Preseason NCAA Basketball Rankings

By: Ben Malley

1. UCLA – Final four team + practically everyone returning + Kevin Love + my own personal biases = number one ranking. I’m looking forward to their game in Anaheim against solid mid-major Davidson in the Wooden Classic.

2. North Carolina – Just reading Tyler Hansbrough’s name is annoying. Hopefully he will leave after this season. Brandon Wright is their big loss, but only one player that will actually contribute is a senior. They have the depth and talent to be the next Florida going back-to-back.

3. Memphis – They will probably be ranked number 1 for some part of the season, because they shouldn’t lose a conference game. They’ll have plenty of tests before the tournament though, playing some tasty OOC games. Georgetown, Arizona, Gonzaga and Tennessee will all be going to the FedEx Forum this year. Plus USC in the Jimmy V Classic.

4. Kansas – Hopefully Brandon Rush can be back from his ACL injury sooner rather than later. Everyone is back from last year’s team except Julian Wright. Noticing a trend? Who says nobody is staying in college anymore?

5. Georgetown – Green is gone, Hibbert is back. It will be up to Ewing Jr. to replace Green. Dujan Summers, at 6-8, will start at the 3 spot. Talk about a nightmare matchup.

6. Louisville – The Cardinals are a deep team without a lot of standouts. Their highest scorer last season averaged on 12.4 points. Four of the starters are back, including Padgett, Sosa and leading scorer Terrance Williams. Somebody is going to have to step up and be a star if they’re going to be the elite team that everyone thinks they will be.

7. Michigan St. – They have a weaker schedule, playing a lot of OOC tournaments on neutral sites, only one good road game, at Bradley. Good thing the Grand Valley St. game didn’t count.

8. Tennessee – The eventual SEC champion and the most fun team to watch in college basketball. Their game at Columbus last season stands out as one of the best of the year in my mind. They’ll get a chance for revenge in Knoxville this season, and as my colleague Matt Smith accurately predicts, Lofton will shoot a lot.

9. Marquette – They have their top seven players coming back including Dominic James who many thought was going pro. Marquette plays a three guard system, with mobile 6-10, 235-pound Ousmane Barro down low. They should make it out of the first round this year.

10. Gonzaga – Mark Few decided to let Josh Heytvelt back onto the team provided he regularly provides shrooms to the players and coaching staff. The Bulldogs always have a strong backcourt and losing Raivio will not be a huge issue. Jeremy Pargo will take his place and Pendergraft, Micah Downs and Matt Bouldin will chip in. A bunch of great OOC games for the Zags this season including the rejuvenated rivalry with Washington St.

11. Indiana – They’ll go into the season with question marks around program infractions. This may not be a factor, but these are pre-season rankings so what else do we have to judge them on?

12. Duke – Another young Blue Devils team this year with DeMarcus Nelson being the only senior. Their core is a year older and of course another top recruiting class. Number one rated SF Kyle Singler was stolen out from under Oregon’s nose.

13. USC – I hope they aren’t this good, but they will be. It’s more than O.J. Mayo. Five-star Davon Jefferson has arrived and another Dunleavy!

14. Oregon – High expectations, really tough conference. Four starters are back, but a weak recruiting class. Imagine if Ernie Kent had Oregon-bred kids Kevin Love and Kyle Singler coming in. Got to focus on reality I guess.

15. Texas – D.J. Augustin is going to step it up. The PF spot is certainly set for a few years. They brought in three four-star players including Gary Johnson who unfortunately is having some heart-related health issues right now.

16. Arizona – Just another stellar recruiting class for the Wildcats. Former Loara High School coach Lute Olsen is taking a leave of absence. As long as it is short and at the beginning of the season I don’t think it will affect them much. At UNLV, at Kansas, at Illinois, at Memphis. I love it.

17. Kentucky – They got Patrick Patterson who chose Billy Gillespie’s new team over Virginia and hometown West Virginia. I remember hearing about how Gillespie stood up on a table in a dining area at College Station and implored students to come out to the basketball games. He won’t have to worry about that in Lexington.

18. Pittsburgh – Did you know one of the Pitt assistants went to San Francisco State? His name is Pat Sandle and neither did I. There are a couple of instant impact recruits at Pitt. Local five-star recruit Dejuan Blair “The space-eater,” will start down low and hope to pick up some of the slack for Aaron Gray’s departure.

19. Texas A&M – A new coach and some new impact players. With Acie Law IV gone, Mark Turgeon says they are going to be “pounding it inside more,” as they should with instant impact recruit DeAndre Jordan in the mix.

20. Washington St. – Yes Cougs fans you had to scroll four fifths of the way through the poll to find your team. Essentially everyone is back and maybe I think they overachieved last year, that and playing in the strongest conference in college basketball. Maybe I am just upset because I picked them for the final four last season and they flamed out in a two overtime, second round game against Vandy, that both teams repeatedly tried to lose.

21. Ohio St. – A weaker conference, and the arrival of Greg Oden replacement Kosta Koufos. Lighty is still here as is the guy who had Conley’s job before Conley took it from him, Jamar Butler. I think they will surprise people who are overlooking them this season, much like their football team has.

22. Florida – Lose everyone so Donovan decides he is just going to recruit another championship winning class. A couple of five stars, three four stars and you have the best recruiting class in the country. If they aren’t in the mix this year, they certainly will be next season.

23. Syracuse – This makes five Big East teams in the top 25. They lost their entire front-court, but this is one of those situations where you don’t bet against a successful coach. Boheim always makes the Orange winners (he’s won at least 20 games in all but two of his 31 seasons at the helm). And the fourth rated recruiting class will also help. Five-star PG Johnny Flynn will step right into the ball handling role freeing up shooters like Devendorf and Paul Harris. One key will be to keep up their impressive defensive play which led the Big East in field goal defense at 37.4 percent a game.

24. Southern Illinois – The Salukis get Indiana at home this year due to a football scheduling agreement. That worked out great. They will also play USC in Anaheim. Last year, there was talk of Coach Lowry leaving to go to a big program, but he was paid big money this off-season to stay. Combined with the fact that he is an alum, he should be around for a few more years at least, to provide the stability that is needed.

25. Kansas St. – Michael Beasley decided to stay after Bob Huggins left, that’s the good news. If Bill Walker can rebound from a knee injury that kept him out of most of last season, the team will compete even with the coaching transition.