NCAA Basketball: Ranking all 358 D-I programs for 2021-22 season

90. Western Kentucky Hilltoppers – Last Season Ranking: 87

Conference: Conference USA

Western Kentucky has been one of the best teams in the Conference USA since Rick Stansbury has been the coach. The Hilltoppers have not been turning that success in the regular season into postseason success, however, as they are often getting beat in the conference tournament. Western Kentucky is going to be right near the top of the league again as they went out and reloaded through the transfer portal.

Fortunately for the Hilltoppers, the conference is deeper this year than it has been in years and if they can navigate the schedule and win enough games, they may finally get at large consideration this year. The Hilltoppers have two quality transfers who they are going to rely on to do some heavy lifting this year.

The Hilltoppers also have the tallest player in NCAA Basketball on their roster, in 7’5” Jamarion Sharp.  Keith Williams, a transfer from Cincinnati, is likely going to have a huge year for the Hilltoppers and should lead them in scoring.

89. Marquette Golden Eagles – Last Season Ranking: 64

Conference: Big East

Shaka Smart has moved from Texas and headed to Marquette. He takes over for former coach Steve Wojciechowski and is going to have his year cut out for him. The Golden Eagles do not have a single starter returning from last year’s team and have two rotation players returning. They got a few transfers, but they have one of the youngest teams in the country and that may be a problem this season.

Anyone who has watched a Coach Smart team knows how he can win with not much offensive talent because his teams play a havoc style and like to slow the game way down. The games get sloppy and the opponents get frustrated that is just the way that Smart likes to play, and he is going to be able to win some games for Marquette.

Darryl Morsell is a graduate transfer from Maryland. Morsell was the defensive player of the year in the Big Ten last year and he is going to be a huge factor for Marquette this year as he will be the focal point of the defense.

88. Cincinnati Bearcats – Last Season Ranking: 39

Conference: American Athletic

Former coach John Brannen was relieved of his duties after there was some controversy about him during his time as the coach of the Bearcats. Cincinnati went out and hired former UNC Greensboro head coach Wes Miller. Coach Miller guided his former team to five straight 20-win seasons and two NCAA tournament appearances in the last four years. Miller is going to get back to playing Cincinnati basketball he loves to shoot threes, and they play good defense. His teams are consistently one of the better rebounding and rim-protecting teams in the country every year.

He is going to have better access to recruits that he would not have had while at Greensboro and Miller will take full advantage of that. This season he has a new roster with most of his productive pieces coming via the transfer market. Miller has an experienced point guard, a player who can shoot the high volume that he does like his star players to shoot, and they may have the most blocks per game of anyone in the country.

The Bearcats are poised to also be one of the best rebounding teams in the country as they have two big men who are relentless on the glass and block a lot of shots. It will be a lot different than normal Bearcat basketball though because Miller plays fast always, and they get shots up. Cincinnati for the longest time was one of the slowest teams in the country.

Abdul Ado makes his way to the Bearcats after four successful seasons in the Mississippi State program. Ado is an elite shot-blocker and great rebounder and he is going to be a huge factor in the American this year. He is one of the frontrunners for American Defensive Player of the year and when Cincinnati gets in a defensive battle, they have one of the best patrolling the paint. Ado will also likely be a 1,000-point scorer when his time in college is over so he can change a game in a lot of ways.

87. Wake Forest Demon Deacons – Last Season Ranking: 100

Conference: ACC

Steve Forbes is likely going to turn Wake Forest into a power in the ACC. He is a great recruiter and has loaded this program with talent. Last season was a challenge as it was for so many teams breaking in a new coach. This year though, with a full offseason, the Demon Deacons should be much more competitive and are going to likely win some games they should not. The Demon Deacons like so many other teams who brought in a new coach were not efficient at all.

If you look at the rest of the numbers though as they were a good three-point shooting team, a decent team from the foul line, and they rarely turned the ball over on offense. All of those are great building blocks for a young team to build on and get better. Carter Whitt is the point guard for Wake Forest. He has the potential to have a huge year and will be a huge breakout player.

86. Kansas State Wildcats – Last Season Ranking: 97

Conference: Big 12

The Wildcats have fallen far from their Elite Eight appearance a few seasons ago. They were one of the worst teams in the country a year ago and it was all because they couldn’t score points. Kansas State had one of the worst offenses in the country last year in all aspects. They were terrible from the three, shot under 50% from inside the arc, and only shot 66% from the free throw line. Those offensive numbers were already bad, but they got a lot worse in the conference.

Kansas State lost 13 games in a row in the middle of the year and was never able to regain their footing. This is all the result of being a young team in one of the best basketball conferences in the country. Head coach Bruce Weber went out in the transfer portal and found a lot of guys with experience and who can score. He adds those transfers to a team with virtually zero turnover last year. Kansas State probably won’t be good, but they will be better than last year and should finish still bottom three but still better.

Markquis Nowell is a great scorer who is going to help this offense immensely. He also has a ton of experience and has won a lot of games, all of those are things the Wildcats desperately need.

85. Utah Utes – Last Season Ranking: 86

Conference: Pac-12

Craig Smith is a fantastic coach and he is in his first year coaching the Utes. He took the job at the power school after building up and turning around the Utah State program. It likely won’t take coach Smith long to turn the fortunes of the Utes around as he can turn programs around fast. Utah did lose their top two scorers from a year ago. Utah is going to defend, as that is a signature of any coach Smith coached team.

The other thing that the Utes are going to do is rebound, and usually rebound well. Look for the big men on the roster to take a huge step forward. On offense, Utah is going to play pretty fast and get downhill to the rim, they will be selective in the threes that they take but will usually make the ones they take. Utah may need a year or two to get back up to the top of the Pac-12.

This year they are likely going to finish in the middle of the pack in the league. Branden Carlson is ready for a breakout this year and could be one of the most improved players in the league.

84. Nebraska Cornhuskers – Last Season Ranking: 101

Conference: Big Ten

Entering year three of the Fred Hoiberg era and Nebraska finally has had a full offseason program with their team. The Huskers finally have a lot of their production returning from last year and coach Hoiberg didn’t have to go and scour the grad transfer market. The Huskers love to shoot the three but have never had anyone good enough to make a difference from beyond the arc, they were not an overly efficient team last year.

Everything else under Hoiberg improved from year one. Nebraska also has an extreme ceiling and if things go right and they have a good non-conference they could see themselves as a firm bubble team in March. Nebraska must make more threes and shoot with much higher efficiency for that to be a possibility.

Bryce McGowens, the program’s first five-star recruit ever, joins his brother on the roster and those two are likely going to be responsible for a lot of Nebraska’s points and won’t leave the floor much.  The younger McGowens is going to be in the Freshman of the Year in the conference conversation.

83. Miami Hurricanes – Last Season Ranking: 68

Conference: ACC

Through some of my conversations with other writers and some of the other preseason rankings that have come out one thing is clear. There is a large variance in the preseason rankings for the Hurricanes.

Some think they have the ultimate sleeper potential in the ACC and others, I feel that they are going to be the same old Miami team we have seen the last few seasons. The Hurricanes are not a good shooting team, and that doesn’t bode well for their season as their best players are all guards. The lineup is extremely guard-heavy.

Miami wasn’t great shooting the ball from inside the arc either, they didn’t take great shots, and to compound the bad offense their point guard only played two games. The Hurricanes do have most of their rotation back from last year and they are all older and should hopefully get a little better. Nothing is going to matter if the guards don’t take better shots. Isaiah Wong returns to lead the Hurricanes.

82. Dayton Flyers – Last Season Ranking: 69

Conference Atlantic 10

Half of the Flyers roster are players who were not with the team last year. None of the rotation players Dayton has returning have played more than one season of college basketball. However, don’t panic as head coach Anthony Grant is a great coach who is going to get these guys ready to play. The Flyers, just like every other team, is going to have fans in the arena this year.

That is going to be one of the biggest advantages for Dayton as they have one of the best home-court advantages in all the sport. Their fans like to get LOWD and they will provide the needed energy for Dayton to get going on offense and on defense.

The strength in this team lies in the frontcourt as the Flyers have two great players who are going to be a nightmare to guard for opposing Atlantic 10 defenses.  Mustapha Amzil is a skilled big man who is going to be responsible for the Flyers winning a lot of games. He can shoot from deep, is efficient from inside the arc, and can rebound. He is primed for a breakout.

The backcourt is extremely young and has some question marks, it will be interesting to see who emerges as a steady point guard that the team can rely on.

81. Pittsburgh Panthers – Last Season Ranking: 88

Conference: ACC

Could this finally be the year that head coach Jeff Capel turns the corner?  It will have to be wait and see mode as Pittsburgh did lose a lot of production in the offseason, but it may have been addition by subtraction as some really talented players are going to get a chance to play a ton of minutes this year.

The Panthers were at one point one of the premier programs in the country and they have not been able to find that magic again for about the last 10 or so years. Pittsburgh will be better this year, not good enough likely to finish in the middle of the pack but they should be able to avoid the bottom three of the league this year.

The record will be closer .500 and hopefully, the Panthers are able to avoid the early non-conference head-scratching upset. It is Femi Odukale time, as the Point Guard is an extremely talented kid who is going to be on every single breakout list you see.