March 28, 2024

College Basketball Preseason Poll by SportsUnderground.com

It’s under two weeks until the college basketball season kicks off which means we need to talk some hoops. I’m not sure about you, but I can’t wait for Memphis vs Tennessee-Martin (I wonder what the line will be in this gam?) and Maine vs Richmond on November 5th. Here is our preseason Top 5 college basketball poll and if you have feedback don’t forget to register and tell us what you think!

1 – UCLA – The Bruins have made the Final Four the last two years and this year should be no different with all the fire power they bring back. UCLA returns Darren Collison, Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, Josh Shipp, Michael Roll, Alfred Aboya and Lorenzo Mata-Real. They also welcome Parade, Gatorade, McDonald’s, you f##in name it high school player of the year Kevin Love. Look for Ben Howland to lead this extremely talented team to the promise land even without the leading scorer from the last two years Aaron Afflalo.

2 – UNC – Roy Williams lost Brandan Wright to the NBA lottery last year, but this team has boat loads of talent coming back. Tyler Hansbrough, Ty Lawson and Wayne Ellington are the three main guns with Hansbrough up for a national player of the year award. The Heels will win the ACC this year if role players like Marcus Ginyard and Danny Green step up their games up in conjunction with a solid contribution from freshman star William Graves. ACC should be in the bag and a Final Four is very possible for the boys in baby blue.

3 – Kansas – Rock Chalk Jayhawk will be ring loud and clear this year in Lawrence, Kansas with all-everything Brandon Rush leading the way. Mario Chalmers, Russell Robinson and Sasha Kaun are the other returning starters from last year with only Julius Wright jumping to the big pond from an Elite Eight team just last year. Bill Self also has new addition 6-11 center Cole Adrich who should provide some help down low. If Rush stays focused the ceiling is the limit for this team.

4 – Memphis – John Calipari has decided for now Memphis is home and he has turned this University into a national college basketball powerhouse. They return 5 of their top 6 players from last year’s squad and the Tigers have made the Elite Eight in back-to-back seasons. Don’t forget Memphis has the best point guard recruit in the nation Derrick Rose along with another star freshman in Justin Robinson. The schedule is in their favor due to home or neutral court games against Tennessee, Georgetown, Arizona, Gonzaga and Southern California with no road games harder than UAB. Look out!

5 – Louisville
– We are leaving Georgetown out of our top five simply for the fact Jeff Green is gone and that means Lousiville will win the Big East. The Cardinals return 7 of their top 8 and are lead by one of the best coaches in the land in Rick Pitino. Terrence Williams, Edgar Sosa, David Padgett, Juan Palacios, and Derrick Caracter are the big guns and I’m sure they want to avenge their 1 point loss in the round of 32 last year against Texas A&M.

Comments

  1. dexineffex says

    Stonecold – Not a bad run at the T5. I am impressed that you gave a clean, unbiased review of my Heels. Trying to remain unbiased myself, but they still have 10 D-1 starters on that team so the blue/white substitution patterns will run teams into the ground.

    Now, quick question – the NCAA committee needs to do some snooping around Lawrence, KS as I swear Brandon Rush and Mario Chalmers were playing with Kirk Heinrich and Nick Collison for a couple of years. WTF?? Those guys get redshirted 2-3x?

    Here’s my Top 5:

    1) UNC – loaded; Lawson or Psycho-T injury spells big trouble though.
    2) Kansas – barring NCAA investigation
    3) Memphis – thugs will roll
    4) Tennesee – C. Lofton is back @ rocky road
    5) UCLA – consensus all-overrated

    I’m out! Go Heels!!

    One question — where do you have the Pack? I would put them #24 preseason.

  2. I understand why you might have UNC at the top, but chemistry I think will continue to be enough of a problem to keep them from a National Championship. Kansas won’t get in trouble this year, but could down the road. 😉 Tennessee is not top 5, bottom line! I have the Pack in top 20 and third in the ACC. Holla!

  3. I like your top 5 Stonecold, but here are my 2 sleepers and for some reason they have a componant which makes this even more intriguing.

    UAB and Mich St.

    of course we all know about Mich St and Izzo but who is that coaching UAB and getting a number of transfers to come aboard.. well it is the old Indiana coach.

    BTW: Although pre-season means just that.. the real rankings start when league play does, but thanks for ranking my Bruins #1 I think they deserve it being in the Final Four last 2 years and have everyone back except Afflalo and for someone to say overrated is foolish. So how many Bruins have played in D1 Final Fours compared to NC? Speaking of overrated.. how has NC done the last 2 years with their studs? yep.. nada!

  4. You’re welcome Bruins1 and there is no overrated team residing in Pauley Pavillion that’s for sure. Michigan State is a great sleeper, but you have been drinking too much sweet tea with the UAB one.

  5. Also look out for South Florida.. yes I said South Florida – they have a monster on that team.

  6. ROFL! Stan Heath isn’t take these boys to even the Sweet Sixteen. Is the giant Gransberry or Esseghir?

  7. Esseghir is the next Tree Rollins.

  8. LMFAO…how bout no.

  9. dexineffex says

    Well Stonecold, looks like we both landed 4/5 in our top 5 pre-season picks. Just that I get the tiebreaker for 2 reasons: UNC was #1 AND my #24 pick of the pack’s ranking was spot on!! And to respond to Bruins1, I just personally believe that UCLA the past couple of years has gotten by in a weak Pac-10. I know there have been a couple of teams that’ve had some decent players (Wash, Zona, Oregon) but those have been flashes in the pan. The times I’ve seen them play on cable TV, they have looked slow & unimpressive (except Collison). It’s just my opinion, I dont follow ’em but I knew it’d get two dudes fired up in this thread :-). They’re legit, but they ain’t no UNC! NCAA championships won in the past 30 years (UNC – 3, UCLA – 1). Most wins by a D-1 Coach (Dean – 879, Wooden – 664).

    I love to spin stats into my favor!!! 🙂