ESPN: No-Longer-Way-Too-Early Top 25 for 2015-16

[WACB]

3. Kentucky Wildcats

Our previous No. 1 earned that status largely through deference. The Wildcats have come to operate on an altered time-space continuum under coach John Calipari; when they lose talent to the NBA, they usually replace it, and fast. It was reasonable to assume the same would happen this spring. And it did, to a certain extent: UK already had the No. 1 center (Skal Labissiere) and No. 1 point guard (Isaiah Briscoe) in the 2015 class when five-star shooting guard Jamal Murray reclassified from 2016 to start his career at UK early. Murray played extremely well at the Nike Hoops Summit and for Team Canada in the Pan Am Games; he appears to be a star, and one few saw coming months ago.

Then again, Murray's arrival was made possible by a string of elite recruits with spring decisions who chose not to go to Kentucky. Five-stars Cheick Diallo, Brandon Ingram, Stephen Zimmerman, Malik Newman and Jaylen Brown -- who looked likely to end up in Lexington before eschewing Coach Cal for Cal(ifornia) -- all ended up elsewhere. On May 5, in a not-even-thinly veiled recruiting message titled "We may never platoon again, but players will always come first," Calipari essentially admitted that the shared-minutes ethos of his 38-1 team actually hurt UK on the trail. "It's amazing people could try to use that against us, but I guess you have to come up with something," Calipari wrote, just before assuring his readers he would never platoon again.

"Hurt" is relative: UK's was still the No. 2-ranked 2015 class. Kentucky won't have a laughably balanced Monstars roster in 2015-16; fans might want to hold off on the latest edition of their 40-0 tattoos. This team will have more mundane occupations, such as moving senior forward Alex Poythress back to the four to give the Wildcats another body alongside Labissiere and Marcus Lee in a frontcourt that suddenly needs bodies. But what UK does have -- in Lee, Poythress, a very good recruiting class and point guard Tyler Ulis playing real starter's minutes -- is going to be awfully good. Mortal, sure. But good.

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-bas...tar-heels-lead-no-longer-way-too-early-top-25

1. Maryland Terrapins
2. North Carolina Tarnished Heels
3. Kentucky Wildcats
4. Virginia Cavaliers
5. Kansas Jayhawks (Jan 30)
6. Dook Blue Devils (Nov 17)
7. Iowa State Cyclones
8. Oklahoma Sooners
9. Wichita State Shockers
10. Villanova Wildcats
11. Gonzaga Bulldogs
12. California Golden Bears
13. Utah Utes
14. Indiana Losers
15. Arizona Wildcats
16. Notre Dame Fighting Irish
17. Baylor Bears
18. Vanderbilt Commodores
19. Michigan State Spartans
20. West Virginia Mountaineers
21. SMU Mustangs
22. LSU Tigers
23. Butler Bulldogs
24. Wisconsin Badgers
25. Texas A&M Aggies

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-bas...tar-heels-lead-no-longer-way-too-early-top-25

 

[WeWant9]

The one thing I got from looking at that list is there isn't really any teams that make you go wow. Last year you had a combo of UK, Duke, Wisc, and maybe Zona that all looked like the teams to beat. This year it seems to be a bit more spread out.

I think our team this year will have some early struggles, but come march we could be very deadly if we get everyone clicking together.

 

[brianpoe]

Maryland has a good, solid team. However, they are not a number 1 team, IMHO.

 

[ThroughBlue]

We are just as good as everybody else

 

[funKYcat75]

We are just as good as everybody else

Even the 76ers?

 

[mj2k10]

Maryland has a good, solid team. However, they are not a number 1 team, IMHO.

Ditto UNC.

Both those teams might have great regular seasons and head into the tourney as 3-4 loss 1 seeds. They might also lose 7-8 games. Neither scenario would shock me all that much, which is something that's usually not the case with teams expected to vie for a #1 ranking.

 

[gossie21]

That's weird. I scrolled through the top-25 and didn't see UofL. Doesn't Brennan know that they have 7-8 NBA players on the roster? For crying out loud they grabbed the best players from Cleveland State and Drexel!!!1!1!11!!!!!

I'll admit it was shocking to see Vandy ranked so high, and telling that LSU was ranked so low given the talent on that roster.

 

[wcc31]

Maryland has a good, solid team. However, they are not a number 1 team, IMHO.

Not sold on Turgeon as a championship-level coach.

 

[gossie21]

Not sold on Turgeon as a championship-level coach.

And it's rare to see a team with little-to-no NCAA experience make a deep run the following year.

UConn has managed to do it twice, but I'm not sure if there are any other recent examples.

 

[fatguy87]

Last year you had a combo of UK, Duke, Wisc, and maybe Zona that all looked like the teams to beat. This year it seems to be a bit more spread out.

Last season was an exception as it was perhaps the most top heavy college basketball had been in a while. Heck, you could throw Virginia into that mix before Anderson's injury. There were 6 or 7 teams with legitimate claims to being one seeds, and it was not due to mediocrity on the one seed line.

 

[Mark Gastineau]

Surprised to see UVA so high.

 

[Smashcat]

UK no. 3 in a stalking position is fine with me.

 

[canebreak]

The funny thing is that we all hear from UL fans how bad the SEC is, but there are four SEC teams ranked above UL in this poll. So someone disagrees.

This poll shoes me how much the one and duns have impacted the game...not that it bothers me....but some of these teams would not be ranked if players on other teams returned. The non traditional powers are on the rise by keeping players four years.

 

[Dakota25]

Looks good to me. I have been saying UK is a top five team and I think number three is a good position to start in. Four ranked SEC teams means that the conference is strong this year and will help our RPI. In fact it looks like the SEC schedule will be tougher than the non conference schedule for once and UK's non conference schedule is tough.

 

[Wildcat-in-STL]

I like having the pressure be on another team for a change

 

[W_Heisenberg]

LOL at ESPN saying it looked like Jaylen Brown was coming here...at best no one had any idea what he would do and most thought he'd go elsewhere.

 

[4UK]

Maryland will be a good team, no doubt. But that ranking is based a lot on expectations for Melo Trimble. Would anyone who watched the U.S.-Canada match-up in the Pan Am Games really take Trimble over Murray? That was a flat out mismatch.

Guards win in college basketball, and there isn't a better backcourt than Ulis, Murray and Briscoe. So I like our chances.

 

[gossie21]

Maryland will be a good team, no doubt. But that ranking is based a lot on expectations for Melo Trimble. Would anyone who watched the U.S.-Canada match-up in the Pan Am Games really take Trimble over Murray? That was a flat out mismatch.

Guards win in college basketball, and there isn't a better backcourt than Ulis, Murray and Briscoe. So I like our chances.

The counter-point is that college is a different game, and is officiated (for good, but mostly worse) differently than the PanAm games.

I'm suspicious of Maryland/Turgeon, I expect they will be good I just don't know how good.