Busting Brackets
Fansided

AAC Basketball: Updated 2018-19 preseason rankings for the conference

By Lukas Harkins

ORLANDO, FL - MARCH 11: during the final game of the 2018 AAC Basketball Championship against at Amway Center on March 11, 2018 in Orlando, Florida. (Photo by Mark Brown/Getty Images) *** Local Caption ***
ORLANDO, FL - MARCH 11: during the final game of the 2018 AAC Basketball Championship against at Amway Center on March 11, 2018 in Orlando, Florida. (Photo by Mark Brown/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** /
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HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, KY – FEBRUARY 18: Coach Marshall. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, KY – FEBRUARY 18: Coach Marshall. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images) /

Despite how much talent Wichita State lost this offseason, it is never a good idea to count this program out. It seems as though, regardless of graduations and transfers, head coach Gregg Marshall and company seem to always be at the very least in the NCAA Tournament at-large discussion. So, because of this, I cannot put Wichita State much lower than sixth in these preseason rankings without feeling very uneasy.

However, it would also be a mistake to not take into account the fact that Wichita State lost a whopping 11 players from last season heading into this one. With this being said, there is obviously not a whole lot of returning talent on the roster. In fact, Markis McDuffie and Samajae Haynes-Jones are the only two returning players who averaged more than 10 minutes per game last season.

Because of this, the Shockers will need to rely on both incoming freshmen as well as transfers. With this considered, there is a high degree of variability when it comes to ranking Wichita State heading into this season. We are going to see basically an entirely new roster take the court and that can be extremely difficult to project. Yet, despite this, it is just not a good idea to rank any team coached by Gregg Marshall outside of the top-half of the conference.