gohogs1995's Week Pre-Season Ballot

Rank	Team	Reason
1	Kansas	Kansas seems to be the clear cut favorite at the moment, adding the best transfer to an already very talented returning core
2	Purdue	I expect their guards to be better this year but still expect Edey to carry them most games. Should be a fun matchup in Fayetteville on the 28th
3	UConn	I'm a little higher on the defending champs compared to other polls I've seen. Interested to see what Clingan does without Sanogo there to take defense's focus away down low
4	Duke	Talent is there, shooting could be somewhat of an issue but I think that can be overcome most games with the guys they have
5	Michigan State	Feels like they have the pieces to be a very good team this year, expect them to be a high seed in the tourney
6	Houston	Wasn't expecting to rank them this high a few months ago but they seemed to have put together a really solid team. Interested to see how they adjust to the B12
7	Creighton	Managed to keep their roster mostly together and I think Ashworth will fit in with their offense very well
8	Marquette	Another high powered offense from the Big East, brought back a good amount of players from last year so I think they'll have another good year
9	Arizona	I expect the offense to be good again, if the defense improves they could be really good
10	Gonzaga	more roster turnover than I'm used to seeing for Gonzaga but I expect them to be very good again. Brought in some solid additions that I expect to play big roles
11	Texas A&M	Brought back a lot of their scoring from last year. I don't think they'll finish with 15 conference wins again but I also expect them to play better in the non-conference games
12	Arkansas	A more experienced team with (hopefully) better 3PT shooting than last year. Feels like this team will be more similar to the 21 and 22 teams that went to the E8
13	Florida Atlantic	not quite sold on FAU as a top 10 team yet. Brought back all of their starters but a jump to a new conference and more eyes on them might make things tougher on them
14	Villanova	Another experienced team that I expect to have a much better season than they did last year
15	Tennessee	With Ziegler healthy I'd have them above A&M and Arkansas but I want to see what they look like without him before putting them higher
16	Miami (FL)	Might be a little underrated but I want to see how their defense looks before moving them higher
17	Alabama	Losing arguably the best player in the country will be tough and I don't think they match last years record but this will be a team that can compete for the SEC and score a lot of points
18	Texas	Not sure if Abmas' game will quite translate to the B12 but I still think this is a solid team that will defend well and possible compete for a conference title
19	Baylor	Made some great pickups and should be a good offensive team. Will be one of the better teams in the B12 I think
20	Kentucky	Cal knows how to win with freshmen but this is a very inexperienced but talented team. Might take quite a bit of time for this team to gel
21	San Diego State	Lost a few of their top players from last years team but should still be a quality squad. Defense will most likely carry them like the last few years
22	USC	One of the more talented team in the P12 but young and obviously the health of Bronny is a concern. Hopefully he has no issues and we can see what they look like at full strength
23	Maryland	Quite a good haul of newcomers on this team should set them up for more success this year. Potentially a second weekend team if everything goes right
24	Saint Mary's	Will once again be at the top of their conference alongside Gonzaga. Should be talented defensively and the offense has potential to be good
25	Auburn	Should be a better shooting team this year, if Holloway can handle PG duties well they should be a top 5 team in the SEC

Overall Rationale

Teams Considered: UNC, Memphis, Oregon, Colorado, WVU, Indiana, TCU, Illinois, K State, UCLA, Florida