NCAA Basketball: Updated 2018-19 Preseason top-25 after first NBA deadline

Teams 15-11

15. LSU Tigers – Previous rank (17)

14. Syracuse Orange – Preseason rank (16)

13. Mississippi State Bulldogs – Preseason rank (15)

12. West Virginia Mountaineers – Preseason rank (14)

11. Michigan State Spartans – Preseason rank (13)

Of all these teams, Syracuse is the one that still has to sweat it out. Two of the team’s primary scorers are still in the draft in Tyus Battle and Frank Howard, and wither one leaving would be devastating to the Orange’s hopes next season.

Mississippi State lost a pair of reserves that combined to average 9.4 ppg and 4.8 rpg. But the incoming freshmen will be able to make up that lost production. SEC peer LSU is sitting pretty, with nothing else to worry about.

West Virginia will have both the team’s best players (Sagaba Konate and Esa Ahmad) go through the draft process, but barring a surprise they each should return. Konate’s decision will have the big impact on the Mountaineer’s frontline.

Michigan State’s surplus in talent this past season helps them be able to sustain the losses of lottery picks Jaren Jackson Jr. and Miles Bridges. Cassius Winston, Joshua Langford, and Nick Ward are all set to come back, a trio that few teams can argue that they have better than. There haven’t been any other defections, which means that the Spartans will still be tough to beat in the 2018-19 season.