NCAA Basketball: Ranking the 4 teams in 2021 Hall of Fame Tip-Off field
2. Purdue Boilermakers
Key losses: None
Key additions: Caleb Furst, Trey Kaufmann
Purdue made the NCAA Tournament this past season as a 4 seed and even though they lost to North Texas in the Round of 64, has tremendous potential to be even better. That’s because they not only return just about everyone from the rotation, they’re adding a pair of top-60 frontcourt players in Furst and Kaufmann. Those two, along with 7’4 center Zach Edey and potential All-American Trevion Williams, will form one of the best big men rotations in the country.
The backcourt is in great shape as well, led by Jaden Ivey. The guard was a double-digit scorer as a freshman and is viewed as a consensus national breakout candidate for next year and a potential lottery pick. Guards Brandon Newman, Eric Hunter, and Sasha Stefanovic are all capable rotational pieces with experience. As long as Ivey takes the expected sophomore leap, the Boilermakers will be top-10 good in 2022.
1. Villanova Wildcats
Key losses: Jeremiah Robinson-Earl
Key additions: Nnanna Njoku, Jordan Longino
It was expected that Big East Player of the Year Robinson-Earl was moving on but the shock return of Collin Gillespie puts the Wildcats back in Final Four contention. The star guard and leader is an All-American in his own right and essentially has the rest of the roster coming back with him too. And former five-star guard prospect Bryan Antoine will hopefully be healthy after two years of injuries and being unable to crack the rotation.
The only question with Villanova will be how much they’ll miss Robinson-Earl at the center position. If top-100 freshman Njoku can have an impact and Dhamir Cosby-Roundtree can get healthy himself, that won’t be much of an issue.
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Considering that Villanova and head coach Jay Wright has enjoyed tremendous success in the past five years, their roster entering next season should be viewed as a safe bet to be great again in 2022. And that should start in the Hall of Fame Tip-Off, where they can get two big wins to bolster their resume.