Slick Cal gave a thumbs up when he learned his Wildcats debut in the top slot of GopherHole’s Road to Selection Sunday Top 25.
Welcome to another season of college basketball. Who’s ready? I know I am. We’ll get things started for the 2014-15 season with the RTSS preseason rankings. We could attempt to get cute and put someone other than Kentucky at the top of the rankings, but really, who would we be trying to kid? And while the NBA Odds are trying to figure out who will get the first pick of the draft and nab one of Kentucky’s stars, we’re focusing on the college game!
The Wildcats look like the clear favorite, with talent up and down the roster. The question becomes, does this become another season where non-UK fans bemoan the slick recruiting prowess of John Calipari after he leads UK to another Final Four and/or national championship? Or perhaps will it be another Blue Blood (North Carolina, Duke, Kansas), Western power (Arizona, Gonzaga), emerging non-Power 6 heavyweight (Wichita State, VCU), or perhaps, finally, a Big Ten member (best bet Wisconsin; the B1G hasn’t worn the crown since 2000) cutting down the nets in Indianapolis?
Here’s a first look at some of the teams to watch on the Road to Naptown, some very familiar, others not so much. Noted in parentheses is the team’s final 2013-14 RPI.
RTSS Preseason Top 25
1. Kentucky (17)
2. North Carolina (25)
3. Arizona (2)
4. Villanova (5)
5. Wisconsin (6)
6. Duke (9)
7. Kansas (3)
8. Virginia (8)
9. Gonzaga (20)
10. Florida (1)
11. Iowa State (7)
12. Texas (36)
13. Ohio State (24)
14. Michigan State (18)
15. Louisville (19)
16. Wichita State (4)
17. Michigan (11)
18. VCU (13)
19. UConn (22)
20. Kansas State (51)
21. Harvard (46)
22. San Diego State (15)
23. Stanford (41)
24. Oklahoma (26)
25. Utah (80)
25 Others to Watch (alphabetical): Arkansas (77), Boise State (82), BYU (31), Colorado (34), Dayton (43), Georgia (74), Georgia State (76), Illinois (70), Iona (59), Iowa (56), Louisiana Tech (62), Miami-Florida (110), MINNESOTA (50), Nebraska (48), Pitt (39), Saint Mary’s (61), San Francisco (68), Seton Hall (128), SMU (53), Syracuse (16), Toledo (38), Towson (95), UCLA (14), West Virginia (88), Xavier (47).