Cats are #4 in the first AP Poll of the season.
- Thread starter ukfan693
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UK plays 5 games against the top 10...wow
How is Duke 7th considering they lost most everyone except Jeremy Roach, have an unproven coaching staff and will rely on freshmen which has proven to be difficult to do early on. Will they gel and be a top 10 team at seasons end? Maybe but there is nothing to show this inexperienced staff can win with inexperienced players.
Interesting links about how pre season rankings translate to post season success.
www.ncaa.com
www.ncaa.com
How do the preseason Top 25 fare in March Madness?
Whoever opens the season at No. 1 in the AP poll, they might as well start planning for March now. No preseason No. 1 has ever failed to make the NCAA tournament.
www.ncaa.com
The best, worst and most likely finish for each spot in the AP Top 25 college basketball rankings
A comprehensive breakdown of the AP preseason college basketball poll, including how many NCAA tournament titles each spot has won and how many March Madness games a team is likely to win based on where it's ranked.
www.ncaa.com
As long as they’re #1 after the first Monday in April
Meh after we take down the Zags in Nov. in Spokane they will jump us to #1.
I'm usually dismissive of Houston but getting injured Marcus Sasser and Mark back plus the addition of incoming freshman PF Jerace Walker, they deserve the high ranking.
Regardless of who you feel should now be classified as an actual Blue Blood, all six of the original Blue Bloods are in the top 13. I can't imagine how long it's been since that happened. That's a good thing, although I hate each and every one of them with almost equal passion.
1 -- UNC
4 -- Kentucky
5 -- Kansas
7 -- Duke
8 -- UCLA
13 -- IU
1 -- UNC
4 -- Kentucky
5 -- Kansas
7 -- Duke
8 -- UCLA
13 -- IU
"I cheated." - Dean Smith
"And I will too." - Hubert Davis
"And I will too." - Hubert Davis
They brought in 3 of the top 4 best freshmen. Also, they supplemented them with some targeted transfers - Young for help inside and Grandison for help on the wing. Also, they got Proctor to re-classify to backup Roach.
This is about right. I have UK third just behind UNC and Gonzaga, but I also have Houston in the top 5, so I am okay with them being above us.
I have Arkansas as my dark horse top 5 team. I love Nick Smith’s game and think they have a great supporting cast around him. Watch out for the Hogs this season.
I have Arkansas as my dark horse top 5 team. I love Nick Smith’s game and think they have a great supporting cast around him. Watch out for the Hogs this season.
Just based on rosters, not taking new coaching or any predicted outcomes into account, this is my Top 10:
1. North Carolina
2. Kentucky
3. Gonzaga
4. Arkansas
5. Duke
6. Houston
7. Kansas
8. Creighton
9. Tennessee
10. Baylor
1. North Carolina
2. Kentucky
3. Gonzaga
4. Arkansas
5. Duke
6. Houston
7. Kansas
8. Creighton
9. Tennessee
10. Baylor
I'm not sold on Houston. They still lost 4 starters from a 5-seeded team. They don't have a lot of depth and will be weak on the frontcourt, relying primarily on Walker. Walker is ranked right there with Livingston and Phillips and neither UK nor UT will be as reliant on our two recruits. Depends how good you think Sasser is.
Baylor, meanwhile, brings back 2 starters, plus the 2 injured starters, got Keyonte George, and shored up the depth with transfers.
It's all relative though. I'd go UNC, UK, Baylor, Zags, Duke, Ark, Houston so it's splitting hairs really. I think Kansas is over-rated also. I'd probably put Tenn and Texas over them.
They are returning a ton of great players. They get Tramon and Sasser back. They also bring in some very solid recruits in Terrance Arceneaux and Jarace Walker.
The combination of their experience, returnees who were injured pretty much all of last season (Sasser would have been a player of the year candidate), Coach Sampson, and some solid recruits definitely puts them in the top 5.
Oh and they play in the AAC for another year before moving to the Big 12. I don't see anyone really beating them in that conference, so they will be highly ranked at the end because they simply won't lose lol.
I think we should be #1, but I'm glad we're not. I think starting out in that position is tough - you have nothing to gain and pressure to stay up there before you've even played your first game. And from the very start you have a target on your back.
Being ranked #4 should make us hungry. I just hope all these current health issues (Oscar, CJ, Ware) are gone by the Mich. St. game.
Being ranked #4 should make us hungry. I just hope all these current health issues (Oscar, CJ, Ware) are gone by the Mich. St. game.
UNC is just like UCLA at the beginning of last season. Hats off to them they got nuclear hot at just the right time and generated awesome chemistry with the 6 man rotation. But that isn’t sustainable over an entire season. Bacot is good enough to guarantee a top 4 seed in the NCAAA tournament as a foundational piece but they aren’t #1. They will go as far as Caleb Love takes them. He is in a tough spot as the NBA wants him to develop parts of his game that hurt the team. Benching him from PG and giving it to Davis is what turned their entire season around.
Me, too----but they have been really good of late. Had they not lost Sasser last year, those dudes were capable of winning the whole damn thing.
I did....Gonzaga, UNC and Houston are really good, and all 3 return a lot of very good players. An argument could be made for UK to be higher---but an argument can also be made why they are not. IMO, there's not a lot, if any separation of the Top 5; sans maybe Baylor/KU. Top 4 IMO are interchangeable.....
Note: I like Gonzaga this year more than any----a lot more athletic than past teams. Houston although #3, is scary underrated as a national title favorite. With Sasser back, man are they gonna be good. Arkansas is a legit Top 10 team, but their style, although lethal, is very, very susceptible to the upset...
Grandison , Young Catchings and Proctor really change things for Duke. The 4 transfers give Duke some much needed experience, and Proctor reclass is huge: 5* PG. I suspect some early hiccups, but by March, Duke easily could be a Top 5 team. Which is what preseason rankings are----Where they think you'll be in March-----Not November.
Kelvin Sampson has never won anything though. I just don’t get the lofty ranking for this team, especially over UK which has the returning NPOY and a returning Cousy Award nominee at PG. and a HOF coach with multiple Final Fours.
I shockingly think people aren’t respecting just how good at coaching that Coach K was. Yes he built an incredible program but it doesn’t run on auto-pilot. Scheyer has zero head coaching experience and pure talent only takes you so far. Count me down as a someone who thinks Duke takes a step down from perennial contending without K.
KS is a very, very good coach. Houston returning Sasser is HUGE---Would have been NPOY type of player last year, and certainly 1st team AA good. Sampson has been to two FF's: Oklahoma and Houston. 3 of the past 4 seasons his teams have went to the SW 16, E8 and FF. He's not yet won a title, but he's right there.
Houston was 32-6 last year, went to the E8, and despite shooting 1-20 from 3, had a chance of beating a really good Villanova team---that was however w/o Marcus Sasser. He returns. Also get back Tramion Mark.....Jamal Shead also returns---plus two really good 5* frosh in Walker and Archeneaux....
Houston is going to be really good.
Preseason polls are very much influenced by the previous year's results. Had we made the 2022 Sweet 16/Elite 8 and had this same roster, we easily would have been preseason #1.
I agree, to an extent. Of course Scheyer isn't going to be as Coach K was----no one will be. But its hard to 100% dismiss Duke and Scheyer----After all, he has been an assistant under K for 9 seasons. That doesn't translate to success, no. But it would not surprise me if he is a very good coach.
Lot of talent in Durham.....Lot of experience too.
Agree....As I said, I don't see much , IF any separation of GU, UK, Houston or UNC...
Tenn is being overlooked, I agree----Not Top 5 overlooked though. No way I put them ahead of UNC, until UNC shows last years NCAAT run was a fluke....Which I don't think it was. Also, UCLA is really good and returns potential NPOY candidate Jamie Jaquez....
I think Creighton is getting overlooked for the top 5 because there name is Creighton. Ton of returning talent with a huge portal transfer. If they had a larger brand and fan base I think they would be top 5 instead of top 10.
Agree......Not so sure they are getting overlooked that much---I have no problem with the teams ahead of them----But they certainly are not getting the Elite 8/FFconteder love that I think they should. Very, very good, and dangerous team. I mean had Kalkbrenner, there leading scorer/rebounder not been injured in 1st round of NCAAT, good chance they knock off eventual champion Kansas.
With that being said, lets do remember this IS a team that went 23-12, and was a 9-seed. They are certainly a dangerous ball club, but I wouldn't put them ahead of anyone in the Top 10---including Arkansas.
I like that we have a team full of killers, but we don't have the pressure to win it all.
If Collins and Livingston play well enough to become 1st round picks, and we stay healthy, we're winning the title and everyone in college basketball knows it.
If Collins and Livingston play well enough to become 1st round picks, and we stay healthy, we're winning the title and everyone in college basketball knows it.
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