NCAA Basketball: Big Ten, Auburn highlight Monday Morning Mailbag

This is a tough one. Give me Utah State for three reasons. One, I think people generally have a higher opinion of Utah State’s talent level. Not having Queta for some games early in the season will give them some wiggle room with the selection committee, too. Finally, the dirty little secret is that the WCC actually has some good teams this year – teams that play better than their metrics. The Gaels may have a few losses to teams that are pretty solid but will hurt their resume from a metrics standpoint. Saturday’s loss at home to Santa Clara is a perfect example.

I agree that no team will separate and that talent is down this season. However, I think that’s a this year thing and not an overall systematic thing or a trend of the times. This year’s freshman class isn’t strong and many of the best players in that class aren’t playing (Wiseman, Ball, RJ Hampton, Cole Anthony). There also weren’t any returning players that were overly notable. None of the premier freshman prospects from last year’s class stayed and there is no Virginia, North Carolina, or Gonzaga from last season that returned a lot of talent. It’s the perfect storm where pretty much everyone is rebuilding.

I know 15-20 feels about right, but I think the group might actually be much smaller than that. No one would be surprised if Baylor, Gonzaga, or Duke won. Same with Oregon, Michigan State, and Kansas. You can throw teams like Butler, Louisville, and Kentucky in there, too, but I feel like the amount of legitimate title favorites is only six or seven.

That doesn’t mean there won’t be a surprise run a la UConn – and there are teams capable of doing so – but it would be a huge surprise.

Yes, absolutely. I think we’re looking at him being a top 10 pick, if not a top five. NBA teams love his size, vision, and the fact he can be effective both on and off the ball.

It was kind of due for West Virginia given the way they struggled last year. They were so young and return most of that team, so the increased experience was going to make them better. That said, the additions of freshmen Oscar Tshiebwe and Miles McBride have helped take them to another level.

Speaking of McBride, he’s one of my favorite players to watch and I think will be a future superstar in the sport for reasons I explain here.

As for the other four, let’s see:

Cassius Stanley – how could you not enjoy his dunks?
Vernon Carey Jr. – he can take over games in the post unlike anyone we’ve seen in a while.
DJ Carton – the Ohio State guard is so explosive and can do it all, he just needs more playing time and to be more consistent.
Jahmi’us Ramsey – I think he’s in the mix for best two-way player in the country.

For an at-large bid, they either need to sweep Dayton or split with the Flyers once and beat VCU. Beating Duquesne would help, too. Basically, they need a real quality win or two (Richmond is their best win right now, and that’s not good enough) without suffering any Quad 3 or Quad 4 losses. Of course, they can also win the A-10 Tournament, or at least make it to the championship game of that tournament.