College basketball No. 1-358 rankings: Preseason countdown concludes with top 68 teams for 2021-22 season
Check out the top teams in the CBS Sports ranking of all 358 NCAA Division I college basketball teams
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Here are the BE schools in the top 68. I'm doing this fast so I may miss some:
63. Creighton: A Sweet 16 team in March, the Bluejays can't avoid dropping back in the herd. Greg McDermott's team is one of just a handful in the power conferences that does not return a starter. This squad is going to be three Ryans and Rati: Ryan Hawkins, Ryan Kalkbrenner and Ryan Nembhard will contribute behind anticipated top scorer Rati Andronikashvili, a Turkish combo guard who missed last season due to a knee injury. I'm interested to see how much McDermott can tweak and rejig his program in the months ahead.
55. Providence: Ed Cooley normally doesn't build his teams around an interior, bruising player, but that will be the case with 6-10 center Nate Watson. Here's an early tip: Watson is one of the five best players in the Big East. He'll be helped by key returnee A.J. Reeves; I'll add that the Friars return more than 75% of their production from a .500 team, so PC seems sleeper-ish. There are eight new faces in Providence, with Indiana transfer Al Durham expected to be a big-time Friar within the first few weeks of the season.
49. St. John's: Ask around the Big East and you'll get a variety of opinions on the viability of St. John's. With Julian Champagnie and Posh Alexander back, the interesting quotient continues to be high for a program that hasn't won an NCAA Tournament game since 2000. There's the fairly typical/2021-style heavy influx of transfers; the Johnnies have six of them, plus three freshmen to spruce up the surroundings. Look for former UVM guard Stef Smith and former Purdue forward Aaron Wheeler to be the most important incoming players on the roster. But this is Posh's show.
37. Seton Hall: Kevin Willard has a 123-69 record the past six seasons. That's third-best in the Big East (Villanova and Creighton). The Hall probably doesn't get quite the amount of credit it should, but with one NCAA Tournament win in that span, it's understandable. I think this will be an overachieving collective in 2022. Myles Cale and Jared Rhoden are the standout wings on a team with, like, nine of them. Another is Syracuse transfer Kadary Richmond, who should step in and average 10 a night. If there's a player who will make SHU a fun-but-plausible long shot of the Big East, it's Bryce Aiken, who was injury-riddled again last season. Aiken averaged just 13 games the past four years of his career. He's owed nothing but the best in '21-22.
33. UConn: There's a lot of tempting weapons who will be eager to prove their worth now that James Bouknight is in the NBA. Whether UConn has that dynamic playmaker to ensure this is a top-35 team remains to be seen. I'll take my chances with Dan Hurley. Who'll be the best player? It's TBD. The answer should come from the trio of Adam Sanogo, Isaiah Whaley and R.J. Cole. Whaley could be the top overall defender in the conference. Cole could drop 30 in a night. (Efficiency is the factor.) Sanogo will be the most improved player in the Big East. I think Tyler Polley's capacity as a go-to guy late in games will add a dimension that this team lacked last season. This will be a rugged team, but also one with potential to peel off 14-2 runs. Hitting 80 points will be a special occasion, but there seems to be little doubt that UConn is a top-four Big East squad.
25. Xavier: The Big East is too well-rounded not to have two schools in the top 25. Given how the Musketeers bring back nine guys, then welcome in C Jack Nunge from Iowa and PF Jerome Hunter from IU, this is a fairly appealing roster with a second-weekend-in-March ceiling. There are eight returnees who put up averages between 10.0 and 32.7 minutes. It should by far be Travis Steele's best team, and he knows it. The success will likely start with shooting guard Paul Scruggs, but I remain a KyKy Tandy stan. Prototypically fun Big East point guard. X has size too; five players between 6-8 and 7-0 will get run. Expect Steele and his staff to roll out a variety of looks to their advantage, and in doing so, reliably use at least 10 players consistently. X hasn't had an NCAA Tournament team since Chris Mack left for Louisville. That changes in '22.
3. Villanova: Collin Gillespie opting to come back after his torn left MCL is what makes this team -- again -- a title contender. Jermaine Samuels going in for one more tour of duty with the Wildcats also helps significantly, and will matter a ton early because talented-but-snakebitten wing Bryan Antoine will miss the start of the season due to injury. I still feel like Samuels has something more in him he'll show. So if Antoine can get healthy, Villanova will again -- easily -- be the best team in the Big East and position itself for a fourth Final Four appearance under newly minted Hall of Famer Jay Wright. Other familiar names back: starters Justin Moore (could wind up being better than Gillespie) and Caleb Daniels. The knock here is losing Big East Player of the Year Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, but Villanova is a culture built upon itself. The idea is that Eric Dixon will take the jump in minutes and production, with help from top-50 2021 recruit Trey Patterson, and they'll again have one of the best offensive teams in the sport.
