UConn Basketball: Do They Have a Case to Be Ranked Preseason No. 1?

With Andre Drummond's enrollment at UConn is it possible that they are now the preseason No. 1-ranked team?

They are the defending champions. Coach Calhoun only lost one significant player from that championship team and three role players.

If we were to do a preseason poll right now, North Carolina and Kentucky would come out on top of UConn all the time.

Kentucky has four five-star recruits incoming but experience has to count for something. Terrence Jones and Doron Lamb are back but UConn still has the edge.

North Carolina has some "veterans" who came back to school instead of entering the NBA draft. But can we ignore the fact that these guys actually lost in the Elite 8? They are the same team.

Even Ohio State will get more love than the Huskies but Jared Sullinger will find life a little harder without David Lighty and Jon Diebler's shooting touch to keep double-teams at bey. Or Dallas Lauderdale to take some defensive assignments off him.

UConn lost 23.5 points per game in the form of Kemba Walker, who left for the NBA. Three role players, Jamal Coombs-McDaniel, Charles Okwandu and Donnell Beverly graduated. 

They replaced Kemba Walker with a high scoring forward, DeAndre Daniels. Alex Oriakhi will either slide to power forward and Drummond will man the middle. Or vice versa.

The emergence of Jeremy Lamb as one of the most potent scoring guards in the nation—over the summer with Team USA—will make life without Walker easier.

They should at least surpass Duke, who's very young, and Syracuse in any preseason rankings that will dominate the headlines within the next month. 

UConn has a relatively easy preseason schedule but their season will depend on how fast they can incorporate these two new game changing recruits.