kesodop's Week Pre-Season Ballot
| Rank | Team | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Houston | Roberts, Tugler and Francis are a physical top three. Cryer can shoot, and Sampson can coach. |
| 2 | Duke | Cooper Flagg. If he's as advertised, America's in for a treat, but sometimes top prospects don't live up to the lofty expectations. |
| 3 | Alabama | Marks Sears may be the best player in the nation. Nate Oats' team will score aplenty, but will they play defense? |
| 4 | Kansas | Bill Self still has Hunter Dickinson, and the team will have to try to avoid injuries this year. |
| 5 | Iowa State | Tamin Lipsey may be the best non senior/super-senior guard in the nation. |
| 6 | Gonzaga | The loss of marksman Steele Venters will hurt (again), but Nembhard, Gregg, Huff and Ike should still be more than enough. |
| 7 | UConn | Dan Hurley can coach like nobody else, but beyond Karaban and Diarra, the roster is full of question marks. |
| 8 | Arizona | Tommy Lloyd has another loaded roster. Bradley, Lewis and Love is one of the best trios in the country. |
| 9 | Baylor | If transfers Norchad Omier and Jeremy Roach pan out, this team will be very good. |
| 10 | Auburn | Johni Broome is the biggest threat to Mark Sears for SEC PotY, and Baker-Mazara and Cardwell are great players too. |
| 11 | Purdue | Braden Smith has another year of experience under his belt, and will help Matt Painter usher in the post-Edey era. |
| 12 | Creighton | Steven Ashworth and Ryan Kalkbrenner form potentially America's best inside-out combo. |
| 13 | Tennessee | Trusting in Rick Barnes and Zakai Zeigler, as the defense will once again be tough to score on. |
| 14 | North Carolina | The guards are very good (Davis and Cadeau). The bigs? Who knows. |
| 15 | Texas A&M | Wade Taylor IV will let it fly, and a lot of the time it will go in. |
| 16 | Cincinnati | Jizzle James, son of NFL star Edgerrin James, seems poised for a breakout year. |
| 17 | Texas | Depth is key in Austin, but one of Mark, Kaluma and/or Shedrick will need to become an alpha. |
| 18 | Marquette | Shaka Smart lost a lot, but Kam Jones will help ensure that the program stays relevant. |
| 19 | Texas Tech | Although JT Toppin isn't related to Obi or Jacob, he's a hooper himself. |
| 20 | Arkansas | Welcome, Coach Cal. Aidoo, Davis and Wagner will help to ease the transition. |
| 21 | Indiana | Mike Woodson brought in Oumar Ballo to help him win in the B1G, and Myles Rice was an underrated pickup. |
| 22 | UCLA | RIP Bill Walton. That's it, that's the blurb. |
| 23 | Florida | Todd Golden's squad had depth and talent. 7'9" center Olivier Rioux is appointment viewing every time he touches the court. |
| 24 | Illinois | Terrence Shannon Jr. has left, but Brad Underwood's team should still be competitive. |
| 25 | Kentucky | What's not new in Lexington? New coach (Mark Pope) and a bunch of new players, led by Wake transfer Andrew Carr, can help this team remain in the SEC discussion. |
Overall Rationale
I used some predictive metrics (KenPom and EvanMiya), as well as my own perceptions on the teams, coaches and players.