NCAA Basketball: Power ranking of all 357 teams for 2020-21 season

90. Penn State Nittany Lions

Penn State had a great season last year and it finally seemed that the Nittany Lions were over the hump and they were going to win even despite the dreadful coaching they received from the former head coach Pat Chambers. Chambers resigned earlier this offseason and he has left Penn State without a coach.

The NIttany Lions were not projected to be very good this year anyways due to the sheer volume of talent they lost after last year and with Chambers resigning so close to the season it has not made it easy for interim coach Jim Ferry. Myreon Jones returns to try and make the most of the season for Penn State. The Nittany Lions finish in the bottom three of the Big Ten.

89. Pittsburgh Panthers

When current head coach Jeff Capel took the Pittsburgh job, he was going to have to rebuild this program from the ground up. It is now year three on the job and the Panthers are getting better quickly. Last season you could tell the noticeable difference in the Panthers on the floor.

Pittsburgh is not far away from becoming an extremely competitive program in the ACC again and many think it may be this year. The Panthers are getting better but still may be a year away. Point guard Xavier Johnson’s leadership is going to improve this offense tremendously they just need some more experience. Pitt is better but they are still a bottom-three team in the ACC.

88. Western Kentucky Hilltoppers

Western Kentucky has been at the top of the Conference USA since current head coach Rick Stansbury has been on campus. Stansbury is an elite recruiter and has quickly infused this program with talent. All of that talent has yet to pay off in an NCAA tournament run.

That should change this year as the Hilltoppers have the deepest roster in the conference and the two best players in the conference as well. Charles Bassey is back from injury and his presence on the floor makes his Hilltoppers the best team in Conference USA. Western Kentucky is a dangerous team, and they will win the Conference USA

87. Utah Utes

I thought Utah would be a lot better than they were last year. The reality was that the Utes struggled all year. They struggled to score, and they struggled to stop anyone. They were a young team who is still a young team and outside of their star they have very little depth. The Utes had their worst season under current head coach Larry Krystkowiak.

Utah’s star Timmy Allen returns for his junior year, and he may have one of the highest usage rates of any player in the country this year. Without Allen, Utah has no other reliable scorers. The Utes are a bottom three Pac-12 team.

86. SMU Mustangs

SMU is another one of those teams who can drastically outplay this ranking and has a sleeper Sweet 16 team written all over them. The Mustangs have their top five scorers back from a season ago. They shouldn’t sneak up on anyone, but they probably will be considering they finished .500 and in the middle of the American last season.  This season led once again by Tyson Jolly will find SMU as a top half American team.

85. Clemson Tigers

The Tigers bring back an experienced roster, but the roster has not done anything notable for the last two seasons under coach Brad Brownell. Last year was a tough year for Clemson fans, they ended up with a winning record, but they didn’t do anything well, and don’t have a roster near good enough to compete with the big boys in the ACC.

Clemson brings back Aamir Sims for one last chance to help Clemson climb out of the cellar, but the league is just too good. The Tigers are a bottom tier team in the ACC.

84. TCU Horned Frogs

When Jamie Dixon took the job at TCU, he was tasked with one thing and one thing only. He was supposed to build TCU into a consistent winner and he was well on his way to doing that until last year. The Horned Frogs took a giant step backward last year after winning 20 games the previous three seasons under their head coach.

TCU still played like Dixon was their coach with putting a premium on defense and doing just enough on offense to win games. The roster lost a ton of talent and this year they are going to rely on budding star RJ Nembhard. TCU doesn’t have enough talent to finish any higher than second to last in the Big 12.

83. Missouri Tigers

Is Missouri going to be better this year?  It doesn’t appear that way, but they could be the same on defense but their roster as it presently sits does not bring about any confidence at all on the offensive end. Since Michael Porter Jr. left, Missouri has not been great and have not come anywhere close to making the NCAA tournament.

The Tigers play slow and have a heck of time scoring but can play great defense. Trying to keep games low scoring in the high scoring SEC is never a recipe for success. Dru Smith returns for his senior season to try and kickstart this offense. Missouri is a bottom tier team in the SEC.

82. Minnesota Golden Gophers

Minnesota is not a team to trust going into the year. They lost one of the better players they have had in recent memory in big man Daniel Oturu, and this year’s roster is made up of a lot of guys who are going to have to prove it in the Big Ten. Head coach Richard Pitino has had his struggles and has been extremely inconsistent as the coach of the Gophers.

One thing that will never be disputed is the sheer talent that has committed to Minnesota in Pitino’s tenure he just needs to be more consistent in putting everything together. Marcus Carr leads the Gophers offense and will likely lead them in everything on the floor. The rest of the Gopher roster is going to have to get better for Minnesota to climb out of the bottom four of the league.

81. Buffalo Bulls

The Bulls are still a good team and there is not much of a noticeable difference in the Bulls since Nate Oats left for Alabama. The one thing that you can pinpoint is the complete disparity on both sides of the ball. Buffalo was still one of the best offensive teams in the country, they didn’t score over 80 points per game like they were under Oats but still finished in the top 20.

Buffalo was in the high 300’s overall in defense a season ago. They allowed over 76 per game. It wasn’t as noticeable though because Buffalo had such a potent offense, and with much of their team back from last year including star Jayvon Graves, Buffalo is a top-two team in the very tough MAC East.