Jaymoney00's Week Pre-Season Ballot
| Rank | Team | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Duke | Returned top stars and can bring in talented freshman off the bench. Need improved shooting from Proctor and Filipowski. |
| 2 | Marquette | Just lost OMP. Returning rest of team that won Big East. Need to get it done in March. |
| 3 | Kansas | Very talented starting lineup but losing Arterio Morris to being an idiot will massively hurt the team. Chemistry issues? |
| 4 | Michigan State | Just lost Joey Hauser and added strong freshman class. Team to break the Big Ten's championship duck? |
| 5 | Tennessee | I'm a big JJJ and Vescovi believer. Favorites to win SEC. Badly need Dalton Knecht shooting to translate to provide spacing. |
| 6 | Purdue | Zach Edey is good. Will they find a second scorer to complement him though. Too reliant I fear. |
| 7 | Creighton | Retention of most of team including Kalkbrenner and Trey Alexander. 6 seed pre March Madness and lost Kaluma (inflated projection?) |
| 8 | Arizona | Retain most of the team and critically Oumar Ballo. Will Caleb Love stop shot chucking???? |
| 9 | Houston | Shead back and added Cryer. Breakout from Arceneaux. Losing Sasser and Walker is huge though. Can they make up for it? |
| 10 | Gonzaga | Finally Timme is gone. A new Nembhard is in town. Limited depth? and can the 5-star Nolan Hickman show up? |
| 11 | UConn | Clingan and Newton return. Lost a lot of scoring tho. Castle the lift to boost team to compete with Marquette? |
| 12 | North Carolina | Armando and RJ return plus early commit of Cadeau is huge. Ingram provides value but can't shoot. Does brand name carry North carolina too hard? |
| 13 | Miami (FL) | Wong gone and Miller transferred but Packman and Pooplar stay. Too much pressure on Pack to carry? |
| 14 | Kentucky | Complete rebuild with Reeves staying. One and Done's last stand? Biggest wild card to be final four contender |
| 15 | Texas | Retain Disu, Mitchell, and Hunter. Coaching issues resolved. Scrappy bench created from random places. Will it translate? |
| 16 | Texas A&M | Retain most of rotation. Wade Taylor IV competing for top lead guard in SEC. Bad losses in season last year and early NCAA exit creates confusing future projection for squad. |
| 17 | Florida Atlantic | Retain pretty much everyone. Indicators for longterm success but have to compete with Memphis in tougher conference. |
| 18 | Baylor | Ja'Kobe Walter to supplment Bridges. Putting lots of trust in mid-major starters. Not enough continuity? |
| 19 | Wisconsin | Retain pretty much everyone. Chucky Hepburn weight loss szn. Too optimistic? Limited growth? |
| 20 | Arkansas | Complete restructure but solid pieces in Brazile and Davis remain. Outside shooting concerns. |
| 21 | USC | Another enigma team. Bronny question. Can Collier provide instant impact? Will the hype be too much? |
| 22 | Saint Mary's | Continuity. Had very impressive go at Gonzaga. Logan gone but Mahaney can step up. Athleticism where? |
| 23 | TCU | Mike Miles is gone but tbf he was a bit inefficient. Miller, Peavy, and O'Bannon back. Udeh underrated. Can Jameer translate to BIg 12? |
| 24 | Colorado | Cody Williams szn!!! Colorado on the upswing. Lampkin interesting interior dynamic. THREE POINT SHOOTING |
| 25 | San Diego State | Might be too low and I actually like Lamont Butler and defense. Not enough shooting though and were borderline top-25 last year. 3s matter but can slow pace negate this? |
Overall Rationale
Everything past 11 is complete guesswork. Honestly, this whole thing is guess work but a bit of it is an attempt to balance focus on continuity and known talent. I think everything 11 and above is a fair general consensus for Tier 1 entering the season in my opinion. Lot of focus on 3s unsurprisingly. Maybe should've focused on defense a bit more but harder to quantify anyway and EFG% is the primary four factor that still i think is undersold. Other teams that I find interesting: Kansas State, Alabama, Memphis, Indiana, Louisville, Yale