Ranking the Best Starting Lineups for the 2015-16 College Basketball Season

It should be a pretty great year for college basketball's blue-blood programs, as Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky and North Carolina all rank in the top seven on our list of the best projected starting fives for the 2015-16 season.

This isn't your run-of-the-mill ranking of the 10 best teams in the country. For something like that, one must take into consideration the coaches and bench players—but not here. We're only interested in the five best players on each roster.

As a result, very good and very deep teams like Duke, Arizona and Michigan State didn't make the cut, while shallow, fringe Top 25 teams like Connecticut, Notre Dame and Utah scored quite well.

Ranking our 10 best starting lineups basically boiled down to a search for weaknesses. Do any individual players have major question marks? Or does the unit as a whole have major question marks against certain types of offenses or defenses?

In a nutshell, these are the 10 teams that should have an extremely good season if they can avoid the dreaded injury bug.

Honorable Mentions

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Duke Blue Devils
Derryck Thornton, Grayson Allen, Matt Jones, Brandon Ingram, Amile Jefferson

Duke has arguably the best coach in college basketball history and a pretty deep roster this season—Luke Kennard, Sean Obi, Chase Jeter and Marshall Plumlee are all legitimate candidates to break into the starting lineup. The Blue Devils deserve to be ranked in the top five of the first AP poll of the season. However, under the premise that Joe Schmo Basketball Coach has to lead a starting five with no bench, there are simply better options out there.

Utah Utes
Brandon Taylor, Dakarai Tucker, Jordan Loveridge, Brekkott Chapman, Jakob Poeltl

Unless JUCO transfer Gabe Bealer makes an immediate, Delon Wright-like splash at the D-I level, the Utes are about as deep as a kiddie pool. But if this starting five can stay healthy and conditioned, they could do some serious damage. Poeltl is obviously a stud, Taylor and Loveridge are both excellent three-point shooters and Chapman is a sophomore poised for a breakout year. If we had more faith in Tucker as a full-time guy, Utah almost certainly would have cracked the top 10.

Oklahoma Sooners
Jordan Woodard, Buddy Hield, Isaiah Cousins, Khadeem Lattin, Ryan Spangler

Like Utah, Oklahoma was one piece away from making the list. The Sooners have perhaps the best three-man backcourt in the nation, and Ryan Spangler is an absolute workhorse in the paint. They'll be in great shape with the combined forces of Khadeem Lattin, Dante Buford and Akolda Manyang at power forward and center, but being forced to choose just one of those big men at this point in time was enough of a drawback to relegate Oklahoma to the honorable mentions.

Texas A&M Aggies
Anthony Collins, Alex Caruso, Danuel House, Jalen Jones, Tyler Davis

With the addition of South Florida transfer Anthony Collins and stud freshman Tyler Davis, Texas A&M has the pieces to make some serious noise this season. Caruso, House and Jones made an excellent trio last year, but they didn't have a whole lot of help. Now that they do, watch out for the Aggies.

10. Iowa State Cyclones

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Projected Starters: Monte Morris, Naz Long, Abdel Nader, Georges Niang, Jameel McKay

What type of impact will Abdel Nader make as a starter?

Monte Morris is an outstanding passer, shooter and defender. It baffles me that he hasn't gotten more respect over the past two seasons as arguably the best point guard in the nation.

By his side are two excellent shooters in Naz Long and Georges Niang and one phenomenal interior defender in Jameel McKay. Based on what McKay was able to do in the second semester of last season, the Cyclones have to really be looking forward to getting a full year out of him.

But with Dustin Hogue and Bryce Dejean-Jones out of the picture, Steve Prohm desperately needs someone to step up to fill the void.

The job may eventually fall to Matt Thomas or Oregon State transfer Hallice Cooke, but given his natural position at small forward, Nader should have the right of first refusal.

Between his three seasons at Northern Illinois and Iowa State, Nader has scored frequently, but not efficiently. He averaged 0.95 points per field-goal attempt in his two years with the Huskies and was only marginally better last year with the Cyclones, registering a ratio of 1.09.

On an offense that has ranked in the top 11 in the nation in adjusted offensive efficiency for the past three years, that isn't going to cut it. But if he's able to make some improvements in his final season, Iowa State should be worthy of the top-10 ranking it figures to receive in the preseason AP Top 25.

9. Notre Dame Fighting Irish

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Projected Starters: Demetrius Jackson, Steve Vasturia, V.J. Beachem, Bonzie Colson, Zach Auguste

As was the case for Utah in the honorable mentions, depth is anything but a strength for Notre Dame this year. Freshmen Rex Pflueger and Matt Ryan will get some playing time, as will junior forward Austin Torres. However, Notre Dame's best chance at a return to the Elite Eight is to get at least 1,200 minutes out of all five of these starters.

Demetrius Jackson is the key to everything. He did a pretty fantastic job as Jerian Grant's sophomore sidekick last season, but Robin needs to become Batman this year to serve as the team's primary ball-handler, scorer and perimeter defender.

With any luck, Steve Vasturia and V.J. Beachem will continue to shoot better than 40 percent from three-point range, allowing Jackson and Zach Auguste to execute the pick-and-roll offense that made Notre Dame so unbelievably lethal last season.

The Fighting Irish shot 39 percent from beyond the arc last year, but their bread and butter was in the paint, where they led the nation by shooting 58.2 percent from two-point range.

Look for 6'5" bowling ball Bonzie Colson to keep that trend going. He didn't play a ton as a freshman, but he was incredibly efficient, averaging 18.5 points, 8.9 rebounds, 2.3 blocks and two steals per 40 minutes while shooting 62.5 percent from inside the arc.

Notre Dame may have lost two NBA draft picks in Grant and Pat Connaughton, but the future remains bright if these five guys can stay healthy.

8. Connecticut Huskies

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Projected Starters: Jalen Adams, Sterling Gibbs, Daniel Hamilton, Shonn Miller, Amida Brimah

I fully expect Connecticut's appearance on this list to be the biggest point of contention, but if we directly compare the Huskies to a higher-ranking team, perhaps you'll see things our way.

Pretty much everyone views Maryland as one of the three best teams in the country. The Terrapins have a starting lineup consisting of a sophomore who had an outstanding freshman season (Melo Trimble), an upperclassman who averaged roughly 14 points and seven rebounds per 40 minutes (Jake Layman), two high-impact transfers (Rasheed Sulaimon and Robert Carter) and a 5-star freshman (Diamond Stone).

Now, if you want to talk Huskies, go ahead and re-read that last sentence with the parenthetical portions replaced by Daniel Hamilton, Amida Brimah, Sterling Gibbs, Shonn Miller and Jalen Adams, respectively.

Arguably, the reason for the drastic difference in perception is that Maryland had a surprisingly impressive 2014-15 season while Connecticut was one of the biggest disappointments, missing the NCAA tournament one year after winning it.

To be clear, I'm not saying that the Huskies and Terrapins should be viewed as equals, but it's kind of hard to look at this roster and not feel like Connecticut is being undersold as a real contender this year. In addition to the starters, Connecticut also has a pretty impressive bench with Rodney Purvis, Sam Cassell Jr., Omar Calhoun, Kentan Facey and Phillip Nolan all at Kevin Ollie's disposal.

As luck would have it, the Huskies play Maryland on December 8 in what could serve as their memo to the nation that they mean business this year.

7. Indiana Hoosiers

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Projected Starters: Yogi Ferrell, James Blackmon Jr., Robert Johnson, Troy Williams, Thomas Bryant

We'll have to wait and see how much of a positive impact Thomas Bryant will have on a defense that was downright abysmal last year, but we know this starting five will score in bunches, no matter what Bryant does on that end of the court.

Like Demetrius Jackson at Notre Dame and Monte Morris at Iowa State, Yogi Ferrell will lead the way as the team's best passer and scorer. Though he began his career at Indiana as much more of a pure point guard, Ferrell connected on 41.6 percent of his 5.8 three-point attempts per game last season while doling out 4.9 dimes per night, as well.

Of course, Ferrell wouldn't have been nearly as successful as a triple threat if James Blackmon Jr. and Robert Johnson didn't both drain nearly 40 percent of their three-point attempts. We're only concerned with the starting fives today, but throw in Nick Zeisloft and Collin Hartman off the bench, and Indiana will be making it rain all year long.

Because of that efficient perimeter attack, Troy Williams' impact on the offense often gets overlooked. Even though he was frequently the only frontcourt player for the Hoosiers, he managed to put up 18.9 points and 10.8 rebounds per 40 minutes.

Whether the Hoosiers can actually live up to the hype of being a top-15 team will depend on their ability to keep opponents from keeping pace with them. Indiana lost seven games in 2014-15 in which it scored at least 70 points, including two games with at least 86 points. For comparison's sake, the last time Cincinnati scored 70 or more points in a loss was in February 2012.

If Bryant can be a shutdown interior defender who also scores and rebounds on a fairly regular basis, it's not crazy to think this could be a Final Four team.

6. Virginia Cavaliers

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Projected Starters: London Perrantes, Malcolm Brogdon, Marial Shayok, Anthony Gill, Mike Tobey

Have we finally reached the point where we just accept that the whole is always going to be greater than the sum of its parts with Tony Bennett?

Unlike every other team on this list, no individual player on Virginia's roster is destined for any sort of stardom in the NBA. Mike Tobey might get drafted because he's 6'11" and can run the length of the court without tripping over his own two feet, but don't bet the farm on any other Cavaliers having their names called on draft night next June.

That isn't to say they aren't great athletes or great college basketball players, but rather it is a way-too-early pitch for Bennett's 2016 Coach of the Year candidacy.

Despite that "No NBA Talent" slander, Anthony Gill was my (apparently controversial) pick for 2016 ACC Player of the Year, and the only reason I don't consider him a top candidate for the Wooden Award is because it's tough to decide whether Gill, Malcolm Brogdon or London Perrantes is actually the most valuable player on the roster.

Like the different sections of an orchestra, the three play wildly different roles that mesh together perfectly.

Perrantes rarely shoots, but paces and runs the offense and is arguably the most important part of the pack-line defense. Brogdon shoots a lot, serves as the secondary ball-handler and is a solid perimeter defender. And Gill is the unheralded anchor in the paint, scoring and rebounding at an extremely efficient rate while taking so much abuse that he led the team in free-throw attempts by a considerable margin.

As was the case with Iowa State, though, Virginia was held back a bit in these rankings by the uncertainty at small forward. Marial Shayok had a pretty solid, jack-of-all-trades freshman season as the team's seventh man, but he will likely be thrust into a starting role after the departures of Justin Anderson and Darion Atkins.

If Shayok can establish himself as a reliable three-point threat—shouldn't be too tough, given that he shot 38 percent last season—Virginia should remain just as good as it has been for the past two years.

5. Kansas Jayhawks

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Projected Starters: Frank Mason, Wayne Selden Jr., Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk, Perry Ellis, Cheick Diallo

The biggest wild card of the bunch, Kansas is loaded with talent that is partially unproven and partially still not eligible to play this season.

No worries on Frank Mason or Perry Ellis. The former was one of the bigger breakout stars last year and the latter is Mr. Reliable, good for almost exactly 975 minutes, 470 points and 234 rebounds in each of the past two seasons. Barring injury, it's pretty safe to assume they'll both be strong candidates for the All-Big 12 first team at the end of the season.

It's the other three who make Kansas almost impossible to rank.

As Rustin Dodd of the Kansas City Star noted in early July, Wayne Selden had a pretty phenomenal summer in the World University Games, averaging 19.3 points and 6.6 rebounds with excellent shooting percentages over the course of six games.

But we can't blame anyone for being hesitant to buy stock in Selden after two straight years of watching it crash. For someone with this much talent and athleticism, 9.6 points per game over the course of two seasons is a massive letdown.

We gave him a pass for a freshman season spent in pain that would require arthroscopic surgery over the summer, but what was the excuse last season? Should we believe in the six recent games in which he was a star or the 36 games before that in which he was just kind of there?

And what of Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk? The Ukrainian import had a nightmarish time trying to adjust to D-I basketball last season as a 17-year-old, but scouts swear he's the bee's knees and headed for a huge sophomore season before becoming a first-round pick in the draft.

If that guy and the World University Games version of Selden both show up this season, the Jayhawks are probably the best team in the country.

Of course, that's assuming that any version of Cheick Diallo is allowed to show up. We've seen eligibility issues linger all the way into the first few games of the season, so it's possible we're barely into the third trimester of the Diallo drama.

Still, we're about seven weeks away from the start of the season, and he hasn't been cleared by the NCAA, so it might be time to start thinking about Carlton Bragg as the team's freshman center.

Having a second 5-star freshman as a backup plan is a pretty nice luxury, though, so the Jayhawks should be in great shape no matter what.

4. California Golden Bears

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Projected Starters: Tyrone Wallace, Jordan Mathews, Jabari Bird, Jaylen Brown, Ivan Rabb

Every summer, there seems to be one supposed breakout team that half the world can't stop drooling over and the other half can't stand to hear another word about. Without a doubt, that team this year is California.

By adding Ivan Rabb and Jaylen Brown and retaining Tyrone Wallace, it took less than a month for the Golden Bears to transform from a roster destined for the middle of the pack in the Pac-12 to one that will open the season in the middle of the AP Top 25.

Like Notre Dame, Cal's roster is very shallow. Kingsley Okoroh and Kameron Rooks will get some playing time in the frontcourt, and Sam Singer will log a decent number of minutes in the backcourt, but it would hardly be a surprise if this starting five played more minutes together than any other unit in the country.

Understandably, people are hyped up about the high-ranking freshmen and the lead guard (Wallace) who was the only player in the country to average at least 15 points, seven rebounds and four assists per game last season, but Jordan Mathews is the obscured gem on this roster.

He shot 44.3 percent from three-point range while averaging 13.6 points per game. He had a four-game stretch in early January in which he averaged 23.8 per game and shot 56.7 percent from downtown. When he's hot, he's scorching.

That's a terrifying proposition for arguably the fourth-best player in the starting lineup, and the fifth-best player (Jabari Bird) is no slouch, either, having averaged 10.5 points per game last season.

As long as Rabb and Brown live up to their expectations, you could be looking at the best starting five in the country.

3. North Carolina Tar Heels

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Projected Starters: Marcus Paige, Justin Jackson, Theo Pinson, Brice Johnson, Kennedy Meeks

The Tar Heels ranked No. 3 on this list one year ago, and though they fell short of meeting expectations, it's hard not to like a starting five that remains almost entirely intact.

It's really just a matter of finding out if they can stay healthy this year. They battled through their injuries admirably, but J.P. Tokoto—the only player of any consequence who graduated, transferred or declared for the draft—was pretty much the only guy on the roster who was at anything close to 100 percent for most of the season.

Tokoto's projected replacement in the starting lineup (Theo Pinson) missed 14 games while recovering from a broken foot. Brice Johnson battled back spasms. Kennedy Meeks seemed to always be sick. Marcus Paige dealt with all sorts of foot pain. It just wasn't meant to be in 2014-15.

But while they weren't at full strength at pretty much any point in the season, North Carolina's 80 percent was better than most teams' 100 percent. The Tar Heels managed to win 26 games and nearly upset Wisconsin in the Sweet 16. Just imagine what they can do if they spend more time training and less time with the trainer.

Whether Pinson is able to make "the leap" will dictate just how high this team can soar.

The other four starters have all displayed an ability to be go-to scorers on a championship-caliber team, but Pinson has yet to play more than 20 minutes or score more than seven points in a game.

Last summer, though, he was rated by 247Sports as the 15th-best incoming freshman in the country. Justise Winslow was two spots ahead of him. D'Angelo Russell was one spot behind him. If he plays at anything close to that level, the Tar Heels will be insanely good.

2. Maryland Terrapins

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Projected Starters: Melo Trimble, Rasheed Sulaimon, Jake Layman, Robert Carter, Diamond Stone

We already addressed Maryland a good bit on Connecticut's slide, but the CliffsNotes version is that there's a good reason the Terrapins are projected to win the the Big Ten and possibly the 2016 national championship. Even before they added Rasheed Sulaimon, pretty much everyone was on board with this being a top-five team.

Behind top three draft picks Karl-Anthony Towns, D'Angelo Russell and Jahlil Okafor, Melo Trimble had almost unarguably the best season of any freshman in the country.

Maryland lost a born leader with the graduation of Dez Wells, but this was already Trimble's team, as he successfully steered the Terrapins through multiple injuries that easily could have derailed their season. He must be considered one of the early favorites for the Wooden Award.

The other key returnee is Jake Layman—the double-digit scoring, half-dozen rebounding, 6'9" wing who seems to be eternally on the precipice of putting it all together and exploding into a star. He might never become anything more than a background scorer, but we can't rule out the possibility of a Sam Dekker-like final season for him.

Robert Carter is the long-awaited weapon at power forward that they desperately could have used last season. He averaged 17.1 points and 12.5 rebounds per 40 minutes two years ago with Georgia Tech. He should fill the "workhorse" void that Charles Mitchell left behind when he elected to transfer.

Alongside Carter in the paint will be one of the most highly anticipated freshmen in the country, Diamond Stone. Not only is that one of the coolest names in recent memory, but he could be the closest thing we have to a second coming of Jahlil Okafor this season.

He is an absolute beast of a back-to-the-basket big man who should provide a positively massive upgrade over Maryland's previous situation at center.

Sulaimon is just some extra icing on an already well-iced cake. And if he doesn't pan out, either Dion Wiley or Jared Nickens could take over as the primary shooting guard.

1. Kentucky Wildcats

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Projected Starters: Tyler Ulis, Isaiah Briscoe, Jamal Murray, Marcus Lee, Skal Labissiere

They aren't anywhere near as deep as last year and are mostly comprised of names and faces we didn't see at any point in the final three months of the 2014-15 season, but the Wildcats should have the best starting five in the country.

Don't believe me? Go look at the latest mock draft on Draft Express where Skal Labissiere (No. 1), Jamal Murray (No. 6), Isaiah Briscoe (No. 18) and Marcus Lee (No. 28) are all projected as first-round picks. No other team in the country is projected to produce more than two first-round picks.

Alex Poythress is also currently slated as a late second-round pick as we wait to see how well he recovers from last year's torn ACL. And arguably the only reason Tyler Ulis didn't make the cut is because they don't expect the 5'9" guard to go pro. On their list of the best sophomores, though, Ulis ranks 11th between Grayson Allen and James Blackmon.

Needless to say, Kentucky has more than enough talent to put together another phenomenal season. Another spirited run at 40-0 might be too much to ask, but John Calipari will gladly take a 37-win championship season instead.

The only question is how well all that talent will come together. The Wildcats are batting well over .500 in that department with three seasons of 35 or more wins, two seasons in which they struggled early before turning things around for a Final Four appearance and one infamous Robert Morris year.

Really, though, the issue with that 2012-13 team was a lack of leadership and cohesiveness in the backcourt, and they should be pretty well-covered there between Ulis, Murray and Briscoe. Provided Calipari can continue to convince his players to put the success of the team ahead of their individual stats, there's no good reason they can't make it five Final Fours in a span of six years.

Kerry Miller covers college basketball for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter @kerrancejames.