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

50. Mississippi Rebels – Last Season Ranking: 31

Conference: SEC

Kermit Davis has done a great job with the Rebels. Last year was a disappointing season given all of the talent that Ole Miss had returning last year many figured they would make the tournament. The Rebels have an interesting offense as they don’t shoot many threes, they only averaged 17 per game and only made around five, which even if you take a minimal amount of threes to be successful you would want to make more than that.

The defense was good as they were the best statistical defense in the SEC. Ole Miss was a great rebounding team and they were able to protect the rim and get tons of steals. The Rebels did lose a lot of talent, but they had a promising recruiting class and they were able to secure some very highly ranked transfers.

Ole Miss has enough talent to finish in the middle of the pack in the league and coach Davis is never going to let them be a pushover and they will play hard every game. Maybe they surprise and finish in the top three in the league, but this team doesn’t have that kind of talent. Deashun Ruffin is the highest recruit to ever sign with the Rebels out of high school. He is going to have pressure to perform but he has the talent to be on the all-freshman team.

49. Seton Hall Pirates – Last Season Ranking: 53

Conference: Big East

Kevin Willard is a great coach and he has turned Seton Hall into a consistent top of the Big East program. The Pirates did go through a bit of a rebuild last year and still managed to finish in fourth in the Big East. Heading into this season Seton Hall is going to be a lot better this year as they were able to land some great transfers who will help fix the flaws on this team.

Under Willard, the Pirates have always had one player primed for a breakout and one big man who saw his game get taken to the next level. This year it is going to be no different. The Pirates have two of the best shot blockers in the country and one of the big men can and will take over a game any chance he gets. Seton Hall doesn’t have an established point guard on the roster so it may be a point guard by committee approach, but coach Willard will figure it out. Seton Hall looks to be a top-half team in the Big East again.

Jared Rhoden is a great defender and had a breakout year on offense last season. Rhoden is a tall guard who can rebound and gets downhill with the best of them where he gets to line a ton. He has the chance to have a Myles Powell-like breakout this season.

48. Oklahoma Sooners – Last Season Ranking: 48

Conference: Big 12

Oklahoma made the second round of the NCAA tournament last year, and after the loss to Gonzaga, former head coach Lon Kruger retired. The Sooners then made one of the best hires in the offseason when they hired Porter Moser who built up the Loyola Chicago program. Moser was a great hire and he is going to keep Oklahoma where they are, and will with more of a recruiting budget and the backing of the Big 12, and soon the backing of the SEC is going to help him recruit even better.

Every Moser-coached team is going to play defense, they are going to have a lot of good perimeter scoring options and will have a dominant big man who can take over games. Oklahoma has a roster that has exactly that. They have great guards and two good big men on the current roster. Most of these guys were acquired via the transfer market and are going to help the Sooners get back to the tournament. I think Moser is one of the best coaches in the game and he is going to get Oklahoma to the tournament in year one.

Tanner Groves, who was the reigning Big Sky Player of the Year at Eastern Washington, now gets to play in a power five. His game is tailor-made for a coach like Moser and he is going to have a great season.

47. Nevada Wolf Pack – Last Season Ranking: 58

Conference: Mountain West

Nevada has the type of team that can be that mid-major that has a long run of being undefeated. They have one of the highest-scoring backcourts in the country, and a big man who is extremely efficient. They play defense, get fouled a ton, and are extremely well-coached. Everyone can say what they want about head coach Steve Alford, but he is a great coach at the mid-major level. Nevada is going to make the NCAA tournament if they all stay healthy and they have a player who could be an All-American. The Wolf Pack were already a great team heading into the season but then they were able to add two quality transfers in the offseason.

The Mountain West is going to be loaded at the top as it always is, and Nevada is going to be in the mix for the title again. Grant Sherfield is a likely All-American, Mountain West Player of the Year, and the best piece of one of the best backcourts in the country. Sherfield was great last year, and it seems no one knows about him, but that will change this year when he leads the country in assists and averages close to 20 points per game.

46. Louisville Cardinals – Last Season Ranking: 16

Conference: ACC

I had a lot of faith in Louisville last year to make the NCAA tournament and to make some noise in the ACC. That didn’t happen as they finished middle of the pack and were never a threat to beat anyone near the top of the conference last year.

The Cardinals had quite the offseason as head coach Chris Mack was slapped with some additional NCAA violations stemming from the extortion case against former assistant coach Dino Gaudio. I know that the Cardinals fans and administration would like to make headlines in a more positive light. They have been in the news for far too many negative things over the last few seasons.

Louisville was active on the transfer market and was able to grab two players who were elite scorers at their previous school. Louisville is still a middle-of-the-pack ACC team and will likely find itself on the bubble for most of the year. El Ellis was one the highest-rated JUCO prospects last season. He is a JUCO All-American and was the player of the year in his conference. JUCO players are always a crapshoot but Ellis looks like a can’t miss prospect and he is going to be the leader of this offense.

45. St. Mary’s Gaels – Last Season Ranking: 92

Conference: West Coast

It was very strange seeing a Randy Bennett-coached team struggle on offense as much as the Gael’s did last year. Saint Mary’s was the worst offensive team in the West Coast conference last year. They were terrible from deep, played a lot of one on one off the dribble, but were good once they got inside the three-point arc and shot about 50% from two.

As bad as the Gaels were on offense, they were the best defensive team in the conference. Their prowess on the defensive end, allowed them to show very well in the non-conference. Saint Mary’s doesn’t allow teams to take any three’s, as they allowed the third-fewest attempts of any team in the country.

The Gaels have their whole roster back from last year and they are going to be good on defense again, but is the offense going to have enough firepower to stick with the high-powered teams in the conference?  They are all going to have to get a lot better if that is the case. The Gaels still have no shooters this season.

44. Rutgers Scarlet Knights – Last Season Ranking: 30

Conference: Big Ten 

Rutgers finally completed the job and made the NCAA tournament and they won a game and were within a few seconds of beating a Final Four team Houston in the tournament. Head coach Steve Pikiell has had the Scarlet Knights on the verge of the NCAA tournament for a few seasons and they were absolutely going to make the NCAA tournament in the 2019-20 season before it was lost due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The one thing that has changed the direction of Rutgers is their ability to recruit and they have been able to keep some of the talent from the east coast, especially the talent from New Jersey at home. The Scarlet Knights did lose some quality talent in the transfer portal, but they were able to keep most of their production in Piscataway and they are likely going to make another run at the NCAA tournament this year.

Ron Harper Jr. was playing like the player of the year in the league last year before he fell off a little bit. Harper exemplifies how Rutgers plays as he is a tough player who finishes through contact and gets downhill. The Scarlet Knights are tough and physical and are going to make their opponents know they played them. Rutgers is likely a middle-of-the-pack Big Ten team but that should be enough to make the tournament.

43. LSU Tigers – Last Season Ranking: 14

Conference: SEC

Whatever your thoughts on Will Wade are, one thing that cannot be disputed about LSU is that they win. Coach Wade has gotten them to win a lot and be a consistent team. Last season the Tigers had one of the best offenses in the country along with one of the best “one and dones” in the country as well. LSU has always been able to get some of the top recruits in the country dating all the way back to Shaquille O’Neal.

This year coach Wade has been able to secure another great recruiting class and LSU looks to be one of the top teams in the SEC again this season. They were active on the transfer market and were able to secure one of the top transfers on the market, but that player got hurt and will have to miss the rest of the season. The Tigers have backups and are going to be a tough team to beat.

Tari Eason is a transfer from Cincinnati, and the reports are he has been looking like a breakout player in the SEC this season. Eason is a good rebounder and rim protector and he is going to shoot at a high percentage.

42. Arizona Wildcats – Last Season Ranking: 28

Conference: Pac 12

I was high on Arizona last year, as I thought it was a team that former head coach Sean Miller could have gotten to the NCAA tournament. That didn’t happen and the Wildcats decided to go in a different direction and hire long-time Gonzaga assistant Tommy Lloyd. Lloyd is going to do big things at Arizona and year one should be a good year given what he was able to accomplish in the transfer portal.

The Wildcats have a ton of potential and are likely going to play a style like Gonzaga, which means the offense is going to be awesome. Coach Lloyd was also able to retain a lot of the talent he already had on the roster including two of the three top scorers from last year.

Arizona has one of the nation’s biggest breakout stars in Benedict Mathurin. Mathurin is talented and super athletic and can score from everywhere. He is going to be a great piece for Lloyd to mold into the next All-American to come out of his system.

41. Oklahoma State Cowboys – Last Season Ranking: 29

Conference: Big 12

Oklahoma State is never going to be able to replace their star Cade Cunningham from last year. He was a superstar, was only in Stillwater for a year, and got them to the NCAA tournament. The Cowboys were playing some of the best basketball in the country last year heading into the NCAA tournament and were a trendy pick to make the Elite Eight or Final Four among some.

Even without their star from last year, Oklahoma State and head coach Mike Boynton have a talented roster coming back and had a chance to make the NCAA Tournament again before getting a postseason ban for 2022. This year Oklahoma State is likely going to have a lot more balance in their scoring as Cunningham took so much volume. Oklahoma State still has its frontcourt intact and they are good at rebounding and protecting the rim. They also shoot with a high efficiency which is going to help immensely.

Isaac Likekele enters his senior year as the point guard for Oklahoma State. The senior has seen this through he was on the team when Oklahoma State really struggled to now. He makes everyone around him better and when he plays the Cowboys are at their best. He may not lead them in scoring, but he is a tremendous rebounder and a good passer.