NCAA Basketball: Top 25 preseason power rankings for 2021-22 season

In the transfer portal frenzy this offseason, there were only a few teams among the top seven conferences that didn’t elect to take in anyone. They didn’t really need to, thanks to a couple of massive decisions by some seniors to run it back.

Collin Gillespie was Co-Big East Player of the Year last season and is one of the best floor generals in the country. A leg injury caused the point guard to miss the postseason but they still managed to make the Sweet 16, thanks to a strong supporting cast, all of whom will be returning with the exception of leading scorer and rebounder Jeremiah Robinson-Earl.

Another super senior on the roster is Jermaine Samuels, a forward that averaged 12.0 ppg and 6.4 rpg last season. And after dealing with injuries himself, Dhamir Cosby-Roundtree will be back for an extra year as well. These two, along with four-star freshman center Nnanna Njoku will look to collectively replace Robinson-Earl but even if they fail to do so, the backcourt is more than capable of leading way.

Besides Gillespie, Villanova has another All-Big East talent in Justin Moore, who proved he can be a lead guard when the leader went out. Caleb Daniels nearly averaged double figures as well and will be a senior starter this year. Then there’s also Bryan Antoine, a former five-star prospect that had to deal with injuries the past two seasons but enters training healthy and ready to contribute.

While the loss of Robinson-Earl may still be undervalued, head coach Jay Wright has proven to be one of the best in the game. And since he has a 5th-year point guard leading the way in Gillespie, it’s hard to imagine that the Wildcats won’t be ranked in the top-10 for a good portion of next season.