NCAA Basketball: Power rankings of all teams (363-1) for 2022-23 season

80. Fort Wayne Mastodons-Last Season Ranking: 255

Conference: Horizon League

As the winner of the Horizon League regular season, the Mastodons were invited to compete in the NIT. They lost their opening round game to Drake, but the experience is something that Fort Wayne is going to take into this season and use it as fuel for another run to the top of Horizon League. The top of the Horizon is likely going to be packed again and the Mastodons have all their production back from last year. Fort Wayne is on the cusp of the first NCAA tournament berth in school history. Head coach Jon Coffman has a team that is going to put some power teams on notice.

Fort Wayne is going to enter the year as the team to beat in the Horizon as they have a ton of experience and are hungry to get that first NCAA tournament bid. Fort Wayne has the best starting five in the Horizon and easily has the best backcourt in the league. Jarred Godfrey is the go to and my favorite for Horizon League player of the year.

79. Towson Tigers- Last Season Ranking: 256

Conference: Colonial

I was not very high on the two highest finishers in the Colonial a season ago. I didn’t rank UNC Wilmington very high, and I didn’t rank Towson nearly as high as I should have. The Tigers won 25 games a season ago and looked good doing it. They were great on defense, shot the ball well from deep, and were one of the better offensive rebounding teams in the country. 2022-2023 is the year that Towson is going to run it back and take another run at the Colonial automatic bid.

I am going to be way higher on the Tigers than I probably should be, and they are likely going to let me down but they are easily the team to beat in the Colonial. Towson head coach Pat Skerry was able to keep his entire team from last year including star and Colonial all conference player Nicolas Timberlake.

78. Arizona State Sun Devils- Last Season Ranking: 66

Conference: Pac 12

Fool me once shame on me but fool me twice well. That is the way the Arizona State basketball program has been under head coach Bobby Hurley. Hurley at one point in his tenure at Arizona State had a team ranked number 1 in the country and had just marched into Phog Allen Fieldhouse and beat Kansas. It has been a downward trend ever since that moment.

Arizona State was one of the most disappointing teams in the country last year given their talent. Hurley is a fantastic recruiter, and he gets top recruits to come to Tempe and the hope is that eventually all these top recruits will pay off. If Hurley has another start like he did last year he isn’t going to make it another year.

The Sun Devils opened the season at 2-6 with losses to UC Riverside, San Diego State, and Loyola Chicago in those initial 6 losses. San Diego State and Loyola are both good enough teams to beat anyone they play but Riverside should have no business beating Arizona State. The rock bottom point for Arizona State last year was the 51-29 loss, yes you read the score right, to Washington State.

Even despite all the early season woes the Sun Devils managed to finish 14-17 and exactly .500 in the Pac 12. It is not exactly the bubble team I predicted them to be. Arizona State loves to play fast but they were bad on the offensive end of the floor they settled for way too many jump shots and as a result only shot a shade over 40% from the floor. They were bad shooting threes and because of the way they play rarely get fouled.

Coach Hurley was active in the transfer portal this year as he went out and got a lot of experienced players who are looking for a chance to make the tournament their final season. The roster is loaded with talent again this year, and Arizona State is absolutely a team who can make the tournament if they get hot. I am going to bite on it and say the Sun Devils stay on the bubble all year. There is too much experience and too much scoring to be that bad on offense again.

Desmond Cambridge Jr. is in his third school in five years. This team he is joining the Sun Devils to play with his twin brother. The guard is good on both ends of the floor and over his four seasons at Brown and Nevada, he has established himself as one of the game’s elite scorers. Cambridge set the Brown freshman scoring record and was named the Ivy League Rookie of the Year.

Then at Nevada he showed that he can play defense as he led the team in three-point makes, steals, and blocks. The senior guard will have no trouble becoming the Sun Devil fans favorite player he leaves everything out on the floor and makes some clutch shots. The only problem is the teams Cambridge has been on have not won much.

77. VCU Rams- Last Season Ranking: 100

Conference: Atlantic 10

Is this the year that the Atlantic 10 finally gets back to three or more bids into the NCAA tournament?  The top of the league is going to be good and deep. The Rams are always in the mix and this year for VCU it is going to be more the same. The Rams are going to play aggressive defense, protect the rim, rebound well, and play efficient offense and win 20 games. Go ahead and write that in pen because I just described the typical VCU season.

The other thing to note is that VCU still plays slow grinders of games. They are physical and play what many would call a rock fight. The Rams are tough to play, it’s a game that can beat your team twice if they are not ready for the physicality that VCU brings every night. The Rams have two of their stars back and are going to be in the mix in the Atlantic 10 again.

Ace Baldwin was hurt at the beginning of last year. The guard missed 8 games altogether, the record for the Rams without Baldwin was 4-4, the record with their guard and catalyst was 18-6. He is a very important piece for VCU, and their success will hinge on his health and his play this season. The point guard averaged 6 assists per game a season ago to go along with 11 points per game. He is not the most efficient scorer, but his biggest asset is getting his teammates involved and the smothering defense he plays.

76. Northwestern Wildcats- Last Season Ranking: 91

Conference: Big Ten

Let’s just get this out of the way early, I am going to underrate Northwestern all year for a few reasons. The main reason is that I feel the Wildcats could do so much better than current coach Chris Collins. Collins did do something that no other coach at Northwestern has done and got the Wildcats to the NCAA tournament and won a game. Since that season the Wildcats have not had a winning season and have struggled.

Last season Northwestern finished in the 10th spot in the Big Ten which is a huge improvement from the two seasons before that. That is something to build on at Northwestern and given that coach Collins has an older roster this year with a lot of returning players from last season they are going to be propped up a little bit. I don’t buy it and I still think Northwestern is a bottom tier Big Ten team.  They are going to play the first day of the Big Ten tournament.

Boo Buie enters his final season in Evanston and has a chance to be one of the more decorated players to wear purple and white. Buie is the first player since Bryant McIntosh to average 14 points and at least 4 assists for the Wildcats. The guard also does his scoring by shooting a high volume. He was one of three players last season to average at least 16 shots per game and both guards shot under 40%.

Buie is never going to shoot high percentages from the floor, but he does so much else for Northwestern. He sets up the offense and provides good defense on the perimeter. The guard brings a lot of energy and always seems to make a clutch shot. When you shoot 40% from the floor, 80% from the line, and average 6 assists per game go ahead and take the high volume. He is clearly helping the Wildcats win games.

75. Utah Utes- Last Season Ranking: 85

Conference: Pac-12

The Utes hit a home run when they hired Craig Smith before the start of last season, but the Utah program needed a full rebuild and there is no one better at getting through a rebuild quickly than coach Smith. Utah has a young roster that they were able to supplement with some players from the transfer portal. The players Utah acquired are all in desperate need of a change of scenery.

Coach Smith is going to get the best out of the Utes, and they are going to play hard. They will not be the most talented team on the floor most nights and they rarely be the most talented team on the floor. Even despite the talent deficiency the Utes are going to beat some teams they should not because of how hard they play and how well-coached they are. Utah is still a bottom tier Pac 12 team, but they are trending up and will start making NCAA tournaments again soon.

A signature of all coach Smith teams is a dominant big man and Utah does have that in Branden Carlson. Carlson was the leading scorer and rebounder for the Utes. He was extremely efficient in the post as he shot almost 60% from inside the arc. Carlson is a matchup nightmare for most other big men as he can stretch the floor and shoot threes. The talent around the big man is better this year and he should have a better year, but it still is not enough for Utah to climb out of the Pac 12 basement.

74. Boston College Eagles- Last Season Ranking: 98

Conference: ACC

Eventually Boston College is going to make the NCAA tournament again and head coach Earl Grant will likely be the coach that gets them there. He is a good coach, and he has gotten the Eagles moving in the right direction and they are showing signs of improvement. There is just one issue though, and that is rebuilding in the ACC is not ever easy and it is hard to move up the ranks. Boston College may be better this year, but the rest of the ACC is still just as good as it ever was. The Eagles have most of their production back from a season ago including their entire starting backcourt.

The returning players are going to get some help from a great recruiting class. It has been a while since the Eagles have seen a recruiting class this good. Boston College does have some flaws that didn’t get fixed in the offseason, they are a poor shooting team, and they are not efficient on offense at all. Those two things are holding Boston College back. They are still a bottom tier team in the ACC, but things are trending up in Chestnut Hill.

Jaeden Zackery can take the Boston College offense to new heights. He should be the focal point of the offense as he is a 48% three point shooter. The guard took over 100 attempts from deep, so it was a large enough sample size to say he is a great shooter from deep. The sophomore guard can get to the rim and shoots over 70% from the free throw line. He is one of the guys on my breakout players list. He looks poised for a huge step forward and he can carry Boston College for a little while.

73. South Carolina Gamecocks- Last Season Ranking: 80

Conference: SEC

The Frank Martin era is over in Columbia, and he is off to be the head coach of UMass. The Gamecocks have decided to hire Lamont Paris. Paris comes to Columbia after a successful stint at Chattanooga and is fresh off an NCAA tournament appearance. Paris is also the first Black head coach that the South Carolina basketball program has had. South Carolina was very active in the transfer portal as are most teams who are transitioning to a new coach. Coach Paris is a great coach who will pick up right where coach Martin left off and he should be able to get South Carolina to the tournament.

The roster is made up of a lot of role players from the previous season and some high quality transfers who can play multiple positions. The Gamecocks are going through a transition year which is always hard to do in the SEC.

72. Marquette Golden Eagles- Last Season Ranking: 89

Conference: Big East

I will admit when I am wrong, and I was wrong on Marquette last year. I didn’t know if I could trust head coach Shaka Smart after his years at Texas. I had Marquette as one of the worst teams in the Big East and they ended up finishing in the middle of the pack and made the NCAA tournament as a 9 seed. The first year for coach Smart was exactly what the fans in Milwaukee were hoping for when he took the job. The Golden Eagles swept Villanova, and had wins over Providence, and Illinois. Those are the wins that guaranteed them a spot in the NCAA tournament. Marquette was an efficient offensive team who moved the ball well to get the best possible shot.

The Golden Eagles lost a lot of production from last year to the transfer portal and to graduation. They are going to need to have someone step up to reach their goals from last year. Shaka Smart has the program moving in the right direction and they have a good freshman class coming in this year. A few of those guys are going to contribute. Marquette is going to play good defense as all coach Smart teams do.

The Golden Eagles will be very reliant on their stars to carry them this year and Kam Jones is one of the brightest young stars in the Big East. Jones was a true freshman a season ago. In under 20 minutes per game, he showed that he can be an elite scorer. He shot 48% from inside the arc and was a 40% three point shooter.

The freshman didn’t take a ton of shots but when the minutes he did get he made count. Jones is going to see an uptick in minutes per game this year and with that it is logical to think he is going to see an uptick in points scored, especially if he can maintain the efficiency. Marquette is in good hands with Jones.

71. Kansas State Wildcats- Last Season Ranking: 86

Conference: Big 12

Bruce Weber did big things and took the Wildcats to new heights as the head coach at Kansas State. The time has come to an end, and it is time for a new era of Kansas State basketball. Jerome Tang who was an assistant under Scott Drew at Baylor now takes over as the new coach of the Wildcats. Tang was instrumental in helping guide Baylor to the 2020-2021 National Championship. He is well respected in Division 1 basketball and players love playing for him. Coach Tang is also a great recruiter and that showed with the amount of talent he brought in to fill the roster.

The Big 12 is always tough to rebuild in and power conference rosters rarely perform well with these many transfers. The Wildcats are going to be fine under coach Tang. It may take a few years for the Wildcats to stay competitive in the Big 12. The Big 12 is going to be the deepest league in the country again this year.

Markquis Nowell was a star at Little Rock before he transferred to Kansas State to play for coach Weber last season. He returns to play his final year of eligibility for coach Tang, and he is a reliable scoring option and established point guard. Nowell was not a great shooter from downtown but is great when he is able to get downhill and get to the rim. The guard gets fouled a lot and is one of the best foul shooters in the Big 12. Nowell is a good piece to build around for a first year head coach.