Rank | Team | Reason |
---|---|---|
1 | Gonzaga | Beating my preseason No. 9 team by 39 points will help you stand out. |
2 | Auburn | Decimated a perenially good Vermont program, then flew (twice) to Houston to beat the Cougars. |
3 | Duke | Neither Maine nor Army were expected to pose a threat. They didn't. More telling: 4 Blue Devils not named Flagg are averaging double figures so far. |
4 | Kansas | Held off a feisty Tar Heels crew at the Phog. However, I'm lower on UNC than most, and that Jayhawk second half scared me. |
5 | Alabama | Arkansas St is a good team in the Sun Belt. But they held things close with a title contender from the SEC. Sears is great, Omoruyi is very good. But the Tide need more. |
6 | Iowa State | Nice of the Cyclones to host the worst team in college hoops. Anything short of a drubbing would've been troublesome. Spoiler: Iowa St won by 39. |
7 | UConn | What do we know? Sacred Heart and New Hampshire are bad. Dan Hurley and Alex Karaban are good. |
8 | Tennessee | Turned Louisville's "Yum! Center" into Louisville's "Bum Center." Rick Barnes taught Pat Kelsey a couple of things about coaching in the big leagues. |
9 | Houston | Houston: we may have a problem. Jamal Shead left for the NBA last year, and we haven't seen if the Cougars have a clutch, game-winning player on this year's team. Against Auburn, this showed. |
10 | Arizona | Tommy Lloyd's squad hasn't been tested yet. Wisconsin this week, and Duke the next, will provide more answers. |
11 | Purdue | Braden Smith has always been a good passer. Fletcher Loyer has emerged as the go-to scorer post-Edey. |
12 | Marquette | David Joplin is averaging 20.0 pts/game. That's still 8 behind his teammate, Kam Jones. Jones may be the next household name out of the Big East. |
13 | Creighton | Kalkbrenner NPoY talk has started. Steven Ashworth will also contribute, but who else will? |
14 | Cincinnati | Six players averaging double figures. They should be favored in every game until January. |
15 | Texas Tech | Five players averaging 10+ ppg.... Against two teams ranked worse than 300 on KenPom. The competition will improve, will Texas Tech keep it going? |
16 | North Carolina | *Almost* won a non-conference game in Lawrence. But the fight the Tar Heels showed in the second half was encouraging. |
17 | Illinois | Beating not-very-good teams by a large amount is not typically very telling. That's precisely what Illinois has done. In other news, Will Riley might be the next big thing in Champaign. |
18 | Kentucky | Mark Pope's team certainly appears more fun to watch than many of Coach Cal's squads at the school. Their clash against Duke next Tuesday should be cinema. |
19 | Florida | USF is good. Jacksonville is decent. Florida beat them both, then coach Todd Golden was accused of sexual harassment. We will see how this ends. |
20 | St. John's | Rick Pitino is back, baby. Fordham and Quinnipiac stood no chance, but New Mexico and Baylor will soon test the Red Storm. |
21 | Indiana | It's a make-or-break year for Mike Woodson. Good thing he has Oumar Ballo and Mackenzie Mgbako. |
22 | Baylor | Lost to Gonzaga by 3,941 points (slight hyperbole). Handed Coach Cal his first Razorback loss. Time shall reveal which of these results was more indicative. |
23 | Mississippi State | Is this Chris Jans' best team in Starkville? Early returns indicate yes, but the schedule has been soft so far. |
24 | Michigan State | Izzo devoured the appetizers. The main course (Kansas) awaits Tuesday night in Atlanta. |
25 | Oregon | UC Riverside and Montana are better than you realize. However, so is Dana Altman. All the man does is win: his last losing season was 1995-96, with Creighton! |
Incredibly close race at the top. The margin between Gonzaga and Auburn was razor-thin, but the Bulldog's annihilation of a very good Baylor team tops even beating the No. 1 team in my rankings (UH), as that game was significantly closer than the one in Spokane. In general, I tried to combine my preseason poll with current KenPom, EvanMiya and ESPN BPI, with a sprinkling of ESPN SoR (too early for this to really matter). Losses matter, but it helps your cause if it's a close game and/or you're away from home.