The Best College Basketball Teams in 2015-16 from A-Z
The Kansas Jayhawks should be one of the country's five best college basketball teams for the 2015-16 season, but they're only the second-best school beginning with the letter "K."
With the start of the season merely a fortnight away, we're offering up a projected best team for each letter of the alphabet. It's a different way to present some of the nation's top teams, but it's also probably the only chance all year that you'll get to read about Hofstra and Kentucky in the span of two clicks.
We couldn't just pick one team and be done with it, though, so for nearly all of the letters, there's also mention of a few other teams worth considering for that spot.
It isn't necessarily a matter of deciding who would win if each letter had its own round-robin tournament, but rather which team from each letter figures to last the longest in the NCAA tournament.
As you might expect, the following slides are listed in alphabetical order.
The Honorable Mention
1 of 22
Top Challengers: Yale
There are five letters with less than five schools: J, Q, X, Y and Z. With apologies to James Madison and Quinnipiac, we decided to lump those five letters together into one honorable mention slide.
Given the resultant options, putting Xavier on top wasn't even a remotely difficult choice. Yale was the only challenger worth considering, and the Bulldogs probably aren't the Ivy League's best team. Respect for Justin Sears and the ridiculous numbers he's probably going to post in his senior year, but Yale isn't in the same zip code as Xavier.
The Musketeers did lose Dee Davis and noteworthy Uber driver Matt Stainbrook, but they are loaded with potential breakout stars.
Xavier had four 4-star players in last year's recruiting class. Trevon Bluiett has already proven quite valuable from that quartet, but Makinde London redshirted, Edmond Sumner appeared in just six games and J.P. Macura had difficulty getting into any sort of rhythm as the fifth man on the backcourt depth chart.
Even if none of those three players blossom into a must-start asset, Xavier should have little difficulty finishing in the top half of the Big East. At 6'10" Jalen Reynolds is a monster in the paint, and 6'10" James Farr was one of the country's best rebounders. Add in the veteran leadership of Myles Davis and Remy Abell on the perimeter and some degree of improvement in Bluiett's sophomore year and the Musketeers have a very formidable starting five.
Now imagine if one (or all) of the aforementioned 4-star guys has a big year. At that point, this would become a team that can give Villanova a fight for the Big East crown.
Arizona Wildcats
2 of 22
Top Challengers: None
For every other letter, there is at least one secondary option worth mentioning. However, there's a massive gap between Arizona and the second-best "A" team—which may well be an Arizona State squad projected for a 10th-place finish in the Pac-12 by the experts at CBS Sports, per results courtesy of Sam Vecenie. In the KenPom.com preseason rankings, Arizona is No. 6, and Arizona State is in second place at No. 70.
Rather than dwelling on that gap, though, let's focus on how good Arizona should be. Because despite losing four-fifths of last year's starting lineup and an incoming 5-star freshman to a knee injury, the Wildcats have a ridiculous amount of depth.
Assuming a starting lineup of Parker Jackson-Cartwright, Allonzo Trier, Mark Tollefsen, Ryan Anderson and Kaleb Tarczewski, Sean Miller will still have Justin Simon, Gabe York, Kadeem Allen, Elliott Pitts, Chance Comanche and Dusan Ristic as talented pieces off the bench. Ray Smith would have been a fantastic addition, but Arizona should be just fine while he rehabs that torn ACL.
With Smith, the Wildcats probably would have opened the season somewhere in the No. 10-13 range of the Associated Press Top 25. Even without him, though, this is still a top-20 team capable of keeping California from ascending to the Pac-12 throne. That's certainly more than an Alabama, Arkansas or Arizona State can say.
Butler Bulldogs
3 of 22
Top Challengers: Baylor, Belmont, Boise State, BYU
"A" was a no-brainer, but "B" was a hair-pulling/splitting decision between quite a few teams.
Boise State (James Webb III) and BYU (Kyle Collinsworth) each has one of the country's best non-major players. Though he probably won't appear in any of the "Top 100 Players" rankings, Belmont's Craig Bradshaw is one heck of a talented player, too. And Baylor has a pair of outstanding players in Taurean Prince and Rico Gathers who could be the anchors of an excellent team if guys like Al Freeman and Johnathan Motley are able to make a leap this season.
But Butler arguably has the "B" bunch's most complete and experienced lineup.
Roosevelt Jones is back for seemingly his eighth collegiate season with the Bulldogs, as is sharpshooting Kellen Dunham. Andrew Chrabascz will join that dynamic duo, meaning each of last year's three leading scorers is returning. They'll also be adding Tyler Lewis, a very much pass-first point guard who was rated as a top-50 recruit back in the class of 2012.
The big question here will be rebounding. The glass was one of Butler's biggest assets last season, finishing plus-190 in rebounding margin, but will that be the case this year without Kameron Woods to pull down nearly 10 boards per game?
Dunham averaged just 3.0 rebounds per 40 minutes last season, and 5'11" Tyler Lewis was good for just 2.9 per 40 during his two seasons with NC State, so don't expect much from the backcourt in this category. And despite standing 6'7", Chrabascz hasn't been much of a rebounder in his career, either.
If Butler is going to remain competitive (let alone elite) on the glass, it will need to come from either Tyler Wideman or Jackson Davis—a pair of 6'8" sophomore forwards who combined to average less than 13 minutes per game last season. If and when the Bulldogs figure out their center, though, they'll be extremely tough to beat.
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Connecticut Huskies
4 of 22
Top Challengers: California, Cincinnati
There aren't quite as many viable candidates, but settling on the top "C" was an even more difficult decision than it was for "B."
Let's begin by noting that Cincinnati was very much in the running for this spot. The Bearcats might be the country's most underappreciated team, as they always play excellent defense and will get back all six of last year's leading scorers.
Granted, not one of those players scored so much as 10 points per game, but it's hard to argue with that degree of cohesion from one season to the next. If Gary Clark has the type of breakout sophomore year that he's capable of having, Cincinnati could be a top-10 team when all is said and done.
California was an even tougher omission, given the Golden Bears' transformation into a Final Four contender. Jaylen Brown is one of the country's most gifted freshmen, and Ivan Rabb isn't all that far behind him. If they make the type of impact that we've come to expect out of top-10 freshmen, California will have one of the nation's best six-man rotations.
Yet, I can't help but feel that Connecticut is the "C" team to beat.
Where Cal will be desperately dependent upon its 5-star guys, the Huskies have one in Jalen Adams who probably won't even start this season. With the addition of grad-transfers Sterling Gibbs and Shonn Miller and Rodney Purvis' significant improvement toward the end of last season, there's simply no room at the inn for the freshman point guard.
As such, Adams figures to share the bench with Sam Cassell Jr., Omar Calhoun, Kentan Facey and Phillip Nolan. That isn't quite on par with Kentucky's reinforcements from yesteryear, but it's certainly a quintet talented enough to run the table in a minor conference. Along with sophomore Daniel Hamilton's presumed improvement, the sheer amount of depth on this roster is what pushed Connecticut over the top.
Duke Blue Devils
5 of 22
Top Challengers: Davidson
According to Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports, Bob McKillop has already decided that Davidson's starting five for the upcoming season will be Jack Gibbs, Brian Sullivan, Jordan Barham, Peyton Aldridge and Jake Belford, leaving Oskar Michelsen as the early favorite for A-10 Sixth Man of the Year. Even without Tyler Kalinoski, the Wildcats should be in great shape to defend their A-10 crown.
But there's a very strong line between attempting to remain the best team in the country's seventh- or eighth-best conference and legitimately seeking to repeat as national champions, making Duke the top "D" team with all sorts of room to spare.
In what has quickly become an annual tradition, Mike Krzyzewski has one of the nation's best recruiting classes. Tyus Jones, Justise Winslow and Jahlil Okafor may be gone, but the Blue Devils should still be very strong with the addition of Derryck Thornton, Brandon Ingram, Luke Kennard and Chase Jeter—all 5-star recruits, according to 247Sports. They're also adding Rice transfer Sean Obi, who just might end up being their best frontcourt player this season.
Our C.J. Moore took some serious issue with Duke receiving three first-place votes in the preseason coaches poll, but even he would have to agree that this is clearly the country's best "D" team. Whether the Blue Devils truly deserve to be in the Top five or the Top 10, no other "D" school belongs all that close to the Top 25.
Evansville Purple Aces
6 of 22
Top Challengers: Eastern Washington
There's a legitimate Final Four candidate for most of the letters of the alphabet. Many of the letters have multiple teams worthy of consideration for a spot in the preseason AP Top 25, making for very intriguing debates about who belongs on this list.
And then there's "E" and "H," neither of which has a single surefire top-100 team for the 2015-16 season.
This would have been a different story if Eastern Washington hadn't lost Tyler Harvey a year early to the NBA and Ognjen Miljkovic to the transfer market. As a result, the Eagles bring back just two of their top six scorers from last year in the form of Venky Jois and Bogdan Bliznyuk. They should still be competitive in the Big Sky, thanks in part to Saint Louis grad-transfer Austin McBroom, but don't bet on Eastern Washington repeating as one of the most popular No. 13 seeds in this year's tournament.
Rather, the top "E" team will most likely be Evansville.
Seven Purple Aces players scored at least 150 points last season, and each one of those now-juniors and seniors will be back for one of the country's most experienced rosters.
D.J. Balentine and Egidijus Mockevicius are particularly two players worth mentioning. Over the past two seasons, they have become arguably the country's best mid-major inside-outside duo. Balentine could very well lead the nation in scoring, and Mockevicius did lead the nation in defensive rebounding percentage last year.
If there are going to be two tournament teams from the Missouri Valley Conference this season, you're probably looking at the second one.
Florida State Seminoles
7 of 22
Top Challengers: Florida, Fresno State
One of these things is not like the other, but you might want to get used to it all the same.
Fresno State brings back all five starters from a team that went 15-17 while really struggling on the glass. The Bulldogs finished the season with a negative-101 rebounding margin, but really addressed that issue this offseason by adding JUCO power forwards Cullen Russo and Torren Jones—the latter averaged 18.3 points and 10.6 rebounds per game last season. They also added Nate Grimes, a 6'8" 3-star freshman who should contribute immediately.
With Marvelle Harris, Cezar Guerrero and Julien Lewis presumably combining for at least 40 points per game in the backcourt, the frontcourt upgrade should make Fresno State a serious contender in the Mountain West Conference.
Still, the Bulldogs aren't quite as good as our annual contenders from the Sunshine State.
Despite losing Michael Frazier, Jon Horford, Eli Carter, Chris Walker and head coach Billy Donovan, the Florida Gators theoretically have the pieces to really compete in the SEC this year.
Kasey Hill and Devin Robinson were both highly touted recruits who are now due for a breakout year, John Egbunu is a crucial addition to the frontcourt and the combined force of Brandone Francis and KeVaughn Allen should go a long way toward replacing Frazier's production. With a few pleasant surprises to counterbalance all of last year's disappointments, Florida should be back in a big way after a very disappointing (and unlucky) 2014-15 season.
But Florida State has a roster that can do some serious damage on the national stage.
Where Fresno State struggled to rebound before plugging that hole, the Seminoles did the same with three-point shooting, adding four new shooting guards to a roster that probably would have won at least six more games last year if it had been capable of hitting triples.
There will be better freshmen around the country, but there might not be a more important one than Dwayne Bacon. If the 2015 McDonald's All-American shoots as well in college as he did in high school, he could be the catalyst for a surprising run to the Final Four.
Gonzaga Bulldogs
8 of 22
Top Challengers: Georgetown
Shout out to Georgia and George Washington, both of which could be in the running for an at-large bid this season, but aren't nearly on the same level as the two best "G" schools in the country.
Georgetown is probably the second-best team in the Big East. The Hoyas lost four key pieces from last year's rotation, but they still have senior combo guard D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera, a pair of major freshman additions to the frontcourt in Jessie Govan and Marcus Derrickson and arguably the country's best sophomore class. Isaac Copeland and Paul White are both headed for breakout years, and Georgetown could realistically be a top-10 team if either Tre Campbell or L.J. Peak follows suit.
However, "could realistically be a top-10 team" doesn't quite compare to a Gonzaga squad that should open the season ranked in the Top 10.
The Bulldogs have some questions to address in the backcourt after losing Kevin Pangos, Byron Wesley and Gary Bell Jr. all in the same offseason, but they also might have the country's best frontcourt. When Kyle Wiltjer, Domantas Sabonis and Przemek Karnowski are on the court together this season—best of luck to the opposing team trying to stop them from scoring.
If Josh Perkins—who appeared in just five games as a freshman before suffering a broken jaw—immediately develops into an acceptable starting point guard, get ready to make it three out of four years in which we spend the last few weeks of the season arguing over whether Gonzaga is worthy of a No. 1 seed.
Hofstra Pride
9 of 22
Top Challengers: Harvard, High Point, Hawaii, Houston
As previously mentioned, "E" and "H" were the saddest states of affair among the letters with at least five schools.
At least this one does have a ton of sleeper candidates.
Most have written off Harvard after losing four of last year's top five scorers, but Tommy Amaker has led the Crimson to at least 20 wins in six straight seasons. High Point hasn't yet cracked into the NCAA tournament, but the Panthers have won three consecutive Big South regular-season titles and should remain that conference's team to beat in John Brown's senior year. Hawaii gets back most of last year's surprising 22-win roster. And you just know Kelvin Sampson is going to put Houston back on the map in the near future.
Forced to pick one "H" team to make some noise in the 2016 NCAA tournament, though, Hofstra is the obvious choice.
Built entirely on the backs of transfers, the Pride should be the cream of the crop in the CAA this year. Juan'Ya Green (Niagara), Ameen Tanksley (Niagara), Brian Bernardi (SMU), Denton Koon (Princeton), Malik Nichols (JUCO) and Ibrahim Djambo (Clemson) might be the six most important pieces of Hofstra's puzzle this season, even though they all started their careers elsewhere.
On the homegrown front, sophomores Rokas Gustys (6'9") and Andre Walker (6'10") could be key assets in quite possibly the country's most undersized conference. Of the five players who led the CAA in total rebounds last season, Northeastern's now-departed Scott Eatherton was the only one taller than 6'5".
Iowa State Cyclones
10 of 22
Top Challengers: Indiana
Given the limited number of options for the letter "I," there is a surprising amount of viable candidates for the NCAA tournament.
In addition to Iowa State and Indiana as national title contenders, both Indiana State and Illinois State should be moderately competitive in the Missouri Valley Conference, Iona should win the MAAC, Iowa will compete in the Big Ten and Illinois might do the same if it can actually get to the season with enough healthy players.
In total, that's seven of the 13 "I" schools. Aside from "X"—which should bat 1.000 with Xavier as its only school—this might be the letter that sends the highest percentage of teams to the Big Dance.
However, it's pretty hard to argue against Iowa State as the top dog and Indiana as the Cyclones' only real challenger.
As Jeff Rabjohns of Peegs.com reported on Saturday, Indiana's Troy Williams won both the dunk and three-point contest at Hoosier Hysteria. The 6'7" forward only attempted 13 triples last season. However, if he's ready to join Yogi Ferrell, James Blackmon, Robert Johnson, Nick Zeisloft and Collin Hartman on the already absurdly long list of Hoosiers who can make it rain from downtown, how do you possibly argue for any other team as the country's projected most efficient offense?
Many are hesitant to buy stock in Indiana because it means buying stock in Tom Crean, but this will be an elite team if Thomas Bryant and Juwan Morgan are any bit as good as advertised in the post.
Yet, Iowa State is the team to beat here, as the Cyclones also have an insanely efficient offense and an already-proven dominant post presence in Jameel McKay.
In addition to that shot-blocking machine, Iowa State has the country's most efficient point guard in Monte Morris. He has a career assist-to-turnover ratio of 4.7 and has tallied 44 more steals than turnovers. By the way, he's also a 40.0 percent three-point shooter. What's it going to take for this guy to get into the Wooden Award discussion?
Kentucky Wildcats
11 of 22
Top Challengers: Kansas
Without a doubt, this was the toughest decision to make.
Assuming we can safely include the 2015-16 season's first poll, Kansas and Kentucky have both been ranked in the Top 13 of the preseason AP Top 25 for seven consecutive years—otherwise known as John Calipari's entire tenure at Kentucky. During that time, Kentucky has an overall record of 190-38, while Kansas' record sits at 183-38.
In the head-to-head series, though, Kentucky is 3-0, including the 2012 national championship game and this past season's Champions Classic blowout. And even if Cheick Diallo is finally cleared to play this season, the Wildcats fared much better in this year's recruiting battle, adding three 5-star and three 4-star freshmen as opposed to two and one, respectively, for the Jayhawks.
If Kansas is going to finish ahead of Kentucky, it will be due to returning backcourt players finally living up to their potential. Wayne Selden, Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk and Devonte' Graham will all be key contributors in Kansas' perimeter rotation, but not one of those guards was anywhere near as good as advertised this past season.
If some combination of those guys can find a higher gear in 2015-16, Kansas should be able to hang with Tyler Ulis, Isaiah Briscoe and Jamal Murray well enough to win the home game against Kentucky on Jan. 30. But when the season ends and we're left to argue which would prevail on a neutral court in the Final Four, Kentucky should be the favorite—provided the Wildcats can stay healthy.
According to DraftExpress, Kentucky has four projected first-round picks in Murray, Briscoe, Skal Labissiere and Marcus Lee. The Wildcats also have Ulis, Alex Poythress and Charles Matthews in a rotation that isn't nearly as deep as it was this past season, but is talented enough to win 30 games in its sleep.
Kansas could be the country's best team this season, but Kentucky should fill that role. Because of that slight but very significant difference, UK bests KU for best "K" team.
LSU Tigers
12 of 22
Top Challengers: Louisville
If we focus solely on the players on each roster, this is a really tough call. LSU added a pair of excellent freshmen in Ben Simmons and Antonio Blakeney, but Louisville might have scored an even better haul with the addition of grad-transfers Damion Lee and Trey Lewis and 4-star freshmen Donovan Mitchell, Deng Adel and Raymond Spalding.
Of course, both teams also lost a ton from last year. LSU is trying to replace its two best players, Jordan Mickey and Jarell Martin, but Louisville lost all four of its leading scorers, as well as Anton Gill and Shaqquan Aaron as transfers—there's a reason the Cardinals added so many new pieces, after all.
However, on-the-court potential has taken a backseat to the off-the-court scandal leading many to call for Rick Pitino to either voluntarily or forcibly leave his post as Louisville's head coach.
The Cardinals have enough talent to contend for a season-long spot in the Top 25, but will they be able to focus on basketball while dealing with the media firestorm? Better teams have fallen apart over less, but there's also no telling when a distraction might manifest into motivation. Might this whole Katina Powell saga help bring the team together for an "Us Against the World" frame of mind?
At the very least, that seems like an unlikely outcome from all this backlash, so let's play it safe and bet on LSU best representing the 12th letter of the alphabet.
In addition to their stud freshmen, the Tigers do have four key returning players in Tim Quarterman, Keith Hornsby, Josh Gray and Jayln Patterson. Be sure to note, though, that all four of those players (and Blakeney) are guards. In order to really meet their Top 25 expectations, some big man is going to need to emerge to help Simmons shoulder the frontcourt load.
If either Darcy Malone or Elbert Robinson is able to fill that void, this could be the best LSU team since the one that Stromile Swift led to a No. 4 seed in 2000.
Maryland Terrapins
13 of 22
Top Challengers: Miami, Michigan, Michigan State
If you had to pick one letter to win the 2016 national championship, "M" might actually be your best bet. Sure, with "K" you're getting Kansas and Kentucky. "V" would give you Virginia, Villanova and Vanderbilt. But how can you argue with getting four of the Top 25 teams in the preseason KenPom.com rankings as well as some long-shot flyers on Marquette, Memphis, Minnesota and Mississippi?
We won't waste our time discussing those last four teams, but Maryland, Michigan and Michigan State are all legitimate candidates to win the Big Ten, while Miami is a not-so-sleeper candidate to win the ACC.
In trimming the list to just a favorite and a top challenger, Michigan and Miami are the obvious casualties. Don't let that come across as a slight, though. Both should be significantly better than the versions that missed last year's tournament—Michigan because of health and Miami because of the much-needed addition of Kamari Murphy. The Hurricanes and Wolverines are near the top of the list of teams most likely to dance after failing to do so in 2015.
But Maryland and Michigan State are near the top of the more important list of title contenders.
The Spartans are hoping to return to the Final Four with Denzel Valentine leading the way. They lost Travis Trice, but West Virginia transfer Eron Harris might be even better. Ditto for Branden Dawson's replacement, Deyonta Davis. If Tum Tum Nairn can really establish himself as the team's point guard this season, the sky is the limit.
However, the Terrapins are almost certainly going to be one of the country's five best teams with Melo Trimble and Jake Layman back for another season.
Moreover, not nearly enough has been made of Rasheed Sulaimon's arrival at Maryland. This was already going to be one of the country's better teams before it added a participant in the 2012 McDonald's All-American Game. A career 39.1 percent three-point shooter, he would be a huge asset for the Terrapins even if that's all he brings with him to College Park.
They're also adding Georgia Tech transfer Robert Carter and stud freshman Diamond Stone—both of whom are probably better than any frontcourt player on Michigan State's roster.
They might not be the best in the nation at any individual thing, but good luck finding an area of the game in which they'll struggle this season.
North Carolina Tar Heels
14 of 22
Top Challengers: NC State, Notre Dame
The letter "M" pretty much belongs to the Big Ten, but the ACC has a monopoly on quality schools that begin with "N."
As a result, it's pretty easy to settle this (lack of a) debate by simply looking at the projected ACC standings. Chip Patterson of CBS Sports recently posted consensus ACC projections. Six of the seven experts have North Carolina winning the conference, but not one expert has NC State or Notre Dame in his Top Three.
The gap in talent between these three teams isn't all that wide, though.
Notre Dame should take a step backward this season without Jerian Grant and Pat Connaughton, but not a big one with Demetrius Jackson and Zach Auguste still around and Bonzie Colson and V.J. Beachem getting more work. There's not much depth on the roster, but that didn't stop the Fighting Irish from becoming one of the country's 10 best teams last season.
Likewise, NC State might slip a bit without Trevor Lacey, Ralston Turner and Kyle Washington, but the Wolfpack also might be just fine with Terry Henderson, Abdul-Malik Abu, Maverick Rowan and Lennard Freeman absorbing those pieces of the pie. It's a pretty young roster—Chase Cannon is the only senior, and he has played all of 30 minutes in his career—but that just means that juniors like Cat Barber and BeeJay Anya still have room for improvement.
While those teams might have the talent to steal a win against North Carolina, there's no doubt that the Tar Heels are the cream of the "N" crop.
How good is this team? Assuming Theo Pinson is healthy enough to be in the conversation, Roy Williams' biggest dilemma is whether to give the fifth starting job to the 15th- or 30th-best overall player in last year's recruiting class.
I'm partial to the idea of putting Joel Berry at the point, playing Marcus Paige off the ball and letting Pinson, Kenny Williams and Isaiah Hicks serve as the first three studs off the bench, but we'll allow the man with 750 career D-I wins to make that call.
Even with all sorts of health issues, North Carolina was a Top 25 team for the entire 2014-15 season. With J.P. Tokoto the only significant loss from that roster, the Tar Heels should be nearly unbeatable if healthy this year.
Oklahoma Sooners
15 of 22
Top Challengers: Oregon, Oregon State, Ohio State
As was the case with "N," the letter "O" yields one title contender and a few good-not-great teams who fall somewhere on the spectrum between "could make the tournament" and "should be competitive in the tournament."
Chances are that proclamation of Oklahoma as a title contender will come as a surprise to a significant percentage of you. However, put every team in the country on an X-Y graph of talent and cohesion and the Sooners might be the furthest northeast on that coordinate plane.
As far as the cohesion part of that argument goes, Buddy Hield, Isaiah Cousins, Jordan Woodard and Ryan Spangler have led this team in minutes played in each of the past two seasons, and, barring injury, they will almost certainly do so again this year.
There are a lot of teams like California, Connecticut, Duke, Kentucky and Maryland with a ton of talent, but they each have at least some level of uncertainty as to how well all those new pieces will fit together. That's certainly not the case for Oklahoma.
On the talent front, the Sooners will be about as good as it gets if and when they figure out their power forward situation. If Khadeem Lattin, Dante Buford or Akolda Manyang blossoms into a key frontcourt asset, you might be looking at the team that finally ends Kansas' streak of consecutive Big 12 titles.
Should the Sooners falter, the Ducks are next on the "O" totem pole.
Like Oklahoma, Oregon doesn't get the respect it deserves because its conference has been dominated by another team in recent years, but this should be an extremely solid team. Jordan Bell and Dillon Brooks had great freshman seasons.
Tyler Dorsey and Dylan Ennis are crucial additions. Elgin Cook is a strong veteran leader. And Dwayne Benjamin is one of the better sixth men in the country. Of the teams not in the preseason coaches Top 25 poll, Oregon might be most likely to eventually break into the Top 10.
Purdue Boilermakers
16 of 22
Top Challengers: Pittsburgh, Providence
The letter "P" is loaded with under-the-radar teams.
Even though Kris Dunn is widely regarded as one of the top candidates for Player of the Year awards, Providence is pretty unanimously not expected to be a Top Four team in the Big East, because of how little Dunn has to work with.
But if Ben Bentil and Jalen Lindsey can make a sophomore year leap as Rodney Bullock makes an impact while finally getting his chance to play, the Friars could be a lot better than we're forecasting.
And you're crazy if you think Pittsburgh is going to stay down for long. Last year was the first time since the 2000-01 season that the Panthers failed to win at least 20 games. Jamie Dixon reloaded with grad-transfers and an excellent freshman in Damon Wilson while retaining the majority of last year's key players. Don't be shocked if they mess around and beat Gonzaga on opening night, signaling the start of a bounce-back to national relevance.
But those are two teams who open the season as fringe tournament candidates.
Purdue opens the season as a fringe title contender.
Rob Dauster over at College Basketball Talk recently released the rankings of the country's best frontcourts. The Boilermakers are No. 5, and you could really argue that they deserve to be even higher.
With Caleb Swanigan, A.J. Hammons and Isaac Haas sharing the power forward and center duties and Vince Edwards taking names at small forward, they'll be substantially more dominant in the paint than most of their Big Ten brethren.
It's the backcourt where we're hesitant to buy stock, but if University of Texas-Arlington transfer Johnny Hill can hold down the fort at point guard, Purdue could be every bit as good as it was during Robbie Hummel's heyday.
Rhode Island Rams
17 of 22
Top Challengers: Richmond
Not much to see here. There are only seven "R" schools, and it wouldn't be a particularly brilliant investment to bet on any of them making it to the Sweet 16.
However, there are a pair of schools from the Atlantic 10 that should at least be in the conversation for an at-large bid.
Richmond could be in some trouble after losing top scorer Kendall Anthony, but the Spiders still have one great guard in ShawnDre' Jones and a talented frontcourt that should be even better with the addition of Virginia Tech transfer Marshall Wood. They won 21 games and ended the season near the NCAA tournament bubble and just might be headed for a repeat performance.
The much more promising A-10 team is Rhode Island. The Rams haven't gone dancing since 1999, but they should have one of the country's better non-major six-man rotations.
E.C. Matthews and Hassan Martin both have legitimate NBA potential, and Memphis transfer Kuran Iverson certainly profiled like a future pro coming out of high school.
In the backcourt, Jarvis Garrett and Jared Terrell should both be considerably improved as sophomores, and the addition of grad-transfer Four McGlynn—a career 38.8 percent three-point shooter—should drastically help an offense that shot 30.3 percent from beyond the arc while averaging just 4.4 made triples per game last season.
We'll see what Davidson and Dayton have to say about it, but Rhode Island figures to be the team to beat in the A-10.
San Diego State Aztecs
18 of 22
Top Challengers: SMU, Stephen F. Austin, Syracuse
Considering roughly one out of every nine D-I schools begins with the letter "S," it's rather surprising that not a single one will open the season ranked in the Top 25.
That doesn't mean there aren't a few very good teams. There just aren't any great ones.
SMU and Syracuse will both be without their head coaches for a significant portion of the season, as both Larry Brown and Jim Boeheim have been slapped with nine-game suspensions. At least Syracuse still has postseason eligibility. SMU dropped off everyone's radar when the Mustangs chose to accept their one-year postseason ban. Prior to that, Markus Kennedy, Nic Moore and company were definitely expected to be the best team from this letter of the alphabet.
Elsewhere, Stephen F. Austin seems destined for a fourth consecutive strong season. The Lumberjacks have made mincemeat of the Southland Conference, posting a regular-season record of 51-3 against conference foes. Expect more of the same in Thomas Walkup's final collegiate season.
If you're looking for an "S" team that just might crash the Elite Eight, though, it's probably San Diego State or bust.
The Aztecs were pretty snake-bitten last season. Top recruit Malik Pope missed several games early in the season and didn't start showing off his true talent until late January. Their second-best recruit (Zylan Cheatham) redshirted after undergoing surgery for a foot injury. Dwayne Polee II was a very strong preseason candidate for Mountain West Player of the Year, but he missed two months following a heart- condition diagnosis.
If Pope and Cheatham are healthy, if both of their top-100 recruits contribute immediately and if Skylar Spencer and Winston Shepard have anything close to the senior seasons they're capable of producing, this could be an extremely good San Diego State team.
Texas A&M Aggies
19 of 22
Top Challengers: Texas, Tulsa
Aside from the decisions between top-10 teams like Kansas and Kentucky or Villanova and Virginia, this was the toughest choice of them all.
Texas is the obvious candidate, because, well, it's Texas. The Longhorns have been to 24 of the past 27 NCAA tournaments, and everyone with an opinion on the matter is under the impression that they hit the jackpot in upgrading from Rick Barnes to Shaka Smart.
Whether they'll be great immediately or need a couple of years to break in the new system remains to be seen, but this is an already talented team heading in the right direction.
Tulsa is the much, much less obvious candidate, but show me a seven-man rotation made up entirely of seniors who have won at least 21 games in back-to-back seasons and I'll show you a serious contender for a spot in the Top 25.
Tulsa doesn't have nearly the name-brand recognition of Texas, but the Golden Hurricane have more experience than any team in the country and haven't finished below .500 since 2005-06. Anyone trying to tell you that the AAC is headed for another disappointing year because of SMU's postseason ban clearly hasn't done their homework on Tulsa.
But Texas A&M is arguably the best candidate.
Everyone loves to talk about Danuel House like he's the only player on the roster, but Jalen Jones put up 13.7 points and 6.6 rebounds per game last season—two years removed from posting 14.0 points and 7.7 rebounds per game with SMU. And Alex Caruso is a darn fine point guard who averaged 9.1 points, 5.5 assists and 2.1 steals per game last year.
More important than the returnees, though, are the additions. South Florida transfer Anthony Collins gives the Aggies another point guard who can pass and steal like crazy, as well as a fourth senior who will enter the season with more than 2,400 career minutes of experience under his belt.
At the other end of the collegiate spectrum, they addressed their frontcourt weakness by adding four top-100 freshmen—three of which play either power forward or center. If Tyler Davis, D.J. Hogg and Elijah Thomas can each make some sort of positive contribution this season or if just one of them plays well enough to make the SEC All-Freshman team, Texas A&M could win this conference.
You heard me.
Utah Utes
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Top Challengers: UAB, UCLA
Lest you think UAB was a one-hit wonder in upsetting Iowa State in last year's NCAA tournament, here's your warning that all seven leading scorers are back for another season with the Blazers, and only one of them (Robert Brown) will be a senior this year. Until further notice, UAB is the team to beat in Conference USA.
However, the Blazers aren't quite on the same level as the "U" schools from the Pac-12. Even USC could be headed for a big year to rank well ahead of UAB, but UCLA and Utah are substantially more likely to punch tickets to this year's Big Dance.
Gyorgy Goloman was a breakout candidate for the Bruins after a substantial physical transformation this summer, but he is going to miss at least the first few weeks of the regular season with a leg injury. That puts a lot of pressure on Thomas Welsh and Jonah Bolden to deliver in a big way despite their inexperience at the collegiate level.
The Bruins should be solid, though. They still have Tony Parker, and they have a pretty stout backcourt with starters Bryce Alford and Isaac Hamilton and highly rated freshmen Prince Ali and Aaron Holiday.
We just like Utah's rotation better.
Jordan Loveridge and Brandon Taylor are the veteran leaders, Jakob Poeltl is the NBA's future star and Lorenzo Bonam is the JUCO transfer whose name everyone will know by the end of the year. With a little more production out of Dakarai Tucker and Brekkott Chapman, this could be Utah's best team since Keith Van Horn and Michael Doleac nearly won a national championship.
Villanova Wildcats
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Top Challengers: Vanderbilt, Virginia
As mentioned several times earlier in the alphabet, this was an extremely difficult selection.
Given the other two teams under consideration, Vanderbilt actually wasn't all that close to representing this letter, even though we feel the Commodores are one of the country's 20 best teams.
They have a legitimate Player of the Year candidate in Damian Jones, return nearly everyone from last season and can reasonably expect most of those returnees to improve just by no longer being freshmen. Vanderbilt also adds a key transfer in Nolan Cressler who averaged 16.8 points per game two years ago.
Still, that team is a far cry from both Virginia and Villanova, who are arguably two of the top seven teams heading into this season.
With both teams, you pretty much know exactly what you're getting. Virginia is going to have an excellent, efficient defense, while very rarely making mistakes on offense. Villanova is going to rely heavily upon three-pointers, while playing at an above-average level in pretty much every other facet of the game.
But like a hapless batter facing a Mariano Rivera cutter, there's a fine line between knowing what's coming and being able to do anything about it.
Neither Tony Bennett nor Jay Wright has changed much of anything about his team's game plan in recent seasons, but both the Cavaliers and Wildcats have won back-to-back regular-season championships anyway. To use a hackneyed coaching term, both teams play like a fist, and they seem to both have a never-ending supply of veteran leaders from one year to the next.
We're giving the slightest of edges to Villanova, though, because of 5-star freshman Jalen Brunson.
Josh Hart is an outstanding, versatile player who might win Big East Player of the Year, but Brunson might be even better than Hart by season's end. Along with significant contributions from seniors Ryan Arcidiacono and Daniel Ochefu, Villanova has a quartet that can go to war with any team in the country. Great as Virginia is, the Cavaliers probably can't make the same claim.
The good news is we'll get to settle this debate once and for all on Dec. 19 when Villanova travels to Charlottesville for what should be one of the best nonconference tilts of the year.
Wichita State Shockers
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Top Challengers: West Virginia, Wisconsin
The biggest debate for "W" is whether West Virginia or Wisconsin is actually going to be the second-best team.
As you may have heard a few thousand times this summer, Bo Ryan has never finished worse than fourth in the Big Ten standings. But even the people who revere Ryan and respect that streak are pretty much just taking that information and projecting the Badgers for a fourth-place finish.
They won't be terrible by any means, but they won't be nearly as good as the past two seasons, now that they're moving on without Frank Kaminsky, Sam Dekker and several other key pieces from the back-to-back Final Four runs. To actually finish in the top four of arguably the country's second-best conference, Nigel Hayes and Bronson Koenig will need to shine in lead roles and Ethan Happ must have a huge season as a redshirt freshman.
West Virginia may find it every bit as difficult to finish in the top four of the Big 12. The Mountaineers have a couple of very promising pieces in Devin Williams and Jevon Carter, but their offense might not be as strong without Juwan Staten.
Moreover, opposing coaches were already beginning to catch onto their defensive gimmick. After recording at least 10 steals in each of their first 14 games, they hit double digits in that category just twice over the final 11 games.
Meanwhile, Wichita State will be seeking to establish itself as one of the top four teams in the entire country.
The fall from grace may be steep when the Shockers lose Ron Baker, Fred VanVleet, Evan Wessel and Anton Grady this summer, but they'll enjoy it while it lasts with one more quest for a perfect season. They have averaged 31.7 wins per season over the past three years, and it would be a pretty big surprise if they didn't at least hit 30 wins again this year.
Stats are courtesy of 247Sports and KenPom.com, unless noted otherwise.
Kerry Miller covers college basketball for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter: @kerrancejames.
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