Preseason Top 25

[Thomasrickj]

Hey, everyone. I'm a huge college basketball fan and it's been such a long, boring offseason for us diehard fans. I had a little bit of time to do some research and decided to do my own preseason Top 25. For any of you that are in the same boat as me and love college ball, I encourage you to post your Top 25. Anyways, here's mine:

1 Duke
2 Kentucky
3 Arizona
4 Florida
5 Wisconsin
6 IOWA STATE!!!
7 Kansas
8 Louisville
9 San Diego State (it may be a bit of a stretch here)
10 North Carolina
11 Connecticut
12 Texas
13 Virginia
14 Wichita State (they're extremely overrated, some preseason polls have them top 10)
15 Ohio State
16 Michigan State (big drop off from last year)
17 Virginia Commonwealth
18 Villanova
19 Oklahoma
20 Gonzaga
21 Dayton (before you call me dumb, they return 3 starters from last years team that didn't hit their stride until late February and it showed in the tourney)
22 Stanford
23 Kansas State
24 Michigan
25 SMU

I would've put SMU in the top 15, but after losing Mudiay to China, that really hurt them. Larry Brown still has a very excellent team.

Ranking ISU #6 may be a bit of a stretch, but even though I'm a total homer, this team does have a ton of talent and is capable of being a Top 10 team, IMO.

Please include your rankings as well to help pass the time between now and November.

Note that this poll does not mean that I think Duke will necessarily win the 'ship. It all depends on matchups and Duke has a pretty big tendency to come up short (see last year).

 

[erikbj]

I would think Kentucky will be #1, that roster is stacked. Not in love with Duke like everyone else is. I would have put them closer to 5/6 range. I think Texas and Kansas are better, and if ISU can live up to their potential - this might be the year with 3 teams from the Big12 in the final 4.

Didn't Florida lose 80% of their starting lineup???

If i had to pick 4 teams for the final 4 today it would be:

Kentucky
Texas
Wisky
Iowa State

 

[bos]

I would bet ISU will be in the back of the top 25. Again they will have some unknowns. Again they will punch the others in the mouth.

 

[Thomasrickj]

I would bet ISU will be in the back of the top 25. Again they will have some unknowns. Again they will punch the others in the mouth.

Sure, ISU will likely wind up in the 12-20 range to start the season in most polls, but this is my poll, not what I expect the voters to rank everyone.

Going back to that Florida comment, they lost a bunch of players and replacing a guy like Wilbikken (spelling?) is very tough to do, but they are still a stacked team and keep bringing in good talent.

 

[Dandy]

1. Kentucky
2. Arizona
3. Wisconsin
4. Duke
5. Kansas
6. North Carolina
7. Texas
8. Florida
9. Louisville
10. Gonzaga
11. Virginia
12. Wichita State
13. Connecticut
14. Iowa State
15. Oklahoma
16. San Diego State
17. Villanova
18. Michigan State
19. Ohio State
20. VCU
21. Nebraska
22. Dayton
23. Stanford
24. Pittsburgh
25. Syracuse

 

[cemarclone]

I would think Kentucky will be #1, that roster is stacked. Not in love with Duke like everyone else is. I would have put them closer to 5/6 range. I think Texas and Kansas are better, and if ISU can live up to their potential - this might be the year with 3 teams from the Big12 in the final 4.

Didn't Florida lose 80% of their starting lineup???

If i had to pick 4 teams for the final 4 today it would be:

Kentucky
Texas
Wisky
Iowa State

Their roster is stacked every year. Last years team should have been able to win it all, and yet did not. They lost by more to UCONN than an ISU team - Niang. Teams like KU and UK are trying to win based mostly on talent. Teamwork with good talent can beat great talent with little teamwork. I am a little tired of starting every year with the same teams alway being placed at the top just because they got boatloads of unproven talent. Look at how the year ended for KU and Bill Self, they got it hadned to them in the Big 12 tourney and the NCAA's. They have one great player go down and they can't win a game. This is when coaching should come into play, and even though Self is a good coach, I am not sure he is a great coach. Even without their star center, theuy still had enough talent to win it all, and they did not. I am no longer buying into how "talented" these big name programs are, they are very beatable. Ity takes more than talent to win at the highest levels.

 

[TurbulentEddie]

1. Kentucky
2. Wisconsin
3. Arizona
4. Duke
5. Louisville
6. Kansas
7. Florida
8. Texas
9. Virginia
10. North Carolina
11. Iowa State
12. Wichita St.
13. Villanova
14. Ohio St.
15. Syracuse
16. VCU
17. Connecticut
18. Oklahoma
19. Gonzaga
20. UCLA
21. San Diego St.
22. Michigan St.
23. Kansas St.
24. BYU
25. Nebraska

The last two may not actually make the top 25 this season, but they're my sleeper picks. I think losing Carlino (Mr. Mid-range Jumper) actually helps BYU, and Tim Miles has Nebraska on a good track.

 

[erikbj]

Their roster is stacked every year. Last years team should have been able to win it all, and yet did not. They lost by more to UCONN than an ISU team - Niang. Teams like KU and UK are trying to win based mostly on talent. Teamwork with good talent can beat great talent with little teamwork. I am a little tired of starting every year with the same teams alway being placed at the top just because they got boatloads of unproven talent. Look at how the year ended for KU and Bill Self, they got it hadned to them in the Big 12 tourney and the NCAA's. They have one great player go down and they can't win a game. This is when coaching should come into play, and even though Self is a good coach, I am not sure he is a great coach. Even without their star center, theuy still had enough talent to win it all, and they did not. I am no longer buying into how "talented" these big name programs are, they are very beatable. Ity takes more than talent to win at the highest levels.

That team last year was mostly freshman, which a number of them came back. I know talent alone doesn't mean you win, but when you have 9 McD's all americans that have spent 2 years together - they may have developed some chemistry.

Like i said, if i had to lay some $ down to pick the final 4 - Kentucky would be one of my 4. Along with a veteran Texas, ISU and Wisky team (so i got your chemistry covered)

 

[Cydkar]

I will bet anyone that Kentucky is pre-season #1.

 

[TurbulentEddie]

I will bet anyone that Kentucky is pre-season #1.

Even though OP didn't put them there, I don't think this is too controversial. However, I'll throw down the gauntlet... why shouldn't Wisconsin be 2? IIRC, they only lost Brust from last year's team.

 

[ChampFantana]

Their roster is stacked every year. Last years team should have been able to win it all, and yet did not. They lost by more to UCONN than an ISU team - Niang. Teams like KU and UK are trying to win based mostly on talent. Teamwork with good talent can beat great talent with little teamwork. I am a little tired of starting every year with the same teams alway being placed at the top just because they got boatloads of unproven talent. Look at how the year ended for KU and Bill Self, they got it hadned to them in the Big 12 tourney and the NCAA's. They have one great player go down and they can't win a game. This is when coaching should come into play, and even though Self is a good coach, I am not sure he is a great coach. Even without their star center, theuy still had enough talent to win it all, and they did not. I am no longer buying into how "talented" these big name programs are, they are very beatable. Ity takes more than talent to win at the highest levels.

KU and ISU played in the same conference last year. The "talent" was enough to finish three games ahead of ISU in the conference standings. That's not an insignificant difference. You'd have to go back 25 years to find a KU conference record as poor as ISU's 11-7 mark last year.

 

[TykeClone]

I would think Kentucky will be #1, that roster is stacked. Not in love with Duke like everyone else is. I would have put them closer to 5/6 range. I think Texas and Kansas are better, and if ISU can live up to their potential - this might be the year with 3 teams from the Big12 in the final 4.

Didn't Florida lose 80% of their starting lineup???

If i had to pick 4 teams for the final 4 today it would be:

Kentucky
Texas
Wisky
Iowa State

I'll have what the gentleman on the floor was drinking!

 

[brokenloginagain]

I will bet anyone that Kentucky is pre-season #1.

really going out on a ledge there....

 

[cyclones12321]

Don't have time to do my top 25 but just want to say how awesome it is that we can have threads like this predicting where we'll be ranked to start the season and its actually legit

 

[Thomasrickj]

I'm going to have to change my original poll and replace #25 SMU with Syracuse. Syracuse has a pretty decent team.

 

[Wesley]

Where is that derpth team rated?

 

[sheepplucker]

I hope we are ranked as high I some think.. if not we wont smell top 25 for a while with our awesome non conference schedule, and if we have a hiccup and lose one... ouch

 

[GTO]

Their roster is stacked every year. Last years team should have been able to win it all, and yet did not. They lost by more to UCONN than an ISU team - Niang. Teams like KU and UK are trying to win based mostly on talent. Teamwork with good talent can beat great talent with little teamwork. I am a little tired of starting every year with the same teams alway being placed at the top just because they got boatloads of unproven talent. Look at how the year ended for KU and Bill Self, they got it hadned to them in the Big 12 tourney and the NCAA's. They have one great player go down and they can't win a game. This is when coaching should come into play, and even though Self is a good coach, I am not sure he is a great coach. Even without their star center, theuy still had enough talent to win it all, and they did not. I am no longer buying into how "talented" these big name programs are, they are very beatable. Ity takes more than talent to win at the highest levels.

Oh no! You might as well have sent Tuco a personal invitation to this thread.

In before Tuco...

 

[roundball]

My Top 25 (not what I think it will be, but the ballot I'd turn in):

1-Kentucky
2-Duke
3-Louisville
4-North Carolina
5-Wisconsin
6-Kansas
7-Virginia
8-Arizona
9-Connecticut
10-Wichita State
11-Villanova
12-Iowa State
13-Florida
14-Texas
15-San Diego State
16-Kansas State
17-Virginia Commonwealth
18-Oklahoma
19-Georgetown
20-Baylor
21-Stanford
22-Ohio State
23-Nebraska
24-Seton Hall
25-West Virginia

 

[Dandy]

Even though OP didn't put them there, I don't think this is too controversial. However, I'll throw down the gauntlet... why shouldn't Wisconsin be 2? IIRC, they only lost Brust from last year's team.

Wisconsin returns Sam Dekker and Frank Kaminsky along with some pretty solid contributors in Traevon Jackson, Josh Gasser and Nigel Hayes. That's a good team and that's why I put them 3rd. Kentucky and Arizona are just that much better. Arizona is stacked for the next couple years and Kentucky is Kentucky when it comes to elite talent.