Duke University Logobyzantiums's Ballot for Preseason of 2021-22

Submitted on Sunday, October 17, 2021 at 12:13PM EDT
RankTeamReason
1 Gonzaga University Logo Gonzaga Best combination of coaching and talent in the country. If Nembhard steps up they're the best team in the country.
2 Villanova University Logo Villanova Point guard play matters a lot in college basketball, and Collin Gillespie should be the early leader for best PG in the country.
3 University of Kansas Logo Kansas Maybe the best-constructed roster in the country. Remy Martin isn't what he's hyped up to be, but the rest of the roster is.
4 University of Michigan Logo Michigan Everything hinges on DeVante' Jones. I think he lives up to it.
5 University of Kentucky Logo Kentucky Genuinely don't care about last season. It's almost an entirely different roster, and it's stacked with talent everywhere.
6 Purdue University Logo Purdue Ivey is legit—but Trevion Williams is being criminally under appreciated coming into the season.
7 University of Texas at Austin Logo Texas Timmy Allen is going to surprise a lot of people (in a good way) and Marcus Carr is going to surprise a lot of people (in a bad way).
8 University of California, Los Angeles Logo UCLA I buy that they're good, but they aren't top 5 good. Myles Johnson is going to have to carry a lot of weight in the front court.
9 University of Oregon Logo Oregon I don't see much separation between Oregon and UCLA. Guerrier is a difference-maker, and guard play and coaching should be solid as usual.
10 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Logo Illinois Might have the best big man-PG combo outside of Spokane.
11 University of Alabama Logo Alabama Quinerly and Shackelford should be in the mix for all-conference teams.
12 Duke University Logo Duke Need to see AJ Griffin in action before having Duke any higher. But Banchero is a difference-maker.
13 University of Houston Logo Houston This team will be worse than last year's (mostly thanks to Grimes leaving), but not by much.
14 Florida State University Logo Florida State Don't overlook Caleb Mills as a potential all-conference guy. If he lives up to that, this team is scary.
15 University of Memphis Logo Memphis Not willing to go all-in on Memphis yet. I just don't think the returnees are very good outside of Nolley.
16 Baylor University Logo Baylor I don't think they're bad, but they're a little overhyped after the title run. But if Akinjo is all-conference level, they'll be great.
17 University of Arkansas Logo Arkansas I don't buy the Chris Lykes hype, I do buy the Eric Musselman hype.
18 University of Maryland, College Park Logo Maryland Fatts isn't great, Wahab definitely is. This team is going to wear other teams down all season with the wings.
19 University of Tennessee Logo Tennessee Great returnees and excellent incoming talent. Just can't drop them out of the top 20.
20 Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Logo Virginia Tech Should be an easy top-3 team in the ACC early on. Storm Murphy can play at the ACC level and Aluma would make my preseason ACC 1st team.
21 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Logo North Carolina Caleb Love needs to show that he can be a league-average player in the ACC before this team can jump any higher.
22 St. Bonaventure University Logo St. Bonaventure Kyle Lofton and Osun Osunniyi are one of the handful of best guard-big man combos in the country.
23 Auburn University Logo Auburn Jabari Smith and Walker Kessler will be an imposing mix. Not betting against Pearl with this much talent.
24 University of Virginia Logo Virginia There's a total of one (maybe 1.5) legitimately good players on this roster in Gardner and Franklin. But great coaching goes a long way.
25 University of Arizona Logo Arizona Tubelis-Mathuran sounds like an obscure mathematical theorem, but it's actually going to terrorize the PAC-12.