NCAA Basketball: Ranking all 358 D-I programs for 2021-22 season
By Bryan Mauro
100. VCU Rams – Last Season Ranking: 115
Conference: Atlantic 10
We all know the story by now, the Rams qualified for the NCAA tournament a season ago, and then a Covid 19 outbreak forced them to forfeit their NCAA tournament game against Oregon. VCU also lost their best player to the NBA draft and a few others to transfers.
The Rams always play fantastic defense and their style creates a ton of turnovers for the opponent. They did not shoot the ball particularly well from deep last year and they play slow. The Rams protect the rim, they deny the three-point line and they get a ton of steals.
All those things have contributed to teams shooting about 40 percent from the floor as when the Rams don’t get steals, they pack the paint and make scoring an absolute chore. They may have a tough time scoring this year, but they are going to make it hard to score, as they have a good portion of their roster back. Adrian Baldwin Jr. is the point guard for VCU, and he is ready for a breakout year.
99. Buffalo Bulls – Last Season Ranking: 80
Conference: MAC
The Bulls were one of the fastest teams in the country last year as they took almost 70 shots per game a season ago. They led the country in shots inside the arc, as they took 46 shots per game inside the arc. It also doesn’t hurt when you had one of the most dominant centers in the sport. Head Coach Jim Whitesell returns a lot of the production from last year’s team including 4 out of 5 starters.
The offense was elite last year. Buffalo was the best rebounding team in the country a year ago averaging about 44 rebounds per game, which includes 15 offensive rebounds per game. They protect the rim and get a ton of steals as well. When coach Whitesell took the job, many questioned whether Buffalo would be able to keep their top spot in the MAC and be a threat to make the tournament every year.
So far, the Whitesell and the Bulls have not missed a step at all. Senior Josh Mballa is one of the most dominant centers in the league. He was named the MAC Defensive Player of the Year and was second-team all-conference. He is a rebounding machine and is well on his way to being the favorite for the MAC Player of the Year.
98. Boston College Eagles – Last Season Ranking: 90
Conference: ACC
Head coach Earl Grant took over a team who never won. Boston College has been at the bottom of the ACC for a long time. The task of building that program up to be competitive in the league is going to be very difficult, especially this year with a virtually new roster. The Eagles have three players who were in their rotation last season returning. That is at least something to build on for year two for coach Grant.
Boston College just doesn’t have the talent to compete in the ACC every night and they have a lot of uncertainty about their depth and rotation for year two. Boston loves winners and they will support a team who wins, the only problem is that the Eagles appear to be a long way from winning. Brevin Galloway, a graduate transfer from College of Charleston, played for coach Grant and is familiar with the offense. He is a player who could be due for a breakout.
97. DePaul Blue Demons – Last Season Ranking: 91
Conference: Big East
The Dave Leitao experience for DePaul is finally over and the Blue Demons have hired Tony Stubblefield to be the head coach. The Blue Demons are in a rebuilding mode and have a lot of new faces who have not been part of DePaul basketball before. Stubblefield is a great coach and DePaul desperately needs a coach who can change their fortunes on the floor.
They have been one of the worst programs in the Big East for a long time and a new face should be just what they need to hopefully get back on the right track. It might be tough this year given the newness of the roster. The roster overall is experienced when it comes to college basketball, but none of these guys have ever played a game together and that can take some time to get used to.
The Blue Demons do have some guys who have shown they can score, but mostly all of them were role players with their last teams. Tyon Grant-Foster has the most upside of any player on the team. He was the former number one JUCO recruit in the country.
96. Davidson Wildcats – Last Season Ranking: 94
Conference: Atlantic 10
Bob McKillop has been a staple at Davidson for a long time and he has coached a lot of really good players. Every single season there are things that define Wildcats basketball. They are always going to get a ton of talent from overseas, have great guards, and shoot a ton of threes. Davidson was one of the best shooting teams in the country last year and they also attempted 27 threes a game which was in the top 25 overall for attempts.
The Wildcats were also extremely efficient shooting just a shade under 50% from the floor last year. They only averaged about 71 points per game because they do not play overly fast and they don’t rush their shots on offense. They have great ball movement and make sure to get a shot that is as wide open as possible. The Wildcats have a good portion of their roster returning from last year.
It’s never a safe to bet against Coach McKillop and his Wildcats as they are always a team capable of going on a run. Hyunjung Lee is a very unheralded player who is likely going to be first-team all-conference this year.
95. South Dakota State Jackrabbits – Last Season Ranking: 109
Conference: Summit League
South Dakota State won the Summit League regular season last year and then lost by two points to eventual NCAA tournament darling Oral Roberts in the tournament semifinals. It sounds hard to believe but the Jackrabbits were the most prolific offense in the Summit League a year ago, they just didn’t have the flashy players that Oral Roberts had.
South Dakota State was one of the most efficient teams in the country inside the three-point line, they also made it real easy on themselves as they got the ball to the rim a lot, and in turn, got fouled a lot. The Jackrabbits don’t take all that many threes, but they have three of the best shooters in the Summit League and one of them may be one of the best shooters in the country. Baylor Scheierman is an unbelievable shooter; he is a great rebounder and passer as well. He is going to push for Summit League Player of the Year.
94. California Golden Bears- Last Season Ranking: 95
Conference: Pac 12
Mark Fox took over an absolute dumpster fire of a program when he took over for Wyking Jones three seasons ago. Year one was a rousing success as the Golden Bears won 14 games, last year came and California was back to being one of the worst teams in the country again and all the progress made from the previous year was lost.
Coach Fox heads into this season with one of the worst offenses in basketball, that is unless the players develop a lot over the offseason. The Bears were one of the oldest teams in the country a season ago and this year they are still old but have so many question marks. California has no depth outside of their top three scorers. California struggles to find their footing again this year and finishes near last in the Pac 12. Andre Kelly returns to lead California.
93. Vanderbilt Commodores – Last Season Ranking: 113
Conference: SEC
The Commodores have not been good under head coach Jerry Stackhouse at all. The silver lining is that it is still relatively early in the tenure, so it still isn’t going to be called a bust. I do believe that Vanderbilt is getting better, but much like life in a power conference, it is harder to get to the top than it is to climb out of the basement. The Commodores take a lot of threes, but they don’t make nearly enough of them for it to matter.
This season coach Stackhouse went out and got some quality transfers who know what it takes to win. Both players are very good and are going to help Vanderbilt tremendously. However, the overall depth outside of the starting five is still a huge question.
Will Vanderbilt finally climb out of the cellar and be more competitive? It’s hard to say, likely no but they should be able to justify their spot in the top 100. Scotty Pippen Jr. and his 20 points per game return to lead Vanderbilt. Pippen Jr. is going to be close to leading the country in scoring this year.
92. Louisiana Tech Bulldogs- Last Season Ranking: 105
Conference: Conference USA
The Bulldogs were a great team last year as they finished second overall in the Conference USA. They did lose to North Texas in the conference tournament and then made a deep run in the NIT. Louisiana Tech was one of the oldest teams in the country a year ago and that helped them immensely throughout the year.
The Bulldogs have a good portion of that roster coming back this season and they were even able to secure a 20 point per game scorer in the transfer portal. They were not very efficient on the offensive end last year, which ended up being their downfall in postseason play.
This year, they are going to be one of the favorites to come out of Conference USA and make the NCAA tournament. Kenneth Lofton is a 6’7” 275-pound big man, who anchors the defense underneath and is almost impossible to move out of the paint. He was the freshman of the year and has a chance to be the Conference USA Player of the Year.
91. Northwestern Wildcats- Last Season Ranking: 102
Conference: Big Ten
Ever since Northwestern made the NCAA tournament and won a game, it has been a freefall. I may be in the minority, but I am not a Chris Collins believer and feel that with another single-digit wins a year the Wildcats could be searching for a new coach. Northwestern is going to have another year of a bottom-four finish in the Big Ten, even with all their production returning from last year.
Northwestern doesn’t do anything flashy, and they don’t shoot an overly high percentage from the floor overall. They at times will take bad shots. They rarely get fouled and they don’t rebound or protect the rim all that well either. It should be a better year for Northwestern but how much better is yet to be determined. Chase Audige returns to lead the charge for the Purple and White.