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CBSSports.com Top 25 and 1

#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.

247sports.com

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 247sports.com
 
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.
 
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.
 
businesslawyer said:
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.
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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.
 
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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.
 
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.
 
MilliniumPrince said:
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.
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Look at what Kansas lost and they're consensus #1.
 
HooperScooper said:
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.

www.cbssports.com

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 www.cbssports.com
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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.
 
superjohn said:
Look at what Kansas lost and they're consensus #1.
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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.
 
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HuskyHawk said:
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.
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We had a lot of questions heading into last year, just like this year. Hawk, Clingan, Newton and AK were unproven at this level.
 
CardiacAndre7 said:
We had a lot of questions heading into last year, just like this year. Hawk, Clingan, Newton and AK were unproven at this level.
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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.
 
HuskyHawk said:
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.
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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.
 
CardiacAndre7 said:
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.
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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.
 
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.
 
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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
 
CardiacAndre7 said:
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.
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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.
 
Somewhere deep down inside I get a reoccurring question; Has everyone forgotten Samson Johnson? Remember the guy who was supposed to make Alex Karaban the best 6th man in the BE.
 
HuskylnSC said:
Somewhere deep down inside I get a reoccurring question; Has everyone forgotten Samson Johnson? Remember the guy who was supposed to make Alex Karaban the best 6th man in the BE.
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The amout of people on this board who believe Samson would have started over Karaban when both were heathly is truly staggering. Like mindblown.gif stuff.
 
Found this interesting:



Highest ranking 4
Lowest ranking 13

Lots of 8-11 rankings
 
Would be cool to see how/if these speculations change if we're lucky enough to get a Spencer commit..
 
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superjohn said:
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.
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"Not ranked in the Top 10" is the new "Not ranked in the Top 25."
 
MilliniumPrince said:
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.
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That speaks to the oddity of preseason rankings. Up until first games the rankings are the projection of where everyone thinks teams will be at END of season. Once games start it immediately shifts to snapshot of where they are right NOW. So I think you are right, UConn might not be top 10 immediately and is likely to have some ups and downs.
As champs returning a decent # of contributors, the 23-24 Huskies have more ballast (internal & external perception) to start high and stay in top-25. The floor & ceiling depends on the newcomers. Europe trip will be telling and is HUGE for recreating cohesion, comes at exact right time following the 3 NBA exits. Hopefully we are saying WOW about a couple of the newcomers and no limits on what team can be ranked or achieve.
 
Dogdeacon said:
That speaks to the oddity of preseason rankings. Up until first games the rankings are the projection of where everyone thinks teams will be at END of season. Once games start it immediately shifts to snapshot of where they are right NOW. So I think you are right, UConn might not be top 10 immediately and is likely to have some ups and downs.
As champs returning a decent # of contributors, the 23-24 Huskies have more ballast (internal & external perception) to start high and stay in top-25. The floor & ceiling depends on the newcomers. Europe trip will be telling and is HUGE for recreating cohesion, comes at exact right time following the 3 NBA exits. Hopefully we are saying WOW about a couple of the newcomers and no limits on what team can be ranked or achieve.
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I think preseason rankings are useless.
 
MilliniumPrince said:
I think preseason rankings are useless.
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Pre-season rankings are pretty good measures of team talent/potential+infrastructure. Not perfect, but actually capture team ceiling/upside better than midseason/end of season polls. We were the exception last season.

UConn was unranked last season (well just, we were 27th), but we basically went 6/6 on development:
1) Karaban freshman hit.
2) Clingan massive freshman hit,
3) Jackson development as passer/"point guard".
4) Sanogo added outside shot and improved passing.
5) Hawkins massive improvement in basically all areas.
6) Newton game translated up competition level.

Only thing that didn't really develop as hoped was Jackson's outside shot.
 
auror said:
Pre-season rankings are pretty good measures of team talent/potential+infrastructure. Not perfect, but actually capture team ceiling/upside better than midseason/end of season polls. We were the exception last season.

UConn was unranked last season (well just, we were 27th), but we basically went 6/6 on development:
1) Karaban freshman hit.
2) Clingan massive freshman hit,
3) Jackson development as passer/"point guard".
4) Sanogo added outside shot and improved passing.
5) Hawkins massive improvement in basically all areas.
6) Newton game translated up competition level.

Only thing that didn't really develop as hoped was Jackson's outside shot.
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We were unranked and went on to win every non- conference game by double-digits, and lost only once on a neutral court while dominating the advanced metrics. Conversely, UNC was preseason #1 and didn't make the tourney. Those rankings are useless to until about 10 games into the season.
 
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