| Arizona | Awaka is a beast, but will he play more than 20 minutes? That limits the ceiling. |
| Arizona State | Unless Grobovic is a star, this may be the end of the road for Hurley. The international translations are solid, but not quite top-200—the level they need. I don’t see him replacing Quaintance and the talent level they had last year. |
| Baylor | This is the worst Baylor roster we’ve seen in a while. It seems like money is catching up, and teams like BYU have swooped in. This is an entirely new roster, and not an impressive one. Baylor typically gets a lot out of freshmen, so perhaps that’s the path to raising the ceiling with Yessoufou. I don’t see many other high-upside options. |
| BYU | One of the most talented teams, but a new one led by a freshman. |
| Cincinnati | This really feels like a make-or-break year for Wes Miller—one where he has to reach the NCAA Tournament. James returns, and the roster makeup is similar to last year. Thiam blocks shots and has tools, but was not good defensively at UCF (109 Def. rating). Miller should get more out of him, but there are no guarantees this team will be better. They’ll be big in the post with Baba Miller, Haynes, and Thiam. It’s going to be close and dependent on wings like Celestine and Krisa—which I don’t see working out personally. |
| Colorado | This is a slightly better-looking roster on paper. At least they got a D1 low-major star in Hargress instead of a D2 or NAIA guy. I don’t see much more. |
| Houston | Strong core with Tugler, Sharpe, and Uzan. Highly rated freshmen, but more questions beyond that. |
| Iowa State | Jefferson has All-American potential despite not rating out as well. Got to believe in the defensive system/floor much like Tennessee. |
| Kansas | We probably have Bidunga and White rated higher than anyone—and this roster still feels unimpressive. There’s no continuity, few proven players at this level, and a complete lack of shooting at this point. The backcourt wasn’t even efficient in the A-10 against 130 SOSs. I see major issues here and a worrying trend with back-to-back 25th-ranked teams. Got to believe what we’re seeing until there’s a rebound. A lot will fall on Peterson, and as Rutgers showed last year, an ill-fitting, low-shooting roster can underachieve—even with a great freshman. |
| Kansas State | Tang pulls out another interesting late get with Haggerty. The team has some talent, but I don’t see a high ceiling overall. |
| Oklahoma State | They added a lot of new players—guys who’ve had individual success but not much team success like Clary, Coleman, and Roy. There’s talent and depth, but I’m skeptical. |
| TCU | Depending on a #1 JUCO to be your best player is not the greatest spot to be in—especially with other teams bringing back proven D1 stars. It might work, though, as Edmonds seems to fit the mold of Ewin last year. Dixon is a good coach. Still, it seems TCU may be running into money issues. |
| Texas Tech | Toppin is easily the best player in the nation. Playing center mostly unlocked him last year. I’m less impressed with the supporting cast and depth. Some think Bamgboye will start, but Toppin only played 280 possessions with a big last year. I think starting Bamgboye would be a mistake and limit Toppin’s impact. Also, Bamgboye was a 16-minutes-a-game backup in the A-10 who pretty much only blocked shots with light rebounding. |
| UCF | Freeman is on the roster for now, and staying on it will dictate a lot about whether UCF remains this high. Cambridge has played well before, but it’s been a while with him sitting out. UCF seems like a team that really has to gamble on high-risk injury/character guys to compete in the Big 12. That comes with shakiness. If it succeeds, like it has somewhat, you’ll probably see those players transfer out after rehabbing their image. |
| Utah | Retaining Dawes for Alex Jensen was a big get after he entered the portal. I didn’t see much else positive added, though. They’ll need McHenry to be a lot better than he showed at WKU. I didn’t really understand the hire, and getting back to the top-75 level Craig Smith had them at the last 3 years might not happen. |
| West Virginia | I think Hodge is a great coach who does more with less—an improvement on DeVries. But he’ll need to be, because this roster is disappointing on paper. We’ll see. |
