2022-23 Preseason Media Bracket

Posted on October 30, 2022 by John Stalica

With the college basketball season only 8 days away from beginning, we now have all the conferences weighing in on who will be predicted to win each conference along with the release of the preseason Top 25 polls in both the AP and the Coaches’ Poll. What I have attempted to do is build a seed list based on the average ranking of the top 36 at-large teams along with the 32 projected conference champions of each league.

Below is the media bracket:

North Carolina is the consensus preseason #1 team and is seeded accordingly. As far as teams receiving votes in the Top 25, preference is given to teams receiving votes in both the AP and Coaches’ Polls; beyond that, preference is given to teams that are receiving the most votes in a singular poll. Notre Dame would be the first team out of the field based on the polls.

Also noteworthy is the placement of teams like UAB and Toledo – both teams received votes in both polls and are ranked above the First Four for purposes of this exercise. Drake received votes in one of the polls and is the top-ranked team below the First Four. This year, the Under-The-Radar teams were seeded based on overall KenPom ratings. (Northern Kentucky and Purdue-Fort Wayne tied for 1st in the preseason Horizon poll, but NKU was chosed by virtue of a higher KenPom rating).

Later on this week, we will also have our Under-The-Radar preview podcast along with Chad’s preseason bracket reveal of who he thinks will be in the field come March. (I will go out on a limb and guess that Louisville will not be included anytime soon.)

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Big Ten Media Day Recap and Response

Posted on October 30, 2022 by David Griggs

CLICK HERE for All of Hoops HD’s Continued and Extensive Preseason Content

MEDIA DAY PRESEASON POLL:

  1. Indiana
  2. Illinois
  3. Michigan
  4. Michigan State
  5. Purdue
  6. Ohio State
  7.  Iowa
  8. Rutgers
  9. Wisconsin
  10. Maryland
  11. Penn State
  12. Minnesota
  13. Northwestern
  14. Nebraska

 

MEDIA DAY PRESEASON ALL-BIG TEN TEAM

-Terrance Shannon – G – Illinois
-Trayce Jackson-Davis – F – Indiana
-Kris Murray – F – Iowa
-Hunter Dickinson – C – Michigan
-Jamison Battle – F – Minnesota
-Jalen Pickett – G – Penn State
-Zach Edey – C – Purdue
-Clifford Omoruyi – C – Rutgers
-Chucky Hepburn – G – Wisconsin
-Tyler Wahl – F – Wisconsin
-Malik Hall – F – Michigan State

 

COMMENTS FROM DAVID:

-Indiana is picked to finish first in the Big Ten, and it seems like it has been a long time since that has happened.  They are certainly talented and have a lot of experience with four starters returning.  They are also starting off the season ranked #13 in the AP Poll.  There is something that gives me a little bit of pause about them, though.  They barely made the NCAA Tournament last year.  I think they will be better this year, but to go from barely making the NCAAs to 13th and atop the Big Ten would be quite a jump.

-Illinois finished in a tie for first place last year and has high expectations again this year.  What they do not have are are any returning starters, so it is kind of hard to forecast how good they will actually end up being.  I think they have some good pieces.  It is hard not to be impressed with some of the transfers they added…but like a lot of teams in this conference I currently have more questions than answers.

-Michigan also has high expectations but has retained very little from the year before.  They won 19 games a year ago and had a nice run to the Sweet Sixteen, but they will have to rely on some new additions to their roster if they are going to repeat that kind of success this year…which could happen.  A lot of what they brought in does appear to be impressive.

-Michigan State had a decent year last year where they won 23 games, made the NCAAs, and advanced to the second round, but they just were not the protected-seed-caliber program that we are used to seeing.  It is not looking like they are going to be this year either.  They are still good, still physical, still tough defensively, and should still make The Dance, but I do not expect them to be quite as good as they have been in the recent past.

-Purdue won 29 games last season, earned a protected seed, made it to the Sweet Sixteen, and appeared to have a pretty manageable path to the Final Four…but then they lost to Saint Peter’s.  The Boilers are expected to take a step back this year but I still think this team can be pretty good.  They have two really good frontcourt players returning, they have a transfer coming in to play PG, and if he can step into that role I think this team is going to be fine.

-I think Chris Holtmann is a fantastic coach.  He has put together successful seasons when preseason expectations were almost non-existent both at Gardner Webb and at Butler, and it would not totally surprise me to see him do it again this year at Ohio State.  That being said, the Buckeyes do not appear to be as strong as they usually are.  Just one starter returns, but they have gone to the transfer portal and added several guys who were either role players at Power 5-level schools, or stars at Under the Radar schools, so…who knows?  Holtmann could surprise us…again.

-Iowa won 26 games last year and made the NCAA Tournament.  They lost Keegan Murray to the NBA, and that is a huge player to have to replace, but three starters are back and this is a program that has a history of successfully developing players and having them step into new roles.  I think they can exceed expectations this year.

-Rutgers has made a ton of progress as a program since Steve Pikiell took over.  After a very long drought, we have now seen them in two straight NCAA Tournaments (and would have seen them in three if not for COVID), and I kind of think people are overlooking them this year.  Three starters are back, they have a really solid transfer coming to Piscataway in Cam Spencer, and I think they will once again be in the NCAA mix come March.

-Wisconsin has three starters back from a team that finished in first place a year ago and won 25 total games before losing in the Round of 32 in the NCAA Tournament.  So…of course they are picked 9th.  They did lose their top player, but they have enough coming back and have shown in the past the ability for new guys to step up.  I think they finish WAAAAY higher than 9th this year.

After that the league starts to smell kind of bad…

-Maryland was 15-17 overall last year, just 7-13 in the Big Ten, and is not showing too many signs of being all that much better this year.  Kevin Willard takes over as head coach, and he is good, but he also has his work cut out for him.

-Some are on the Penn State bandwagon and think they can be a bit of a dark horse.  They do have four starters back, and I think they will be better than they were a year ago, but I do not see them making a run at the NCAA Tournament or competing with the top half of the conference.

-Minnesota has totally overhauled their roster.  All five starters are gone and it is looking like a rebuilding year.

-Northwestern has four starters back, and I like Chris Collins as a coach, but since he took them to an NCAA Tournament the program has been in a tailspin, and while we saw some improvement last year it was not a lot.  Expectations are not all that high again this year.

-Nebraska is just bad.  Like…really bad.

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Pac-12 Media Day Recap and Response

Posted on October 30, 2022 by David Griggs

CLICK HERE for All of Hoops HD’s Continued and Extensive Preseason Content

MEDIA DAY PRESEASON POLL:

  1. UCLA
  2. Arizona
  3. Oregon
  4. USC
  5. Stanford
  6. Colorado
  7. Arizona State
  8. Washington State
  9. Washington
  10. Utah
  11. California
  12. Oregon State

 

MEDIA DAY PRESEASON ALL-PAC-12 1ST TEAM:

-Tyger Campbell – SR, G – UCLA
-Branden Carlson – SR, C – Utah
-Boogie Ellis – SR, G – USC
-Mouhamed Gueye – SO, F – Washington State
-Harrison Ingram – SO, F – Stanford
-Jaime Jaquez – SR, G/F – UCLA
-Spencer Jones – SR, F – Stanford
-Drew Peterson – SR, G – USC
-Will Richardson – SR, G – Oregon
-Azuolas Tubelis – JR, F – Arizona

MEDIA DAY PRESEASON ALL-PAC-12 2ND TEAM:

-Marcus Bagley – SO, F – Arizona State
-Tristan da Silva – JR, F – Colorado
-DJ Home – JR, G – Arizona State
-Kerr Kriisa – JR, G – Arizona
-Pelle Larsson – JR, G – Arizona

 

COMMENTS FROM DAVID:

-UCLA is again the preseason favorites to win the conference and could once again advance beyond the Sweet Sixteen this year.  With Tyger Campbell returning along with some other key players and some great new additions, they should be very strong defensively and have enough on the offensive end to finish atop the league and end up with a protected seed.

-Many were wondering, including myself, if Arizona could compete on a high level last year with a new head coach and with the threat of NCAA sanctions hovering over them.  Well, they did.  They won 33 total games, finished first in the league, and advanced to the Sweet Sixteen.  Tommy Lloyd has settled in rather nicely as head coach and they look to have another top-25 team this year that is good enough to repeat their first-place finish.  Some high-level players are gone, but they have enough coming back and enough coming in to where they should still be competitive.

-Oregon missed the NCAA Tournament a year ago, but a lot of people, including most of Hoops HD, are high on them this year.  We think they will be in the Top-25 before everything is said and done.  Three key starters are back, they have several offensive weapons, a really good-looking freshman in Kel’el Ware, and some pretty strong transfer players as well.

-USC is a program that in recent years always seems to start each season off with minimal expectations and then exceeds them in a huge way.  They won 26 total games last year, made the NCAA Tournament, and have a couple of key starters back and some impressive looking incoming players as well.  I think they will be back inside the bubble again this year.

After that there is a bit of a drop-off…

-Stanford is picked 5th, and while four starters are back and that experience should help them improve this year, they were pretty far outside the NIT last year (much less the NCAAs), and I just do not see them improving so much that they are going to end up making the field.

-I personally always seem to overvalue Colorado, but I once again kind of like them this year as being a “Best of the Rest” type of team.  They have a really solid player in Tristan da Silva, they have some good looking recruits coming in, and I like Tad Boyle as a coach.

-It has been a while since we have seen Arizona State solidly inside the bubble…and I do not think we will see it this year.  Their leading scorer is back and they are adding some decent looking transfers to the roster, but if I had to guess if that is enough to get them inside the bubble: I am guessing not.

-Washington State is nowhere near a Tournament-caliber team, but their program is going in the right direction and Kyle Smith seems to be building it up.  I think they are good enough to finish a little bit better than 8th this year.  They won 22 games a year ago and made it all the way to the NIT semis, which for Wazzu is amazing.  They have lost a lot from that team, and I do not think they will be quite as good as they were a year ago, but I still think they are going in the right direction.

-It has been a while since Washington has been nationally relevant, and they likely will not be again this year.  Mike Hopkins appeared to have this program on track when he first got there, but they have done very little since then.  Just one starter returns from last year so the Huskies are looking to rebuild.

-Utah has all five starters returning and because of that experience some are picking them as a dark horse.  The problem is they finished in 11th place last year and showed no real signs of being able to compete with the top of the league with that roster, so the fact that it is all back may not mean all that much.

-California has three starters back and we may see some improvement out of them this year, but I do not think it will be enough to land them in the top half of the conference.

-Oregon State was pretty bad three years ago.  Two years ago, they were decent during the regular season but still not all that special.  They went on a crazy run where they won the Pac-12 Tournament and then advanced all the way to the Elite Eight.  Last year, they followed that up with one of the worst seasons in Pac-12 history, winning just three total game.  They are picked to finish 12th this year and I will be shocked if they end up finishing 11th.

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SEC Media Day Recap and Response

Posted on October 28, 2022 by David Griggs

CLICK HERE for All of Hoops HD’s Continued and Extensive Preseason Content

MEDIA DAY PRESEASON POLL:

  1. Kentucky
  2. Arkansas
  3. Tennessee
  4. Auburn
  5. Alabama
  6. Texas A&M
  7. Florida
  8. LSU
  9. Ole Miss
  10. Mississippi State
  11. Missouri
  12. Vanderbilt
  13. Georgia
  14. South Carolina

 

MEDIA DAY PRESEASON ALL-SEC 1ST TEAM:

-Nick Smith – FR – Arkansas
-Colin Castleton – SR – Florida
-Oscar Tshiebwe- SR – Kentucky
-Sahvir Wheeler – SR – Kentucky
-Santiago Vescovi – SR – Tennessee

MEDIA DAY PRESEASON ALL-SEC 2ND TEAM:

-Brandon Miller – FR – Alabama
-Jahvon Quinerly – SR – Alabama
-KJ Williams – SR – LSU
-Josiah-Jordan James – SR – Tennessee
-Zakai Zeigler – SO – Tennessee

 

COMMENTS FROM DAVID:

-In college basketball, last impressions are the ones that…well…last.  Heading into the NCAA Tournament last year, I do not think any team had wins that were as impressive as the ones Kentucky had.  Kansas won it all, and Kentucky blew them off the floor in Allen Fieldhouse earlier in the year.  The loss to Saint Peter’s is what most people remember, though.  I thought they were good enough to win it all last year and I think they are good enough to win it all this year.  They have NBA-caliber talent, they tend to gel more and more as the season goes on, and they have a chance to not just win the SEC but to go to the Final Four and win it all.

-Arkansas is a team that many people are in love with, and I get it.  Their recruiting class is insanely good and they have some really good-looking transfers as well.  There is one thing that gives me pause, though.  The roster has basically been completely turned over.  Not one starter has returned from last season.  I get that they have reloaded.  I get that many think they are a top ten team.  And, they very well could be.  I am just never going to be all-in on someone before the season starts if there has been this much overhaul.  Not saying they will not be top-ten: I am just saying I have to actually see a few games first.

-Tennessee is usually an outstanding program for the months of November/December/January/February, but they always seem to exit the NCAA Tournament earlier than expected.  Last year they won 27 total games and were as good as anyone in the conference, but only went as far as the Round of 32 in the Tournament.  This year four starters return, the expectations are insanely high, and I believe they will once again end up as a protected seed.  The question I have is how well will they play in the NCAA Tournament: will they finally go on a deep run?

-Auburn should be very athletic, very tough defensively, really good in the backcourt, and with the addition some quality transfers pretty strong in the frontcourt as well.  This team did lose a fantastic player in Jabari Smith from last season, but they have enough coming back to once again be ranked in the Top-25 and contend for a protected seed this year.

-I am a big fan of Nate Oats: he has done well since arriving at Alabama and they once again look to have a top-caliber team.  Jaden Shackelford will certainly be missed, but Mark Sears transferred in from Ohio to be the PG, two other starters are also back, and they have added some high-quality transfers, so this should be a good team this year.

-UNCLE BUZZ!!  We at Hoops HD love Uncle Buzz!  He has done a great job everywhere he has been, he really has Texas A&M moving in the right direction as a program, and they seemed poised to have their best season since he arrived.  Four starters are back from a team that made it to the NIT Championship game and finished a modest 9-9 in league play, and this year the expectations are not just that they make the NCAA Tournament but land in the top half of it.

There appears to be a solid top six teams that are all top-25-caliber teams and appear poised to make the NCAA Tournament and be wearing white in the Round of 64.  After that, there is a bit of a drop-off.

-Florida has a new coach in Todd Golden, who is an outstanding coach, but he enters what can best be described as a transitional period for the Gators.  They do have a couple of solid players returning, and they add some decent looking transfers, and while they may have enough to make it to the NCAA Tournament I do not see them competing with the teams at the top of this league.

-LSU is also in a transitional period.  Last season ended under the clouds of NCAA investigations that were announced just before the start of the NCAA Tournament, and now they have a new coach/new roster.  It may take them a year or two for them to get back to where they are regularly inside the bubble.

-I really like Kermit Davis as a coach, but Ole Miss had a rough year last year, and when you look at what they have this year they do not exactly scream NCAA Tournament.  To be fair, though, this team was plagued by injuries last year, so if they can just stay healthy we should see some improvement.

-Mississippi State welcomes Chris Jans in as head coach, who was successful out at New Mexico State (but then again, it has been a while since NMSU had a coach who was not successful).  He has his work cut out for him in Starkville, though, if he wants to get them back to being inside the bubble.  I do not see it happening this year.  They were an NIT team a year ago and I think that is where they will end up this year.

-Missouri has gotten progressively worse in recent years and it would not shock me at all to see that trend continue.  Dennis Gates comes in as head coach after a successful run at Cleveland State but it may be a while before he sees any real success at Mizzou.

-Vanderbilt exceeded all my expectations last year by winning 19 total games and making the NIT.  That was a noticeable improvement from where the program had been.  They did lose Scotty Pippen Jr., and that is no small loss, but three other starters are back so I am a little surprised they are picked this close to the bottom this year.  I do not expect them to finish in the top half of the league but I do think they will finish higher than this.

-Georgia has a new coach in Mike White who comes over from Florida.  It was…interesting…how that played out.  Mike White has shown that he can win, but can he win at a place that is as bad as Georgia currently is??  Probably not: at least not for a while.

-South Carolina is picked to finish last, and while it would not shock me if they did not finish last, it would shock me if they finished any higher than second-to-last.

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The Hoops HD Report: AAC, A10, MWC, and WCC Previews

Posted on October 28, 2022 by David Griggs

Tonight, we have four conference previews in one post.  It’s the four conferences that don’t quite fall into the category of being power conferences from top to bottom, but still send multiple teams to the NCAA Tournament every year.  This year, we’ve got two Final Four caliber teams with Houston in the American, and of course Gonzaga out in the West Coast.  San Diego State and Dayton are other teams that we think could have big years and end up as protected seeds, Saint Mary’s and Wyoming we think are potential Top 25 caliber teams, and we really like Memphis as well, and feel Tulane can be a Dark Horse.  We discuss all that, and more in the videos below.

AMERICAN CONFERENCE:

ATLANTIC TEN:

MOUNTAIN WEST:

WEST COAST:

And for all you radio lovers, below are the audio only versions of the shows…

AMERICAN:

ATLANTIC TEN:

MOUNTAIN WEST:

WEST COAST:

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Ivy League Media Day Recap and Response

Posted on October 28, 2022 by David Griggs

CLICK HERE for All of Hoops HD’s Continued and Extensive Preseason Content

MEDIA DAY PRESEASON POLL:

  1. Penn
  2. Princeton
  3. Yale
  4. Harvard
  5. Cornell
  6. Brown
  7. Dartmouth
  8. Columbia

 

COMMENTS FROM DAVID:

The Ivy League opted to not let any players make up the COVID year, so a lot of teams who could have returned quite a bit of experience are looking to rebuild, and we may see the conference digress as a whole this year.

-Penn has been tabbed as the preseason favorites this year.  They are a traditional and historical power and are once again picked to finish atop the standings.  They won just 12 total games last year, but with four starters back, including Jordan Dingle who averaged over 20ppg last year, the expectations are high.  They have good outside shooting and a fairly strong backcourt as well.

-Princeton, Penn’s long time rival, is right behind them.  They won 23 total games last year and were the first place team, but lost in the Ivy League Tournament and then in the first round of the NIT.  Just two starters are back, and they lost three of their top players, so that could be difficult to replace.

-Yale finished second in the standings last year and then advanced to the NCAA Tournament after beating Princeton in to win the Ivy League Tournament.  Three starters from that team are back, but they lost two of their top players which will make it hard to repeat as conference champions.

-Harvard was a modest 5-9 in league play last year and failed to qualify for the conference tournament.  As a program they were really on a roll until COVID came along, and it has been tough for Coach Tommy Amaker and company to get back to the top of the league.  It could be a struggle this year.  While three starters are back, they will need more players to step up if they are going to be contenders.

-Cornell made it to the conference tournament last year and were a respectable 7-7 in league play.  Only two starters are back and while they do not return any double-digit scorers, they do return a couple of guys who appear to be good shooters and will be relying on them.

-Brown has some guys coming back that can score, but they appear to have lost some of their frontcourt and will need to rebuild that if they want to be successful this year.

-Dartmouth and Columbia could be in for very long years.  Columbia returns three starters but won just one conference game a year ago.  Dartmouth is in complete rebuilding mode with just one of their top players back.

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