-Originally Published 11/9/21-
Last season’s matchup between 27-2 Baylor and undefeated Gonzaga was the best combined record in Championship history and an opportunity for Mark Few and the Bulldogs to win their first Championship. A 9-0 start and 47-37 halftime lead were part of a wire-to-wire 86-70 victory for the Bears playing spoiler. Gonzaga is back again with star Drew Timme returning and the top recruit of the class 7’1 lane-driving-3-point-shooting Chet Holmgren. The WCC will be more competitive with BYU, Loyola Marymount, and Saint Mary’s all looking solid this squad might lose a conference game this season.
Baylor loses some talent and will be fighting with Kansas and newly-mined Texas coach Chris Beard, making the leap from Texas Tech, and his marry band of transfer talent in toe. Only four players return as one freshman and a handful transfers join as Beard hammered the portal. Kansas had a rare down season where it didn’t win the Big 12 and lost nine games including its first rounder in the NCAA tournament. Four starters are back and roster is loaded with much more than another Conference Championship in mind.
Speaking of struggling blue bloods, Duke (13-11) and Kentucky (9-16) missed the NCAA Tournament while North Carolina (18-11) finished 5th in the ACC and was hammered 85-62 by Wisconsin in the first round. Roy Williams shockingly announced his retirement on April Fool’s day while Mike Krzyzewski announced his retirement tour this season. Both teams should be in the mix with Virginia and Florida State in the ACC as we prepare for a landscape without either HOF coach. UNC returns four starters and pulls in a couple good recruits and transfers. FSU will be senior heavy and will have three dudes over 7’0 on the roster. Once again top-5 in the country for the largest collection of tall guys. Coach K stated that he backed off recruiting trips to allow former player and successor Jon Scheyer to connect with his future players. The Dukies nabbed the #4 recruting class #4 Paolo Banchero, #23 Trevor Keels, #29 AJ Griffin, and #91 Jalen Blakes. Only two players return that have played major minutes so a National Championship might be asking for too much on Coach K’s last dance. Virgina lost most of its scoring from last season, not great for a team that scores less than 70ppg but they’ll recover.
Kentucky has reloaded and will be in the mix with Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Tennessee and possibly others in a pretty open SEC. The Wildcats don’t send the entire roster to the pros as was once the case. Senior Davion Mintz, junior Keion Brooks Jr, and senior transfer Kellan Grady via Davison are all established contributors. TyTy Washington and Damion Collins are two of the new “one-and-done” ers.
Alabama finished 26-7 with a 88-78 sweet 16 loss to ULCA and Arkansas finished 25-7 with a Elite 8 loss to Baylor 81-72. Both lose a chunk of talent but are in position to pick up where they left off under great coaches. Auburn sputtered to a 13-14 last season, two years after a final four run, that wasn’t reflective of their talent. They’ve reload and they’re ready to roll with the addition of a few transfers like 7’1 Walker Kessler from North Carolina. Tennessee under Rick Barnes was 18-9 last season and run an experienced squad back that’ll be hard to score on.
On the flip side, UCLA is a blue blood on the rise after a mediocre Pac-12 season saw the Bruins make a run from play-in to one play away from the National Championship. Oregon State also made an improbably run through the conference tourney and all the way to the elite 8 but again, doesn’t figure to be a threat nationally this season. The Bruins behind NCAA tourney fav Johnny Juzang (16ppg, 4.1rpg) and four others averaging double figures are the clear favorites. It’s kind of a hodge podge after that with Oregon and USC looking to be the most consistent.
Houston was 28-4 last season with one of best defenses in the country but fell 78-59 to Baylor in the Final Four. The Cougars finished 2nd to Wichita State last season and both squads will in the mix again along with new front-runner Memphis. Gary Payton’s recruiting class finished #1 (or 2 depending where you look) pulling in 4 top-70 prospects including #3 Emoni Bates who reclassified to enroll early and #7 Jalen Duren. The Tigers won’t be dependent entirely on headline grabbing freshman with Landers Nolley II (13.1ppg, 4.1rgp, 38.7 3p%), DeAndre William (11.7ppg, 5.8rpg, 3.4apg, 2.2stl, 49.7%, 45.5 3p%) and plenty of other talent for a defensive minded squad.
Speaking of Blue Bloods, Final Fours and Emoni Bates, the Michigan State Spartans stumbled to a play-in loss to UCLA last season with the most anemic offense in Izzo’s tenure. The offseason saw former heralded recruit Rocket Watts and several others transfer and Emoni Bates de-commit. Michigan, Purdue, Ohio State, and Illinois will all favored over Sparty and in the running nationally after the conference embarrassed itself with early tourney exits last season. Michigan is loaded with Hunter Dickinson (14.1ppg, 7.4rpg, 59.8 Fg%) passing on the NBA, Eli Brooks (9.5ppg, 39.6 3p%) returning and the #2 recruiting classes in the country. Illnois returns beatstick Kofi Cockburn (17.7 ppg, 9.5 rpg), sniper Trent Fraizer (55% 3-point) and a good infusing of freshman and transfers to keep last season’s run going. Purdue is returning all five starters from a 18-10 team and Ohio State will be Senior heavy but lead by Juinor E.J. Liddell (16.2ppg, 6.7rgp) who skipping the NBA to return.
The Atlantic 10 (A-10) is always loaded with talent but a 16-5 St. Bonaventure team returns everyone from the A-10 regular season and tournament winners. Richmond, VCU, and Saint Louis will all be good. Villanova finished 18-7 last season in a disappointing Big East where every team outside Nova (11-4) finished 14-6 or worse in conference play with six of the eleven teams finishing with a losing record in conference play. Nova returns Collin Gillespie (14ppg, 3.3rpg, 4.6apg, 37.6 3p%), Justin Moore (12.9ppg, 4.1rpg, 3apg) Jermaine Samuels (12ppg, 6.4rpg, 2.5apg, 37.1 3p%) and a wealth of depth and talent. Creighton brings in four top-100 recruits, Connecticut has depth, St. John’s has two stars in Posh Alexander and Julian Champagnie, Georgetown welcomes 5-star Aminu Mohammad so the conference should be more interesting this season.
- Gonzaga
- Kansas
- Michigan
- UCLA
- Villanova
- Texas
- Ohio State
- Memphis
- Kentucky
- North Carolina
- Oregon
- Purdue
- Baylor
- Alabama
- Florida St
- Tennessee
- Duke
- Houston
- Virginia
- St Bonnaventure
- USC
- Illinois
- Arkansas
- Michigan State
- Auburn
- Maryland
- Virginia Tech
- UConn
- Syracuse
- Richmond
Most Exciting TV Teams
- Duke
- Memphis
- Gonzaga
- UCLA
- Michigan
- Alabama
- Texas
- Arkansas
- Kentucky
- North Carolina
