semis. While there is a lot of talent coming into the program, even the returnees are not without questions. Karaban was an outstanding shooter as the last option in the offense. Can he be as effective now that he will be option 1 or 1A? Can DC make the transition from 12 minutes a game to 28, and, if so, can he possibly play as hard running the floor every minute as he did last year? And will Tristan improve at all, because remember that much of the fan base spent much of the year proclaiming his mediocrity.

I’m not saying we can’t be good — I think we can be — but I’m not sure that on paper this team is better coming into the season than last year’s team, and last year’s team was ranked lower than this.

 

[superjohn]

I think the range we’re being predicted in is more than fair. We lost three outstanding players from a team that was dominant in the NCAA tournament but, to be fair, finished 4th in its conference and lost in the conference semis. While there is a lot of talent coming into the program, even the returnees are not without questions. Karaban was an outstanding shooter as the last option in the offense. Can he be as effective now that he will be option 1 or 1A? Can DC make the transition from 12 minutes a game to 28, and, if so, can he possibly play as hard running the floor every minute as he did last year? And will Tristan improve at all, because remember that much of the fan base spent much of the year proclaiming his mediocrity.

I’m not saying we can’t be good — I think we can be — but I’m not sure that on paper this team is better coming into the season than last year’s team, and last year’s team was ranked lower than this.

They clearly messed up badly not ranking UConn preseason last year. Our preseason ranking this year shouldn't have anything to do with them blowing it last year.

 

[RayIsTheGOAT]

This is one of those situations where this team's ceiling is National Championship again... but...

We have a lot of moving pieces and lost our 3 best players. The Castle/Newton combo will be a new look we didn't have last season. We got a lot younger. We will be starting at least 1 freshman and 2 sophomores. We'll see how the Spencer thing shakes out. We need a little more shooting.

There might be some growing pains, especially considering the difficulty of our non-conference schedule. But come March, assuming we have the same luck with health, we could be a force again. I can see us bouncing anywhere between 5 and 20 in the rankings throughout the season. I don't think our schedule is soft enough to get us cracking the top 3 at any point, but I could be wrong.

If Clingan and Castle look like lottery picks from Day 1, along with Karaban making a huge off-season leap, then maybe we'll be further along than I expect.

 

[MilliniumPrince]

Top 15 is generous considering who we lost. The freshmen will need time to adjust, and DC will need to adjust to being the main guy at Center. Both will take time.

I expect we will be top ten in February and beyond.

 

[superjohn]

Top 15 is generous considering who we lost. The freshmen will need time to adjust, and DC will need to adjust to being the main guy at Center. Both will take time.

I expect we will be top ten in February and beyond.

Look at what Kansas lost and they're consensus #1.

 

[MilliniumPrince]

Look at what Kansas lost and they're consensus #1.

I think that is a bad call. But I will be very happy if I am wrong about the first half of our season.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Updated now that we know who is staying in the NBA Draft. Huskies at #11. I could see anywhere from 10-20 so #11 seems pretty fair IMO.

11. UConn
This ranking is based on the Huskies returning three of the top five scorers - Tristen Newton, Alex Karaban and Donovan Clingan - from a team that won the 2023 NCAA Tournament. That core combined with a top-five recruiting class should have UConn as a real contender to win back-to-back national championships.

College basketball rankings: Zach Edey's return has Purdue No. 2 in Top 25 And 1 following NBA Draft deadline

There was plenty of movement in our rankings after the deadline for players to withdraw from the NBA Draft and return to school

www.cbssports.com

What's really funny (and goes back to my complaints last offseason) is that this team isn't as good as last year's team, even on paper. We clearly should have been top 10 preseason last year. These hacks are so lazy writing these things. I think 11 is a probably a bit high right now, unless we get some transfer help.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Look at what Kansas lost and they're consensus #1.

That's a stretch too. Their guards and wings look fantastic, but they have no depth up front at all due to the transfers out. Dickinson is going to have to play a lot and when he doesn't KU gets very small. They are unbelievably thin up front.

Edit: saw they added Parker Braun, a senior from Santa Clara, 6'10". He's Christian Braun's brother. That's a big addition. Can shoot and he's pretty athletic. Still a little thin, but that helps.

 

[CardiacAndre7]

What's really funny (and goes back to my complaints last offseason) is that this team isn't as good as last year's team, even on paper. We clearly should have been top 10 preseason last year. These hacks are so lazy writing these things. I think 11 is a probably a bit high right now, unless we get some transfer help.

We had a lot of questions heading into last year, just like this year. Hawk, Clingan, Newton and AK were unproven at this level.

 

[HuskyHawk]

We had a lot of questions heading into last year, just like this year. Hawk, Clingan, Newton and AK were unproven at this level.

And Duke's entire roster was freshmen and they were top 5. We had a lot fewer questions than almost anybody. Karaban was the one starter that wasn't a known quantity, but in pre-season we also had Johnson. The people putting these together don't do much to get them right.

 

[CardiacAndre7]

And Duke's entire roster was freshmen and they were top 5. We had a lot fewer questions than almost anybody. Karaban was the one starter that wasn't a known quantity, but in pre-season we also had Johnson. The people putting these together don't do much to get them right.

Hawkins and Newton were not known quantities, you know that. Being a good player on a bad AAC team jumping to a major conference is a question mark, and the staff in the preseason knew it based on reports from practice. Hawkins was overall mediocre at best his frosh year (mediocre is a compliment for how he played). So that’s 3/5 that were up in the air to some degree.

 

[3rdbass]

Hawkins and Newton were not known quantities, you know that. Being a good player on a bad AAC team jumping to a major conference is a question mark, and the staff in the preseason knew it based on reports from practice. Hawkins was overall mediocre at best his frosh year (mediocre is a compliment for how he played). So that’s 3/5 that were up in the air to some degree.

With Hawkins the staff new he had an injury riddled fresman year(He had consussion problems all throughout the year). He is a top 55 recruit so we all knew his potential and saw at times in his fresman year(Like Auburn and Georgetown). The staff was confident with a great offseason this kid had the tools to be great so I wouldn't call him unknown quantity.

I will give you that Newton was more of an unknown quantity coming from the AAC and how he would adapt to the Big East an be asked to be more of a true distributor than a scorer as he was at ECU.

 

[bazzdog]

Look at what Kansas lost and they're consensus #1.

We’ll be no. 1 after we beat them in December

 

[El Obrero]

IMO the overriding factor that will determine how far this team goes is not whether they get another 3-point shooter. It’s how Castle and Newton mesh as backcourt mates. With their size and talent, if they can develop a relationship and commit to defense the way Baz and Boat did, for example, this team will tear up the postseason tourneys, no matter who’s camping at the arc.

 

[Captbluefin]

This inexperienced young team is going to have a bit of trouble with this non conference.

It will pay dividends in the spring. But there’s going to be a big wake up call in November and December

 

[HuskyHawk]

Hawkins and Newton were not known quantities, you know that. Being a good player on a bad AAC team jumping to a major conference is a question mark, and the staff in the preseason knew it based on reports from practice. Hawkins was overall mediocre at best his frosh year (mediocre is a compliment for how he played). So that’s 3/5 that were up in the air to some degree.

Newton was first team all AAC and Hawkins was already projected as a first round pick based on how he finished his freshman year. They were as solid as anybody other than Sanogo. Alleyne was a starter for an ACC team. Andre was a known quantity. The question, if there was one, was about Hurley and whether he could win in the post season and make adjustments.