2023-24 Pre-Season Rankings

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Marquette – (Conf-#1) (Nat-#2)

Marquette has found their guy in Shaka Smart clearly, as he has returned this program back to where it was before the failed Woj years. Tyler Kolek is a revelation and is back, as is everyone but Olivier Maxence-Prosper from last year’s team that won the Big East and was a 2 seed. It is no surprise that this group is in some people’s top-5, including mine, but many people are picking other teams to win the Big East and frankly more people should have Marquette in the top-3 in my opinion. A lot of people get amnesia for what happens during the regular season and only have the snapshot of the tourney results for teams who return a lot of players. So, the 2nd round exit may have been disappointing, but Marquette was still dominant last year winning both the regular season and conference tourney championships. This team is extremely well coached and led by a PG in Kolek that is the best playmaking PG in the Nation. Now, they get almost an entire team back after a disappointing exit in March, so they are going to be as hungry as any team in the Country, aside from Purdue maybe. We know who they are, with the only difference being the incoming crop of Freshmen. Tre Norman is the guy most likely to get PT as he is built well and can really score. He has a chance to be the next guy to surprise under Smart, as guys like Kam Jones (107), Stevie Mitchell (115), Dave Joplin (84) and of course Kolek who wasn’t ranked at all, have all developed well under Shaka. That’s the most impressive thing about this team, not one of them was a top-50 recruit much less a 5-star guy. Now, after all the roses we have to address the elephant in the room and that’s the March performance. I would mostly chalk it up to running into Mr. March himself Tom Izzo, and being a young team in their first tourney doesn’t help. One last thing to add to this is that Shaka got a great reputation at VCU for tourney success after taking them to the Final 4, but since then in 9 tries he has failed to get out of the first weekend. This is a massive year to get that monkey off his back, and in my book they should be a Final 4 favorite, can’t wait.

Villanova – (#2) (#4)

The jury is still out on Kyle Neptune after a pretty disappointing year 1 in the post-Jay Wright era, but it was riddled with injury early and showed promise once the full team was back, as they finished 7-3 with wins over Xavier and Creighton. Neptune has now gone out and got a 3-headed monster in the transfer portal with Tyler Burton (Richmond), TJ Bamba (Wazzu) and Hakim Hart (Maryland) who all will come right in and start. You pair those 3 with Eric Dixon and a healthy Justin Moore who are both back and they have one of the best starting 5’s in the Nation. They also beefed up their bench by getting Lance Ware (Kentucky) to go with Trey Patterson off the bench inside, and both of those guys should have a role behind Dixon and Burton. Lastly in the backcourt they have top-50 recruits from the past couple of years in Mark Armstrong and Jordan Longino both back in reserve roles, so the talent is off the charts at Villanova right now. We are going to find out very quickly if Neptune has what it takes, as this year’s team is significantly more talented than last season’s, and has a good amount of veterans and holdovers from the Wright era to go with the new transfers. The culture should still be there, and with guys like Dixon and Moore getting to pair up with elite scorers like Bamba and Burton, the ceiling should be Conference champs and a deep run in March. If you’re trying to poke holes here it has to be with Neptune and just how bad they looked in year 1. Losing to Portland and Temple is indefensible, but not having Whitmore and Moore in those games hurt a ton and they were playing a lot of young guys at the time. I do think with this much talent it won’t even take that great of a coaching job, it’s all about these veteran, talented guys just playing good basketball. He had 8 years under Wright as an assistant, so surely he picked up a few things from one of the greatest basketball minds of this era right? We’re about to find out, but I’m buying Nova and would not be shocked to see them in the Elite 8 and/or Final 4.

Creighton – (#3) (#13)

Creighton went on an awesome run to end last season once they got healthy, finishing the regular season 11-3 and getting to an elite 8. I have seen them picked at the top of this Conference this season, and while I don’t think that’s a crazy take, I just think the losses of Nembhard and Kaluma are a lot to overcome for a team that was extremely reliant on their starting 5. They don’t have much proven depth and didn’t do much to help that cause, adding just 2 guys in Steven Ashworth (Utah St) and Johnathan Lawson (Memphis). Ashworth does seem to fit seamlessly with this group and is a great addition to replace Nembhard, but the two candidates to replace Kaluma, Mason Miller and Lawson, leave a little to be desired. Don’t get me wrong, I have them 13th for a reason, that top 4 of Kalkbrenner, Alexander, Scheierman and Ashworth are as good as it gets in the Country. What worries me is the lack of depth, especially up front, as Kaluma was a huge presence not just in the scoring department but rebounding as well. My gut tells me they just go small with Lawson and Scheierman at the 3 and 4 and just ask their guards to help out rebounding but that’s going to make it tough. What they should continue to be though is a very good defensive team with Kalkbrenner as a shot blocking presence, and the ability to switch 1-4, they should repeat as a top-15 defense. Again, this is a really good team, I just see the lack of depth, with really only 8 guys and a lack of a true 4 man as two things that could really bite them in the butt. They should still be right in the hunt in this Conference and real threat to make noise in the dance though. Expectations are high, just maybe not as high for me as some others out there.

UConn – (#4) (#22)

It’s tough to take the defending National Champs and slot them 4th in their Conference but with how good this league is and how much they lost from last year’s group, I really don’t see them contending on the same level. It looks like Hurley is taking more of a long game approach with this roster construction, focusing on top Freshmen talent and developing the young guys he had in reserve roles a year ago. The one new vet to come in is a perfect fit though, as Cam Spencer (Rutgers) is a sniper from long range and has balls of steel. As a Purdue fan I have first hand knowledge of Spencer’s late game heroics as I had to see it in person in Mackey arena as he hit a game winner against my Boilers last year, so UConn fans just know you got a killer. Next to him it’ll be vet Tristen Newton at the point, we all know him, and in the front court we have two breakout candidates in big man Donovan Clingan and Alex Karaban. Both were productive in smaller roles last year but they showed flashes of what could be a solid 1-2 punch up front. With all of that said, the real story this season is going to be the Freshmen class and how well they can play, because there’s only 6 guys back from a year ago, they’re going to need these young bucks. Leading the group is obviously top-10 recruit Stephon Castle. He’s going to remind you of a guy like Jaylen Brown or DeMar Derozan, an off-guard who excels at attacking downhill, despite not being the most explosive athlete, and he will also pull up in the mid-range with effectiveness. He hasn’t shown much prowess as a 3-point shooter yet, but in the open court is dangerous as a playmaker as he is a gifted passer as well. He should start alongside Newton and Spencer, and given his skillset could be a major playmaker for this offense in his one year with the program. The other two with a chance to carve out a role are Solomon Ball and Jaylin Stewart. Ball is a freak athlete, with a long frame and explosive bounce he’s obviously at his best in the open court, but he’s also shown ability to have knock-down catch and shoot ability from the left side. The last is Stewart who should 100% have a role behind Karaban at the 4 spot, as he can really do everything as a small ball 4, just isn’t an elite athlete or especially gifted in any one category. How well these three play will determine the ceiling of this team, as they will be reliant on them for some production. The top 4 are good, but they’ll need some help, and the youth and inexperience of this team is why I have them lower in the Conference rankings, but if the young kids develop by March they could be a dangerous team to face in the dance.

St. John’s – (#5) (#25)

St. John’s enters the season as the leader in the clubhouse in at least 1 category, most prolific group of transfers. Rick Pitino has come to town and immediately rejuvenated the spirit of a storied program and has brought with him 10 transfers, 6 of which averaged double digit scoring a year ago. Among those 6 are 3 1st team All-Conference guys, including the Ivy League POY Jordan Dingle (Penn). Dingle is one of the best pure scorers in the Country, and was the best transfer available. Chris Ledlum (Harvard) was a stud at Harvard as a small ball 4 that can score and battle inside despite being just 6’6″ and Daniss Jenkins (Iona) was Pitino’s PG last year and should slot right in this year with this group. The lone major holdover is big man Joel Soriano, who is an absolute beast of a 5 man, so he should start alongside Ledlum up front to give them a duo that averaged over 20 rpg a year ago. There’s a trio of guys who are going to be vying for the last starting spot at the 3 in RJ Luis (UMass), Sean Conway (VMI) and Glenn Taylor Jr (Oregon St). If I was a betting man I’d give the edge to Taylor, as he’s the best athlete of the 3 and has a lot of experience, but Luis would be my next bet as he’s young and was All-FR a year ago. All 3 averaged double figures scoring a year ago for what it’s worth so it could be a platoon and will of course depend on what they need out of that 5th guy on both sides of the floor. There’s still multiple other guys on the roster but the last guy I’m going to mention is incoming FR Simeon Wilcher, who may not see a ton of run this year but is a guy with a ton of potential. He has a bit of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to him, as he is at his best when attacking downhill to create for either himself or his teammates. He is a gifted passer but also excels at finishing around the rim where his size and length helps him score through/around/over opposing bigs. I have a ton of excitement about this kid, and if he sticks it out could be a huge breakout candidate next year after all these older transfers hit the road. So, let’s take a breath, we really didn’t even hit all the new toys, and that tells you just how much talent Pitino was able to amass, but some questions remain. How well can he gel all of these kids, and will there be an ego problem? Too many mouths to feed? It’s a good problem to have, but if losses mount early it’ll be important to watch how the attitudes of these guys are during and after games. This has extreme boom potential, as the talent is here frankly for them to win this Conference, it’s just hard to bet on the pick-up team to come together and be good from the jump. Now, come March they could be the 3 or 4 seed that nobody wants to see if things start clicking late. This is going to be must watch TV in my opinion, so I had to stick em in my top-25 and I wouldn’t be surprised to see them higher at points this year.

Providence – (#6) (NR)

It’s a new era in Providence with Ed Cooley heading to Georgetown and the young Kim English taking over the program. English was able to come in and retain some of the talent from last year’s group, including leading scorers Bryce Hopkins and Devin Carter, with Hopkins the former Kentucky transfer a clear All-Conference candidate. He also brought with him his best player from a year ago at George Mason in Josh Oduro, the 6’9″ big man who should come right in and start in the front court. That trio should give them a chance to compete for a spot in the tourney, even though I don’t see them at the top of this Conference, they should be on the bubble come February with plenty of chances in this Conference to notch quality wins. What ultimately will determine how good they can be is going to be the ancillary guys, with young guys like Corey Floyd Jr, Jayden Pierre and Justyn Fernandez particularly important in the backcourt, as all had small roles in their FR season. Those 3 along with incoming FR Garwey Dual are going to be the only options outside of Carter in the backcourt, so their development is going to be crucial. Dual, in is own respect, is a highly thought of recruit, with great length and athleticism he’s a playmaker and could be a great two-way player as he can impact the game on both ends. He won’t come in and be a big time scorer, but could give them a lift getting out in transition or on straight line drives. I like the amount of young talent English has brought in and kept on from the previous regime, but all that youth is likely going to make the season an up and down one. We don’t know a whole lot about how he’ll want to play, but his 2 years at George Mason they played a slow tempo and were much better defensively than offensively. It’ll be an interesting year 1, but he has the talent to be in the bubble conversation, so there’s potential for early success.

Seton Hall – (#7) (NR)

Year 1 under Holloway was pretty meh, as they were a very good defensive team but just couldn’t score the ball. They were on the bubble in early February but lost 6 of their last 8 games and were never really in contention for a bid on Selection Sunday. Most of that group is gone, with just 3 contributors back, but each of Dawes, Richmond and Davis were all pretty impactful so that’s a positive. Holloway went to the transfer portal to beef back up the interior, grabbing 3 guys 6’10” or bigger to go along with Addae-Wusu the guard from St. John’s. That returning trio should be a group that progresses, and if it does they should improve a little offensively. The weakness looks like it could be on the glass, as Kadary Richmond is likely going to need to play a small ball 4 with one of the transfers at C, who all played mid-major ball a year ago and weren’t exactly rebound monsters. I know that Holloway can coach defense, but the offensive struggles are what they have to fix as a program and frankly it doesn’t look like they brought in much firepower on that end. They are going to be competitive so long as they continue to defend like they did a year ago (20th), but I would imagine they will continue to struggle offensively. Best case scenario is that group of 3 all take a step forward and they’re a bubble team again, but my realistic bet is this is where we draw the line in terms of contenders to be dancing come March. I like Holloway, but he just doesn’t seem to have the talent right now and isn’t landing any via the transfer portal or the recruiting trail.

Xavier – (#8) (NR)

Xavier had missed 4 straight tourney’s prior to the return of Sean Miller, but he quickly put an end to that suffering, getting them in as a 3 seed and getting to the Sweet 16 despite the injury to Freemantle. Clearly this man can coach, and he’s going to have another challenge this season after losing 4 major contributors from last year’s group. I had to update this, as now both Freemantle and Jerome Hunter are expected to miss the season…Xavier is going to struggle much more given those two injuries, but the following guys still should make an impact. The pressure for Xavier is going to be on the play of the transfer guards McKnight (WKU) and Olivari (Rice) who will be trying to replace Boum and Kunkel from last year. Both of these guys were All-CUSA last season and high volume scorers, so on paper it looks like they can come in and be a very productive duo in the backcourt. Desmond Claude is also back after a FR year where he showed flashes and looks like he can fill the Colby Jones role nicely. The last transfer Ousmane (N. Texas) should be the primary big given the injruies upfront, he’ll need to play 30+ min per fame. They also brought in 3 international transfers, the best of which looks like Lazar Djokovic, who at 6’9″ is a good athlete but also can really shoot it, despite an unorthodox looking shot. He should come in and start alongside Ousmane. The last newcomer worth mentioning is Trey Green, who figures to have a role as a backup PG and comes in as an undersized guy that is an absolute sharpshooter. The trio of Boum, Kunkel and Jones was insanely productive, so it’s going to be hard to replace that and maintain that efficiency on offense that they relied on a year ago. They didn’t play much defense, so that’s what makes me concerned with this team, as all of that cohesion that results in a top-10 offense is going to be difficult to replicate. The injuries they’ve suffered pre-season likely knock them out of tournament contention, so it may be a rebuilding year for Xavier.

Butler – (#9) (NR)

Another 2nd year HC who struggled in year 1 is Thad Matta, and while he is much more experienced the College landscape is much different than it was in his heyday. A sign of that comes in the form of almost his entire roster leaving the program, with only 2 guys returning that played anything close to meaningful minutes a year ago, so Matta is clearly struggling to establish some stability in this new environment. However, he was able to use the transfer portal to his advantage as well, bringing in 5 guys who averaged double digit scoring a year ago to try and replace all of that production lost. The two leaders of the group are DJ Davis (UC Irvine) and Jahmyl Telfort (N’Eastern) who both averaged 15+ ppg and should be the primary weapons for Matta this season. Landon Moore (St. Francis) was a late addition but could serve as the backup PG to Posh Alexander (St. John’s) who is a vet that has averaged double digit scoring each of his 3 years in college along with nearly 5 apg. Andre Screen (Bucknell) figures to be the starting 5 and that gives them a solid looking starting 5 on paper. Depth will be an issue, but from what we saw a year ago the bigger issue is just how efficiently this eclectic group can play offensively. Defense was a strength a year ago, and I would imagine that continues given how that usually comes down to coaching. Similar to Seton Hall I don’t see Bulter in the tourney, and they likely are going to struggle through the top-6 or 7 teams in this Conference, but they certainly should be competitive with the top end talent they have.

Georgetown – (#10) (NR)

Ed Cooley surprised the college hoops world when he decided to leave Providence for Georgetown, as he had built a good thing with the Friars and Georgetown is a dumpster fire right now. Nevertheless, he comes to Georgetown with the hope of the history and tradition of the program giving him a higher ceiling. Year 1 doesn’t look to have much promise in terms of results though, with most of the talent leaving the program, maybe some addition by subtraction there, but Cooley did go out and get some young talent in the portal in a clear attempt at building for the future. All 3 of Epps, Styles and Brumbaugh were 4-star top-100 recruits and have multiple years of eligibility left, so that’s a solid base to work with if he can keep them around beyond this season. Cook and Massoud are older guys who can come in and provide productive minutes and hopefully be some bridge guys to get them a little more competitive. Most of the returning guys, outside of Bristol, are Seniors so they’ll be short term as well, but the 3 young transfers with the 2 FR is a solid base for Cooley to build around. Most of this is focusing on the future, and that’s really because I see the Hoyas struggling to really do much of anything this year. Not much high volume production in a league that is loaded with talent and tournament quality opponents. Maybe they pick up a couple of wins against the other guys in the bottom of the rankings, but this is a long term rebuild that in my opinion isn’t off to a quick start.

DePaul – (#11) (NR)

Since joining the Big East in ’06 DePaul hasn’t made a NCAA tourney and has just 1 season above .500 in Conference play. It’s almost an auto-last place prediction here, and frankly they haven’t mattered in so long they are probably the program I know the least about in all of the major conferences in college basketball. They will have 1 guy on the roster who averaged double digit scoring and they were 178th defensively a year ago. So not many proven scoring options and no history of playing well defensively, not really sure how I’m supposed to have even an iota of hope for this group. They have some good international FR coming in, not sure if they’ll stay or develop but that’s at least a positive. I’m not going to waste anymore time on them, if we’re being frank I already have spent more time thinking about DePaul to write this than I will for the entirety of this season. Sorry to any DePaul fan that might actually be reading this, but you likely agree.