PC and How6rd CBB Predictions 24-25

Dude…

It’s the best time of the year. College Basketball is back!! Out with the boring baseball where they play 182 games. Where it's so slow, I fall asleep during the 2nd inning. Where all the scoring could happen in the very beginning of the game and never have any action. Basketball is action packed and full of upsets, especially at the college level. Here is my pre season top 10! Hold onto your hats, this will be a bumpy ride!!!

PC’S PICKS

#10 Texas A&M- Texas A&M was supposed to be one of the best teams in the SEC last year. They definitely didn’t live up to the hype I gave them last year. However, they return 5 scorers from last year and Wade Taylor is back and hunting for his second SEC player of the year. SMU transfer Zhuric Phelps who averaged almost 15 points last year which should boost the Aggies bench. Buzz Williams is setting himself up again to have a good year, but will it hold up to the standards almost everyone has for them this year? That’s the question.

#9 Gonzaga- Mark Few is a Hall of Fame coach. He continues to bring in talent to make this Zags team into a top 10 team in the nation. He brings back everyone except Anton Watson and should have a pretty easy WCC regular season. The only good team in that conference is the Zags and St. Mary’s. Graham Ike should be the center piece to Few’s offense and defense, lining himself up for contention for the WCC Player of the Year. This team advanced to the Sweet Sixteen last year, and are looking to continue to do just that, if not farther this year.

#8 Iowa State-  TJ Otzelberger returns his top 4 scorers from last year's team that got a 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Tamin Lipsey and Keshon Gilbert should lead this team and be fighting for all Big 12 honors. Iowa State has always been known for its stingy defense and half court play style. If TJ wants to make it to a final four, he will have to rely on those 2 guys and the defense to have success in a high powered Big 12.

#7 North Carolina- This ranking may be a little low. RJ Davis is back on campus and the Tar Heels are going to compete for an ACC title, and maybe even a National Championship. The key to Hubert Davis’s team was keeping Elliot Cadeau and Seth Trimble who were both major impacts for the Tar Heels last season. Adding a top 10 recruiting class in the nation, headlined by Ian Jackson and Drake Powell who should be great pieces for Davis to play with to maybe make North Carolina’s 22nd Final Four.

#6 Baylor- Scott Drew and the Baylor Bears are in line to cause some major havoc in the Big 12 this year. Drew brings back key players such as Langston Love, Jayden Dunn, and Josh Ojianwuna from last year’s team that was a 3 seed. The biggest reason I am so high on the Baylor Bears is their transfers. Jeremy Roach was a foundational piece to the Duke squad last season. A facilitator and a premiere scorer will compliment Nunn in the back court. Nochad Omier from Miami will give Baylor another wing 3 and D threat that will be a huge impact player. We can’t forget about 5 star freshmen VJ Edgecombe who should be the star in a star studded Bears team. This team is my dark horse to win the National Championship.

#5 Duke- The best freshman class with the best freshman in the game. Cooper Flagg will be the guy to watch. Jon Scheyer also retained 2 key veterans in Caleb Foster and Tyrese Proctor. Flagg will have help from guys like Kon Kneppel who is going to make a major impact as well. Transfers Malik Brown from Syracuse and Mason Gillis from Purdue, The Main Man from Way Out West has a good team to cheer for. Maybe, even National Championship worthy.

#4 UCONN- This is probably too low for the back-to-back National Champions, but they did lose a lot. 4 of their 5 starters went to the NBA. Dan Hurley was able to keep Alex Karaban who will be the #1 option for the Huskies. Hassan Diarra, Samson Johnson, and Solomon Ball will have to step up. Incoming 5-star freshmen in Liam McNeeley should have the Huskies in the hunt for a 3 peat.

#3 Houston- Kelvin Sampson lost Jamal Shead, but kept 8 out of his top 10 scorers. LJ Cryer should be the main man in Houston. He is finally given the reins and I think he will lead this team well. Emmanuel Sharpe will be his back court duo and will be a problem. Milos Uzan from Oklahoma will add some much needed shooting. You know the Cougars always bring the defense, now they have some shooters who will help them be in contention for the top spot in the Big 12.

#2 Kansas- I am actually really excited for this team. Hunter Dickenson should be the main main, but needs to be better on the offensive end. Dajuan Harris will still be a floor general and KJ Adams is always a force on the inside. Last year, Self had no depth. This year, he emphasized to pick up shooters and a lot of them. Wisconsin’s AJ Storr will give them that downhill offense. Zeke Mayo is a proven shooter and Rylan Griffen from Alabama, should give them the help that they need. Flory Bidunga is a classic big Self likes to use and should give some help off the bench. This team has reloaded, and it should be gunning for the top spot in the Big 12, and the nation.

#1 Alabama- The KU Guy didn’t pick Kansas?? What? One guy coming back made me put Nate Oates' team over my own. Mark Sears is going to be the National Player of the Year. He led a talented Bama team to a Final Four last year. Liam Nelson is going to be his partner in crime that is going to have a major impact. Clifford Omoruyi from Rutgers and Aden Halloway from Auburn will propel this team to great heights. Finally, watch out for Labaron Philon, who should be a big problem coming off the bench. This is my pick to win the NCAA Tournament.

HOW6RD’S PICKS

#10 St John’s- This team gave UConn the toughest fight from the beginning of this past March to the end of last season and everyone has seemed to ignore it. Sure there’s a solid amount of last year’s scoring contributors who left in terms of Daniss Jenkins, Joel Soriano, and Jordan Dingle…but the thing is two of those guys were newcomers just like most of their roster this season. This season is a similar story with even more talented players like my favorite to win Big East POTY in Kadary Richmond and Deivon Smith who found his true playmaking rhythm at Utah last season. The most important newcomer in my opinion for this team is Aaron Scott who was a big part in North Texas’ recent rise and if he can take more shots with his solid perimeter shooting (when he does shoot) he could be a huge X factor for a team that only lacks shooting IMO. If the defense looks as advertised and Rick Pitino can work his magic by even calling out how “unathletic” his team is to the media once again to wake the team up, this team at it’s full potential could definitely be the best Big East team in the regular season.

#9 Tennessee- The loss of Dalton Knecht shows tremendously in terms of what to think about this team’s offense going into this season, but on the other hand the Vols have created a defensive juggernaut. If you were a fan of defensive teams in the past who’s defense overpowered the lack of offense like the competitive Virginia teams that made it so far in the tournament in such low scoring games then Tennessee’s got you covered. Zakai Zeigler remains on the team being last year’s SEC Defensive POTY, not much more needs to be said, and Jahmai Mashack’s defensive ability may just be as good as Zeigler’s along with a development of his jump shot being a huge factor in the starting lineup this season. Following up with Felix Okpara who’s already shown to be one of the best shot blockers in the country, this defense can make it a nightmare for any of these teams to score consistently on any given night.

#8 North Carolina- UNC was a surefire candidate to be in my top 10 for the sole fact that they may be one of the only teams in the nation to keep the same backcourt duo. RJ Davis has been in college forever and nearly every season he’s been the key piece of this roster having scored over 2,000 points for the team with another season remaining. Elliot Cadaeu had a rough freshman campaign for the hype coming in with rough shooting from the field and especially 3-pointers, but if he turns around his shot everything else can develop with more experience as he had multiple instances where he showed the five star talent he came in with. They have a few additional returning pieces to help them, but the two big adds are transfer Cade Tyson who was a lights-out shooter for Belmont last season along with grabbing two of the top recruits in the country in Ian Jackson and Drake Powell. If they can get some solid interior play from Jae’lyn Withers who’s bound to get more minutes this team could fall anywhere from 5-10 on this list and I wouldn’t shame it.

#7 Baylor- My excitement level to watch this team play may be getting in the way of my bias here especially with so many teams in the Big 12 far up the list but oh well. VJ Edgecombe has opened the eyes of many not only with his high school play but playing for the Bahamas this offseason he’s shown some incredible potential. Getting a top point guard freshman Rob Wright and Jason Asemota the young talent on this team is solid, but those aren’t even close to the other top story out of Edgecombe. Jeremy Roach and Norchad Omier are two solid veteran transfer portal landings that create a perfect balance of youth and experience. The defense is a big enough question mark for me not to have them in the top 5, but the backcourt duo of Roach and Edgecombe with the depth they have might make defense an afterthought for them in the end.

#6 Iowa State- TJ Otzelberger is easily one of the elite coaches now in college basketball with how physical and empowering his defenses have been and now they might have something even scarier…a strong offense to go with it. For their transfer portal grabs Joshua Jefferson was a solid big man for Saint Mary’s last season getting a ton of second chance buckets, and Nate Heise was a consistent scoring big guard for Northern Iowa who could be a big boost to an Iowa State need even if he has half the production on the Power 5 level. Besides that they return multiple key contributors from last year’s team consisting of All-American candidate Tamin Lipsey, the best Big 12 player no one is talking about in Keshon Gilbert, and Curtis Jones who were the Cyclones’ top three scorers from last years’ squad.

#5 Duke - The expectations for this team are as high as they were in 2018 but the big twist is that this team doesn’t have the mind of Coach K leading them. Starting off with the top freshman in the country Cooper Flagg will have all eyes across the country on him as he’s the top candidate for next year’s #1 pick in the NBA Draft and his USA Scrimmage play made that even more believable. Aside from him fellow freshmen Kon Knueppel and Khaman Maluach are also favorable lottery pick candidates that can push this team to the National Championship contending level if they click right away. Topping it off with two returning players in Tyrese Proctor and Caleb Foster this team could be loaded just with their starting rotation alone. 

#4 Kansas-  Although injuries took a huge part in the team’s turnout last season they still had a bumpy finish after being the preseason number 1 team in the country. Bill Self and company took this to heart and did some major recruiting in the portal and the current freshman class to make sure this season goes much better. Flory Bidunga has had major praise from Bill Self this offseason in terms of being a recruit and he’s got potential national POTY Hunter Dickinson starting over him at center. Besides that former Wisconsin starr AJ Storr, playmaker Zeke Mayo, and sharpshooter Rylan Griffen boost this team’s offense on paper probably twice the amount their wings gave them last season. Capping all that off with long-time KU vet Dajuan Harris Jr. this team took a 180 degree turn for the better and with no bad injury luck could go to work in the now stacked Big 12 conference sharpening themselves for a big run in March.

#3 UConn-  On paper there’s a good chunk this team has lost and now lacks compared to their past teams under Dan Hurley, but I would be very short-sighted to ignore the work ethic Hurley has installed in this team year after year in doing so. The Huskies have quite the different roster from the looks of how they work the last couple of years, with transfer guard Aidan Mahaney from Saint Mary’s and Tarris Reed Jr. being the top transfers replacing last year’s stars in Donovan Clingan, Tristen Newton, and Cam Spencer. My favorite part of this team though should be really solid in returning elite sharpshooter Alex Karaban and incoming freshman Liam McNeely who’s gotten nothing but positive reviews from scouts observing him in just the last year. On paper their interior play is a big question mark, but with Dan Hurley the papers mean nothing and I’m just looking forward to see how this team develops and proves us all wrong this year after not just assuming they’re automatically the best in the country.

#2 Alabama- Last season was Nate Oats’ first final four appearance being the top talk of campus in a rare year doing so with Alabama’s football powerhouse. This season the hopes are even higher as they retain the best point guard in the country Mark Sears for another year. They bring back four more huge contributors from last years team including Grant Nelson who had a shaky regular season but phenomenal tournament. Out of all this, their newcomers take the cake for the biggest story with Clifford Omoruyi being the best defensive big man on the college level along with sharpshooters Chris Youngblood and Houston Mallette, former Auburn player Aden Holloway switching to the rival school, and potential SEC Freshman of the Year in Labaron Philon along with another handful of talented freshman. This is a loaded roster Nate Oats has in all aspects and if they carry on from last year’s finish they may run the SEC with ease in pursuit of a national title.

#1 Houston-For my top team it was more difficult for me to find reasons not to find this team at the top on paper than it was to find good reasoning. They lost their All-American star from last season in Jamal Shead…but that’s pretty much it. The other four starters in last year’s lineup are still here and Kelvin Sampson with roster continuity from last year’s Big 12 champs is a horrifying thought for other teams they get to go up against. Their sole transfer Milos Uzan is a true PG from Oklahoma who could pick up close to where Shead left off considering the supporting cast he had and set this team right back where they ended last year as champions of the Big 12. Barring any decline from the players that shined on last year’s team this is a deep squad that has the coach and right factors to build a national championship level season.