Coming into the college basketball season, there are a ton of programs looking to make some major noise early and prove their dominance over the rest of the college basketball realm. These five teams will enter the season as my predicted top-five programs entering the year. Based on returning players, transferring in stars, and ESPN top recruits, these rosters are made up of future NBA stars. Here are those top five teams.
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5. Houston Cougars
Houston wins on defense. That has been Kelvin Sampson’s formula since day one. He has been the coach that teaches lockdown defense, which leads to fast transition offense and that is how this team seems to be in the mix every single season. This team added in two big-time transfers from Baylor in LJ Cryer, and Temple Damian Dunn. Both averaged 15 points last season. On top of that, the Cougars will be returning Jamal Shead and J’Wan Roberts to the mix. The biggest difference about this team this season is the competition it plays. The move from the AAC to the Big 12 could prove quite difficult.
4. Michigan State Spartans
Future Hall of Fame coach Tom Izzo and his team are bringing back an entire starting lineup. The mix of experience, depth, and chemistry that this team will possess going forward is part of why it ranked so high. Tyson Walker led the team last season averaging 14.8 PPG. He will be tested again this season and Michigan State hopes he can continue to perform. Madd Sissoko is back as the big, feared man at center. He only averaged 5.8 PPG, but his domination on the boards and in blocked shots provides all his worth. The Spartans also added Xavier Booker and Jeremy Fears, who were both top recruits.
3. Purdue Boilermakers
Purdue has been a featured team on this list all of the years that Zach Edey has been in attendance at the school. Since the days of the duo of Jaden Ivey, now a Detroit Piston, and Edey, the Boilermakers have been making noise. The 7-foot-4 big man who averaged 22.3 PPG is back in the middle and will lead this team to what they hope is another No. 1 seed in March. Matt Painter will have all five starters back from that run last season that ended in catastrophe early in the NCAA Tournament.
2. Duke Blue Devils
The Duke Blue Devils are going to be one of the most feared teams this season. They are the most complete from youth, depth, experience, consistency, rebounding and shooting. Kyle Filipowski will anchor down the team once again this season after averaging 15.1 PPG as a stellar freshman. Tyrese Proctor is back for his sophomore year after averaging 9.4 points last year. We haven’t even talked about the elite recruiting class consisting of Jared McCain and others coming in. McCain was the No. 12 player on ESPN 100. The general ability of Jeremy Roach ties the entire team in for what should be a Final Four run.
1. Kansas Jayhawks
The Kansas Jayhawks went from NCAA champions to not seeing the second weekend of the tournament in back-to-back seasons. This season they will look to go back to the championship and win another banner. They will be returning stars Dajuan Harris, Kevin McCullar, and K.J. Adams as the team’s experienced core. They also added in the best transfer in the portal this season, Michigan’s Hunter Dickinson, who averaged 18.5 PPG last year. Their fifth starter is the No. 26 player on the ESPN 100 in this year’s recruiting class, Elmarko Jackson. It is yet to be seen how this team can play together, but if it gel quickly, this roster could get dangerous.
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