https://www.cbssports.com/college-basketball/news/college-basketball-no-1-358-rankings-preseason-countdown-concludes-with-top-68-teams-for-2021-22-season/
148. ISU
122. CIN
120. TCU
86. KSU
67. UCF
48. OU
45. WVU
40. TT
36. BYU
26. OSU
14. BU
11. UH
10. UT
4. KU
148. Iowa State: T.J. Otzelberger takes over a program that lost 18 straight to close a dreadful campaign. The Cyclones will never be worse under the man they call Otz than this season. Rocky season ahead in Ames. The future is Tyrese Hunter, a point guard who can maybe ultimately be as game-changing as another recent ISU Tyrese: Haliburton.
122. Cincinnati: New coach Wes Miller will need one year to work out some kinks, get his system in place, and by the middle of '22-23 we'll see Cincinnati back in the top 80. Get this: Cincy has the No. 1 and No. 2 active shot-block leaders in men's D-I on its roster: UNCG transfer Hayden Koval (337) and Mississippi State transfer Abdul Ado (249). Some sultans looming around the rim.
120. TCU: The Froggies get a nice addition from the portal in former TTU forward/local product Micah Peavy. Three others arrived via Texas A&M and UT Arlington. Too many question marks to say if this group can dodge the bottom two spots of the Big 12.
86. Kansas State: Nijel Pack (12.7 ppg) is the head of the snake on a roster that didn't lose a ton despite going 9-20. Is that a good thing? This was a moldy offensive unit a year ago, and Bruce Weber will need to contend for an NCAA Tournament bid to hold on to his job.
67. UCF: Johnny Dawkins' team deserves a tad more attention than it has received. The Knights have more than 80% of their production back from a squad that opened last season with prideful wins against Auburn, Florida State and Cincinnati. UCF also ended the season with a 5-1 record. The middle was murky, which is why UCF ended with an 11-12 mark. But C.J. Walker, Darius Perry and Brandon Mahan are the key three for a team that has the coaching capability and the nucleus to finish in the top four of the American Athletic Conference.
48. Oklahoma: Porter Moser inherits a program that was a No. 8 seed. Moser handled the transfer portal well, landing the Groves brothers (Big Sky player of the year Tanner and his younger brother, Jacob), who were last seen nearly upsetting Kansas in the NCAA Tournament. Moser and his staff managed to retain Umoja Gibson, who averaged 9.1 points in 27 minutes and will transition to being a leader of the locker room. X-factor could be Duke transfer Jordan Goldwire, who will have a shot at running the offense, but more importantly will try to bolster OU's defensive reputation under Moser, who's a very good defensive coach. The hottest name on the carousel gets his new start, and a lot of people are eager to see how this goes.
45. West Virginia: First I have to mention that, had Deuce McBride not remained in the NBA (which was the right decision), I'd have WVU in the top 25 if he was on this roster. Could've had a HUGE junior campaign. Alas, the Mountaineers will be a bubble team led by super-senior Taz Sherman and regular ol' senior Sean McNeil. Stretch 4 Jalen Bridges has a huge opening to prove himself now. as well. Big pic: WVU has been rated in the top-10 in offensive rebound rate seven consecutive seasons. I think that streak ends this season, and because of it, I have Bob Huggins' team projected to be a bubblicious one.
40. Texas Tech: It's no secret that much of TTU's success under Chris Beard happened because new coach Mark Adams served as the defensive guru. (Kind of like the Buddy Ryan to his Mike Ditka, only without all the melodrama of those '85 Bears.) Adams is the man who built the Red Raiders' ball-stopping mindset into a philosophy that made the program nationally relevant for the first time since Bob Knight was in Lubbock. But I do want to see what happens now that Beard has moved southeast in the state. I love Terrence Shannon Jr.'s game. He'll be a top-10 Big 12 player. Question is, can Oral Roberts' Kevin Obanor (18.7 points and 9.6 rebounds) be as impactful at this level? While Obanor was the higher-profile transfer, word is UTEP transfer Bryson Williams could be just as good.
36. BYU: Well-balanced. Doesn't make a habit of beating itself with the small stuff. Mark Pope is a rising star in coaching. The Cougars will again be Gonzaga's toughest test in the WCC (we only have two more years of this before BYU goes to the Big 12). Alex Barcello has an outside shot at being an All-American if he can improve upon his averages (16.1 ppg, 4.7 rpg, 4.3 apg on 47.7% from 3-point range) and push BYU to a single-digit seed. It's not unthinkable. The Cougars have some nice balance with TeJon Lucas playing shooting guard, Gideon George emerging at the 3 and leading rebounder Caleb Lohner playing power forward.
26. Oklahoma State: The Cowboys lost the 2021 No. 1 NBA pick, Cade Cunningham, but I don't think this team is falling off all that much. In fact, there's a reasonable chance it could be a better unit in 2022. That's because Mike Boynton retained 12 players (80% of the team's minutes), then brought on former five-star recruits Bryce Thompson (Kansas) and Moussa Cisse (Memphis) to bolster his roster. This is a clear-cut NCAA Tournament team again, but I want to see if the Pokes can be smart with their shot selection. I get the feeling a lot of guys are going to be hungry for touches. The biggest names back are Avery Anderson III -- who should have a breakout season -- and Isaac Likekele, who'll pick up some of what Cunningham left behind. I'd go so far as to say this is the dark horse of the Big 12.
14. Baylor: A pattern should snap this season. Prior to 2021, Baylor's three best NCAA Tournament endings were the Elite Eight in 2010 and 2012, and Sweet 16 runs in 2014 and 2017. In three of the four seasons that followed those, Baylor didn't make the tournament. In the other, it was one-and-done. But there's almost no shot BU isn't dancing again in 2022. Hey: the damn Baylor Bears really are the reigning champions in men's college basketball, folks. Anyone over the age of 35 can step back, absorb that, and at the same time realize how INSANE this would have been to consider at any point prior to a few years ago. Scott Drew loses Jared Butler, MaCio Teague, Davion Mitchell and Mark Vital, but Adam Flagler, Matthew Mayer, Jonathan Tchamwa-Tchatchoua are back, all guys who earned big minutes. New faces: Arizona transfer James Akinjo (could he be the newcomer of the year in the Big 12?) and freshman Kendall Brown, who is a highlight-reel dunker who loves to be coached and has a chance to break into the starting lineup. Baylor gets the semi-rare situation of having very little pressure the year after winning a championship, so much so they can use it as fuel to overshoot preseason expectations from the outside.
11. Houston: This is a tad lofty, but I can't see the Coogs falling too far after their first Final Four in 37 years (as a No. 2 seed). Kelvin Sampson brings back five double-digit minutes-getters, most notably the ever-clutch Marcus Sasser, who'll be a preseason All-AAC guy. Texas Tech transfer Kyler Edwards will look to jolt his career the way Quentin Grimes (now in the NBA) did at UH. Expect Houston to remain elite with its defense; its 37.8% field-goal-percentage resistance on that end of the floor ranked first in the country. We'll probably see these cats win this year's Maui tournament (which is being held in Vegas). The American Athletic Conference will soon be undergoing realignment that, unfortunately, will remove it from the major-conference discussion. (UH is going to the Big 12.) But not this season. This season the league should have two teams with Final Four hopes and another two, at least, in the mix to make the Big Dance.
10. Texas: As you'll see, I'm mildly zagging on two schools in my top 10. (Groupthink is normally precarious.) Whereas most pundits will have Texas in the top five, I'm going to tap-tap the brakes on the UT hype. No one can argue about Texas' talent; I lost count on how many coaches told me in the past six weeks that this is by far the most talented team Beard has ever coached. The Horns rank in the top five of most interesting teams heading into November because of who's in the roster. A haul of six highly regarded transfers are in the fold, most of them coming from teams that were just-OK or worse in the past two seasons. They're all eager to win. Will it all jell? Remember, guards Courtney Ramey and Andrew Jones are back. They combined to take 586 shots last season. This is their team. How Marcus Carr, Devin Askew, Tre Mitchell, Timmy Allen and Christian Bishop fill in around Ramey and Jones will determine how dangerously good Texas can be. Fortunately, we get an almost-immediate look. Nov. 13: Texas at Gonzaga. Let's go.
4. Kansas: Kansas was bizarrely not a good shooting outfit in 2020-21. In fact, the Jayhawks had an effective field goal percentage of 49.4%, the poorest in ranking (196th, per KenPom) and accuracy in Self's career. With a KenPom team ranking of 27th, it also measured as the worst Self-coached team since Tulsa in 1998-99. (If finishing 27th is bad, then wow. Just wow.) Now the Jayhawks have a smorgasbord of eclectic talent, with Arizona State transfer/preseason Big 12 Player of the Year Remy Martin coming in to spice up the pot. I have no clue how that's going to go, but it will be must-see on account of Martin's penchant to jolt any given possession. Jalen Wilson was an up-and-down promising player last season and could be in for a huge year. I'm banking on him being a top-15 Big 12 guy. Add in the returns of Ochai Agbaji (their best all-around player), David McCormack and Christian Braun and you've got yourself a high-level starting five. Drake transfer Joseph Yesufu will be a spark plug. Self has told reporters he thinks Kansas can go 10-deep. I'll believe it when I see it, but the top eight looks mighty fun.
148. ISU
122. CIN
120. TCU
86. KSU
67. UCF
48. OU
45. WVU
40. TT
36. BYU
26. OSU
14. BU
11. UH
10. UT
4. KU
148. Iowa State: T.J. Otzelberger takes over a program that lost 18 straight to close a dreadful campaign. The Cyclones will never be worse under the man they call Otz than this season. Rocky season ahead in Ames. The future is Tyrese Hunter, a point guard who can maybe ultimately be as game-changing as another recent ISU Tyrese: Haliburton.
122. Cincinnati: New coach Wes Miller will need one year to work out some kinks, get his system in place, and by the middle of '22-23 we'll see Cincinnati back in the top 80. Get this: Cincy has the No. 1 and No. 2 active shot-block leaders in men's D-I on its roster: UNCG transfer Hayden Koval (337) and Mississippi State transfer Abdul Ado (249). Some sultans looming around the rim.
120. TCU: The Froggies get a nice addition from the portal in former TTU forward/local product Micah Peavy. Three others arrived via Texas A&M and UT Arlington. Too many question marks to say if this group can dodge the bottom two spots of the Big 12.
86. Kansas State: Nijel Pack (12.7 ppg) is the head of the snake on a roster that didn't lose a ton despite going 9-20. Is that a good thing? This was a moldy offensive unit a year ago, and Bruce Weber will need to contend for an NCAA Tournament bid to hold on to his job.
67. UCF: Johnny Dawkins' team deserves a tad more attention than it has received. The Knights have more than 80% of their production back from a squad that opened last season with prideful wins against Auburn, Florida State and Cincinnati. UCF also ended the season with a 5-1 record. The middle was murky, which is why UCF ended with an 11-12 mark. But C.J. Walker, Darius Perry and Brandon Mahan are the key three for a team that has the coaching capability and the nucleus to finish in the top four of the American Athletic Conference.
48. Oklahoma: Porter Moser inherits a program that was a No. 8 seed. Moser handled the transfer portal well, landing the Groves brothers (Big Sky player of the year Tanner and his younger brother, Jacob), who were last seen nearly upsetting Kansas in the NCAA Tournament. Moser and his staff managed to retain Umoja Gibson, who averaged 9.1 points in 27 minutes and will transition to being a leader of the locker room. X-factor could be Duke transfer Jordan Goldwire, who will have a shot at running the offense, but more importantly will try to bolster OU's defensive reputation under Moser, who's a very good defensive coach. The hottest name on the carousel gets his new start, and a lot of people are eager to see how this goes.
45. West Virginia: First I have to mention that, had Deuce McBride not remained in the NBA (which was the right decision), I'd have WVU in the top 25 if he was on this roster. Could've had a HUGE junior campaign. Alas, the Mountaineers will be a bubble team led by super-senior Taz Sherman and regular ol' senior Sean McNeil. Stretch 4 Jalen Bridges has a huge opening to prove himself now. as well. Big pic: WVU has been rated in the top-10 in offensive rebound rate seven consecutive seasons. I think that streak ends this season, and because of it, I have Bob Huggins' team projected to be a bubblicious one.
40. Texas Tech: It's no secret that much of TTU's success under Chris Beard happened because new coach Mark Adams served as the defensive guru. (Kind of like the Buddy Ryan to his Mike Ditka, only without all the melodrama of those '85 Bears.) Adams is the man who built the Red Raiders' ball-stopping mindset into a philosophy that made the program nationally relevant for the first time since Bob Knight was in Lubbock. But I do want to see what happens now that Beard has moved southeast in the state. I love Terrence Shannon Jr.'s game. He'll be a top-10 Big 12 player. Question is, can Oral Roberts' Kevin Obanor (18.7 points and 9.6 rebounds) be as impactful at this level? While Obanor was the higher-profile transfer, word is UTEP transfer Bryson Williams could be just as good.
36. BYU: Well-balanced. Doesn't make a habit of beating itself with the small stuff. Mark Pope is a rising star in coaching. The Cougars will again be Gonzaga's toughest test in the WCC (we only have two more years of this before BYU goes to the Big 12). Alex Barcello has an outside shot at being an All-American if he can improve upon his averages (16.1 ppg, 4.7 rpg, 4.3 apg on 47.7% from 3-point range) and push BYU to a single-digit seed. It's not unthinkable. The Cougars have some nice balance with TeJon Lucas playing shooting guard, Gideon George emerging at the 3 and leading rebounder Caleb Lohner playing power forward.
26. Oklahoma State: The Cowboys lost the 2021 No. 1 NBA pick, Cade Cunningham, but I don't think this team is falling off all that much. In fact, there's a reasonable chance it could be a better unit in 2022. That's because Mike Boynton retained 12 players (80% of the team's minutes), then brought on former five-star recruits Bryce Thompson (Kansas) and Moussa Cisse (Memphis) to bolster his roster. This is a clear-cut NCAA Tournament team again, but I want to see if the Pokes can be smart with their shot selection. I get the feeling a lot of guys are going to be hungry for touches. The biggest names back are Avery Anderson III -- who should have a breakout season -- and Isaac Likekele, who'll pick up some of what Cunningham left behind. I'd go so far as to say this is the dark horse of the Big 12.
14. Baylor: A pattern should snap this season. Prior to 2021, Baylor's three best NCAA Tournament endings were the Elite Eight in 2010 and 2012, and Sweet 16 runs in 2014 and 2017. In three of the four seasons that followed those, Baylor didn't make the tournament. In the other, it was one-and-done. But there's almost no shot BU isn't dancing again in 2022. Hey: the damn Baylor Bears really are the reigning champions in men's college basketball, folks. Anyone over the age of 35 can step back, absorb that, and at the same time realize how INSANE this would have been to consider at any point prior to a few years ago. Scott Drew loses Jared Butler, MaCio Teague, Davion Mitchell and Mark Vital, but Adam Flagler, Matthew Mayer, Jonathan Tchamwa-Tchatchoua are back, all guys who earned big minutes. New faces: Arizona transfer James Akinjo (could he be the newcomer of the year in the Big 12?) and freshman Kendall Brown, who is a highlight-reel dunker who loves to be coached and has a chance to break into the starting lineup. Baylor gets the semi-rare situation of having very little pressure the year after winning a championship, so much so they can use it as fuel to overshoot preseason expectations from the outside.
11. Houston: This is a tad lofty, but I can't see the Coogs falling too far after their first Final Four in 37 years (as a No. 2 seed). Kelvin Sampson brings back five double-digit minutes-getters, most notably the ever-clutch Marcus Sasser, who'll be a preseason All-AAC guy. Texas Tech transfer Kyler Edwards will look to jolt his career the way Quentin Grimes (now in the NBA) did at UH. Expect Houston to remain elite with its defense; its 37.8% field-goal-percentage resistance on that end of the floor ranked first in the country. We'll probably see these cats win this year's Maui tournament (which is being held in Vegas). The American Athletic Conference will soon be undergoing realignment that, unfortunately, will remove it from the major-conference discussion. (UH is going to the Big 12.) But not this season. This season the league should have two teams with Final Four hopes and another two, at least, in the mix to make the Big Dance.
10. Texas: As you'll see, I'm mildly zagging on two schools in my top 10. (Groupthink is normally precarious.) Whereas most pundits will have Texas in the top five, I'm going to tap-tap the brakes on the UT hype. No one can argue about Texas' talent; I lost count on how many coaches told me in the past six weeks that this is by far the most talented team Beard has ever coached. The Horns rank in the top five of most interesting teams heading into November because of who's in the roster. A haul of six highly regarded transfers are in the fold, most of them coming from teams that were just-OK or worse in the past two seasons. They're all eager to win. Will it all jell? Remember, guards Courtney Ramey and Andrew Jones are back. They combined to take 586 shots last season. This is their team. How Marcus Carr, Devin Askew, Tre Mitchell, Timmy Allen and Christian Bishop fill in around Ramey and Jones will determine how dangerously good Texas can be. Fortunately, we get an almost-immediate look. Nov. 13: Texas at Gonzaga. Let's go.
4. Kansas: Kansas was bizarrely not a good shooting outfit in 2020-21. In fact, the Jayhawks had an effective field goal percentage of 49.4%, the poorest in ranking (196th, per KenPom) and accuracy in Self's career. With a KenPom team ranking of 27th, it also measured as the worst Self-coached team since Tulsa in 1998-99. (If finishing 27th is bad, then wow. Just wow.) Now the Jayhawks have a smorgasbord of eclectic talent, with Arizona State transfer/preseason Big 12 Player of the Year Remy Martin coming in to spice up the pot. I have no clue how that's going to go, but it will be must-see on account of Martin's penchant to jolt any given possession. Jalen Wilson was an up-and-down promising player last season and could be in for a huge year. I'm banking on him being a top-15 Big 12 guy. Add in the returns of Ochai Agbaji (their best all-around player), David McCormack and Christian Braun and you've got yourself a high-level starting five. Drake transfer Joseph Yesufu will be a spark plug. Self has told reporters he thinks Kansas can go 10-deep. I'll believe it when I see it, but the top eight looks mighty fun.
