Mr_Otters's Week Pre-Season Ballot

RankTeamReason
1 Kansas Right mix of youth and experience. Self excels with a dominant big.
2 Purdue They'll probably chew through the regular season and should hit the ground running. Computers love 'em.
3Duke They need at least one of the freshmen to really hit but they have the core group who played well down the stretch.
4 Tennessee Should be a buzzsaw of a defense once again. No one will want to go to Knoxville.
5 UConn Danny has gotten more comfortable each year. Those are some killer personnel losses but I still like the roster.
6Creighton Well-balanced line-up. Should cruise through the regular season.
7 Marquette I like the return to small-ball Shaka. Might feel like a better version of his VCU teams.
8 Michigan State They should be better than last year, but this is still a big jump. Probably better in Feb than Nov.
9Houston Love the Cryer pick-up. Sampson has made this program reliable.
10Florida Atlantic I think they were better than their seed, so I feel better about this than other surprise FF runs.
11 Arizona They've become reliably hard to guard for most teams. They need "Good Love" way more often than UNC got.
12 Kentucky I'm not overreacting to the Europe trip (I probably am)
13Arkansas Another massive roster haul. Lots of options for Muss.
14 Texas On-paper is pretty awesome. If they keep the spirit of the post-Beard team could be way better than this.
15North Carolina I think both parties from the UNC-Love divorce will walk away happy.
16 Texas A&M Strong, veteran, team. But do they have another gear? I'm not sure.
17 Gonzaga Nembhard is a great add, will need to adjust to the post-Timme era but it could be productive.
18 Miami (FL) A killer top 3 players with Pack, Omier and Poplar... I do wonder if they have the depth to grind out a full season though.
19 Saint Mary's Pretty much rinse and repeat from last year's tough team
20Baylor Still think they are sneaky talented but haven't seen a lot of people talking about them.
21 San Diego State Some big holes to fill but they'll still be top 35 the whole season
22 Alabama Giving Oats the benefit of the doubt here even though they had a lot of turnover.
23 Maryland Kinda overlooked? I think they have all the pieces you would want.
24 UCLA In Cronin we trust.
25 Virginia Slowwwwwly talking myself into them after a pessimistic off-season.

Overall Rationale