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

275. Cleveland State Vikings- Last Season Ranking: 130

Conference: Horizon League

The Vikings won the Horizon League last year and they did it with aggressive defense and smart offense. Dennis Gates did a great job bringing this program back to relevance. Gates did so well that he was able to convert that job into a power five job as the head coach of Missouri. Coach Gates departure gutted the Cleveland State roster and new head coach Daniyal Robinson is likely in for a rebuild. The top of the Horizon league is not conducive for a team in a rebuild.

The silver lining is that coach Robinson is known for his recruiting ability and Cleveland State should not be down for long. This year may be a tough year however as the Vikings don’t have much on the roster and the top of the league is way too talented for Cleveland State to make much legitimate noise. This obviously means that I will completely miss on the roster, and they far exceed expectations.

Tristan Enaruna followed his head coach from Iowa State and the Vikings are hoping that a drop in competition will help the wing thrive. Enaruna has a ton of experience as he has played in the NCAA tournament at Kansas and Iowa State, and he has been a role player on both of those teams. Enaruna is going to be a breakout player in the Horizon this year.

274. Illinois-Chicago Flames- Last Season Ranking: 265

Conference: Missouri Valley

Goodbye Horizon League and hello Missouri Valley, the Flames make the transition to a new, better league and with that comes a team that doesn’t look like they are going to be much in their first year in a new league. The team was old heading into last season, as they had 4 seniors who were regulars, and one of those players decided to come back for his Covid year only to leave and transfer late in the offseason.

The loss of star Damaria Franklin is going to hurt Illinois-Chicago heading into this season. The Flames have almost no production coming back from last year. Even with a new roster we are all going to know what to expect from head coach Luke Yaklich. Illinois-Chicago is going to take a ton of threes and they are going to play at a fast pace on offense. They are going to have to recruit to that style obviously which is why they may struggle this year, but Yaklich should be able to get this team playing consistently well.

This year though they will be a bottom tier team in the Missouri Valley. Filip Skobalj is the lone returning starter, and he can shoot the ball well from deep. He is going to need to be very good for this team to climb out of the Valley basement.

273. Arkansas State Red Wolves- Last Season Ranking: 176

Conference: Sun Belt

The Red Wolves had one of the best players in the entire country last year. That led to a lot of chatter about Arkansas State being a huge sleeper and a team who could rise to the top of the Sun Belt. Arkansas State didn’t finish in the top of the Sun Belt, but they did finish in the middle of the pack and ended up with the best season that head coach Mike Balado has had as the coach of Arkansas State. This season the horses are gone and it’s back to the drawing board for the Red Wolves.

The Red Wolves are going to have a lot of new pieces on this roster. Coach Balado had to scour the transfer portal for players to fill the holes in the roster. It is hard to predict where the Red Wolves will finish in the league. The roster has talent, but it is lacking in star power. Even with the star power that Arkansas State had last season it did not seem to matter much as Arkansas State still finished in the middle of the Sun Belt. The Red Wolves will likely finish in the middle of the Sun Belt again this year. The conference is deeper and has some very good teams, so a bottom-tier finish is the floor for the Red Wolves.

Mak Manciel had a decorated career in Divison II while playing at Henry Ford College. He is going to step in and fill the lead guard role nicely for coach Balado. If the transition to the speed of the Division 1 game goes quickly, the Red Wolves could win some more games than they are projected to.

272. The Citadel Bulldogs- Last Season Ranking: 241

Conference: Southern Conference

The Citadel was a team who had a lot of helium last year and thought last year may have finally been the year that the Bulldogs could break through and finish in the top half of the Southern Conference. Most of that was due in large part to Southern preseason player of the year Hayden Brown being back on campus.  The Citadel ended up finishing in 9th place in the Southern Conference and it cost coach Duggar Baucom his job. The Bulldogs ended up hiring former coach Ed Conroy to lead the program. Conroy is responsible for the last 20-win season for The Citadel.

The Citadel under Conroy is going to be a complete 180. Under their former coach the Bulldogs were a team who took a ton of threes and played as fast as possible. Defense was optional most of the time under Baucom. Conroy as a head coach plays an extremely slow pace and loves to play games that are in the 60’s.

It is going to take a little while for the Bulldogs to get the players to run the system Conroy wants to run, the Citadel believes that he will give them the best chance to get the Bulldogs to the tournament for the first time ever, or the first time in over 100 years. Stephen Clark is a holdover from the Baucum days, and he is going to be the leading scorer for this team. The Bulldogs finish in the bottom of the Southern pack.

271. UC San Diego Tritons- Last Season Ranking: 298

Conference: Big West

The Tritons enter the third season of their Division 1 lives and they have had some decent success over those first two seasons. Early last season the Tritons were playing like one of the best mid-major teams n the country as I had them ranked in my mid-major top 25 early in the season. The win over California was a program-defining win for UC San Diego and it was a jumping-off point for the Division 1 tenure. The Tritons were also able to knock off NCAA tournament team Cal State Fullerton at the end of the year for another good win for the program. UC San Diego plays at one of the slowest paces in the country, but they also take one of the highest volumes of threes in the country as well.

They make a lot of threes, even though they play slow offense they do get good shots within the offense. 3 out of 5 starters return for head coach Eric Olen and the Tritons look to be a middle of the pack Big West team. Jake Kosakowski is one of the best shooters in the country and don’t be surprised if he shoots 50% from deep this year.

270. Western Michigan Broncos- Last Season Ranking: 307

Conference: MAC

Western Michigan has been a mess of a program over the last 5 seasons. This year they hope they have found the coach that is going to bring the Broncos back to one of the better teams in the MAC. Dwayne Stephens spent the last 10 years as the associate head c

oach in East Lansing coaching next to Tom Izzo. Stephens was at Michigan State for the last 19 years of his career overall. Western Michigan is in good hands and they bring back a lot to work with.

They still are going to struggle in year 1 under Stephens but they are a team who is going to play like Michigan State. Shoot a lot of threes and have small athletic wings who run the offense. Lamar Norman Jr. averaged 20 points per game last year and he should be able to do that again.

269. Texas Arlington Mavericks-Last Season Ranking: 263

Conference: WAC

The 2022-2023 season will mark the first season in the WAC for the Mavericks since the one year stint in 2012-2013. UT Arlington is going through a full rebuild in year two of Greg Young tenure. The Mavericks lost five of their top producers and no one who is returning to the team averaged more than 6 points per game. UT Arlington is going to be one of the least experienced teams in the WAC and it would be surprising if they didn’t take their lumps this year.

Coach Young has a lot of freshman but to fill the rest of the roster he decided to go get JUCO players from all over the country and one division 1 transfer. The Mavericks are going to be a bottom tier team in the WAC this season. Kyron Gibson averaged 13 points per game at Angelina college a season ago, and he has the highest ceiling of any player on the roster for UT Arlington.

268. Army Black Knights- Last Season Ranking: 274

Conference: Patriot League

The Black Knights had a good season by their account when they finished in the middle of the Patriot League pack and were one game under .500 overall. When analyzing that is a typical Army season as they are usually right around .500 overall and in conference. The fact that Army is a service academy they already have a hard time recruiting, so the fact they can consistently be at .500 is a feat itself.

The other thing to know about the Black Knights is they have the largest roster in Division 1 basketball and they are one of the four original Division 1 teams to never play in the NCAA tournament joining The Citadel, William & Mary, and St Francis Brooklyn. Army isn’t going to make the tournament this year either but go ahead and pencil them in for a record of about .500 in the conference which should be good enough to finish in the middle of the pack. Jalen Rucker was an all conference player a season ago, and will be again this year.

267. Cal Poly Mustangs- Last Season Ranking: 324

Conference: Big West

Cal Poly is another one of those programs who has no history. They have made the NCAA tournament once before, but that team still ended up with an overall losing record. The Mustangs play slow, are awful from the three-point line and don’t shoot at a very high percentage. They are bad on the offensive end and with the roster they have returning it doesn’t appear that is going to get any better. Cal Poly must keep games low scoring if they are ever going to have a chance against anyone. Alimamy Koroma is the leader of the team and returns to lead the team once again in both points and rebounding.

266. Southern Jaguars- Last Season Ranking: 320

Conference: SWAC

Southern had been down for the last few years but last year they were able to put it all together. The SWAC is always extremely competitive at the top of the league and Southern got back to doing what they do best and that was defending. The Jaguars do not play overly fast on offense, but they slow their opponents way down on the defensive end and force them to play in the half court. Their ability to deny the three-point line often leads to some easy two’s inside but there is something to that philosophy especially in today’s game.

Head coach Sean Woods is hoping that Southern can continue to be that force on the defensive end. The Jaguars have a lot of their production returning from last season and head into the 2022-2023 season as one of the favorites in the SWAC. Tyrone Lyons comes back to man the paint for Southern and he is going to be an all-conference player.

265. UMBC Retrievers- Last Season Ranking: 214

Conference: America East

UMBC has developed into one of the premier programs in the America East, and the luster has yet to wear off from their upset over top seed Virginia in the NCAA tournament. The America East is going to be much better this year and is going to have two teams who will place themselves firmly into the NCAA tournament conversation. The Retrievers are currently going through a mini rebuild, and that is to be expected as UMBC is in the second year of a new head coach. Head coach Jim Ferry did a fantastic job with UMBC last year, but he did return 60% of the roster from the previous season.

Heading into this year it is a going to be a much different story in Baltimore. 11 players on the roster have never played a minute for coach Ferry or the Retrievers. Some of them were on the team a year ago but were injured so did not play. A lot of them are true freshmen or transfers into the program. Coach Ferry is a good coach who has had success as a head coach before. He will get the best out of this team, but it may take a while. UMBC is a middle of the pack America East team. Colton Lawrence is a sixth-year transfer from Bentley University. He is a great shooter and is going to be a huge asset for the Retrievers. He likely will lead them in scoring.

264. Northern Arizona Lumberjacks- Last Season Ranking: 327

Conference: Big Sky

There is not much to say about the Lumberjacks, they have not been a good program for a long time and even though they do have most of their team back they do not elicit a ton of confidence from me that they will be good. Head coach Shane Burcar likes to have his teams play fast and they take a ton of threes. Northern Arizona took over 40% of their shots from beyond the arc, and they made a lot of them. It was the shots inside the arc where the efficiency dropped drastically.

If Northern Arizona can increase their efficiency inside the three point line they could have a decent season. They are still going to be a bottom of the pack Big Sky team until further notice. Jalen Cone is one of the best shooters in the country and he is going to shoot a high volume for the Lumberjacks.

263. Utah Tech Trailblazers- Last Season Ranking: 316

Conference: WAC

The school formally known as Dixie State, has changed their name to Utah Tech and that will take some getting used to. The second season for the Trailblazers went much better than the first, and even though they still struggled in the WAC they were much more competitive. Utah Tech likes to play fast, takes good shots. They also are a good rebounding team, and they move the ball well.

The Trailblazers are finally starting to get some more D1 talent, and they should be in the middle of the WAC in a couple years. This year Utah Tech is still rebuilding and will likely finish bottom half of the WAC again. Cameron Gooden is a due for a breakout year and has the keys to the offense.

262. Miami (Ohio) Redhawks- Last Season Ranking: 157

Conference: MAC

Watching enough basketball or doing enough research on any subject will fill your brain with all of the knowledge needed to have an intelligent conversation with someone, even when you think there is no more to know or learn about something, you will always learn something. I learned the Redhawks are the most successful program in MAC history. They have won 21 league titles and made 26 postseason appearances. This sport is very much what have you done for me lately however, and lately Miami has not done much.

The facts presented above are a lot of the reasons why the Redhawks were able to hit a home run on their latest coaching hire. Travis Steele who most recently completed a four year stint as the coach of Xavier is the new coach at Miami. The program has a new energy and renewed sense of worth given that Steele has a long history of winning at both AAU and at Xavier. He has tremendous connections to many AAU programs and has been around long enough to form connections with high school coaches. Coach Steele had some top 20 classes at Xavier and is going to get judged early by his recruiting classes at Miami because he is going to have a rebuilding project on his hands.

Can coach Steele turn it around?  Time will tell but for now the Redhawks are a middle of the pack MAC team. Mekhi Lairy is going to take over the lead point guard duties. Lairy is a good scorer but his biggest asset to the team is going to be on the defensive end. He is quick and he is able to jump into passing lanes and rack up steals quickly. The other team can’t score if they don’t have the ball. Lairy is the type of tough point guard that coach Steele can turn into stars.

261. North Carolina A&T Aggies- Last Season Ranking: 216

Conference: Colonial

After one year in the Big South, the Aggies head off to the Colonial to start a new conference journey. North Carolina A&T is going to start the new journey with a new coach after former coach Willie Jones was fired at the end of last season. Assistant coach Phillip Shumpert was named the interim head coach for this season, but if he does a good job in the Colonial, he may be given the job. The Aggies have a talented roster returning but playing in a new conference and losing some of their key pieces from the previous teams. It is going to be hard to peg how good North Carolina A&T will be this year with all the question marks surrounding the team.

They have enough coming back for them to finish in the middle of the league, but with the new coach and the new conference it likely will be the bottom half of the Colonial. Duncan Powell is the highest ranked recruit in Aggie history. He was a top 100 player coming out of high school in Texas. The forward didn’t play last year but is ready to step in and take over this team. He is very skilled at the rim and he can stretch the floor.

260. Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks- Last Season Ranking: 267

Conference: Sun Belt

Louisiana-Monroe is fun to watch play basketball, they may not win a lot, and they didn’t last year, but they do play at a good pace and take good shots. When I say they take good shots they usually take high efficiency shots inside the arc and the Warhawks shot over 50% from that part of the floor. The mind boggling thing is that they rarely get fouled. The roster last season which finished 11th in the Sun Belt was old and most of that roster is no longer on campus. This season head coach Keith Richard is breaking in a virtually new roster, in a conference that is hard to rebuild in.

The Warhawks are going to keep playing their style, but it doesn’t look like they are going to defend all that well and they are going to finish near the bottom of the Sun Belt again. I hope I am wrong as they are entertaining to watch but just do not win enough. Jamari Blackmon, a transfer from North Alabama, is a good scorer and distributor. He is going to be the one who must carry this team and with his experience he is up for the challenge.

259. Pacific Tigers- Last Season Ranking: 123

Conference: West Coast

When I did these rankings last season, I made an error when it came to Pacific. I mentioned that Damon Stoudamire was still the coach which was untrue. The current coach Leonard Perry enters his second season as the coach of the Tigers, and it did not go well last season. As the season began last year Pacific only had 4 returning players that got minutes, which with a new coach is setting them up to fail.

The West Coast Conference is not a conference that is conducive for a rebuild. This year coach Perry does have his own recruiting class to work with but is still in the throes of the rebuild. The Tigers may have only won 8 games last year, but they showed some life when they beat BYU and took a ranked USC team to the wire. Pacific is going to be better but is still a bottom tier team in the West Coast Conference. Pacific has a roster this season that is full of transfers with the hopes to hopefully kick start the rebuild.

Jordan Ivy-Curry is a transfer from UTSA is a natural scorer, the guard averaged over 13 points per game last year in only 21 games. Ivy- Curry is a good player for coach Perry to build around as he can create his own shot and he is a good enough passer to get other guys involved.

258. Southern Indiana Screaming Eagles- Last Season Ranking: N/A

Conference: Ohio Valley

The Screaming Eagles are another team who is in their first year in Division 1 basketball. While they don’t look to have the initial success that Bellarmine or Merrimack did, Southern Indiana should more than hold their own in the Ohio Valley. Southern Indiana has been one of the most respected teams in Indiana for a while and they are now in Division 1 which will increase recruiting and revenue for the small school in Evansville.

They are the second division 1 school in Evansville Indiana, and they have enough returning talent to finish middle of the pack in the Ohio Valley. Jacob Polakovich averaged a double double last year in his first year in the program. He is good enough to keep it up through the transition. He had 8 and 10 last year in an exhibition at Auburn.

257. Presbyterian Blue Hose- Last Season Ranking: 310

Conference: Big South

There has been a lot of talk in Big South circles about Presbyterian and how the ceiling for this team is extremely high and they could be in for their best season at the Division 1 level. I honestly don’t see them finishing much higher than sixth or seventh in the 10 team league. They are not the worst team, but they are not good enough to be a top 4 team in the league at least not right now.

The Blue Hose were one of the worst shooting teams from beyond the arc a season ago, and they take enough threes within the offense for it to matter. Presbyterian does return 4 out of 5 starters but only one guy Winston Hill averaged over double-digit points. Hill is going to need a second guy to step up and carry some of the load for the Blue Hose.

256. Eastern Kentucky Colonels- Last Season Ranking: 208

Conference: Atlantic Sun

The first season in the Atlantic Sun for Eastern Kentucky was just like the last three seasons for head coach A.W. Hamilton. The Colonels could score points early and often, but they could not stop anyone. Those types of games are fun but without providing any resistance at all on the defensive end usually spells disaster. Just a few things to look forward to this year for Eastern Kentucky.

They led the country in three point attempts last year with 33 per game, they also led the entire country in total shots with 69 per game, they were near the top in tempo. Those are all things that are going to continue this year. They will play extremely fast and run an offense that is three pointer or bust most of the time. On the defensive end Eastern Kentucky has some pieces to work with as they kept their opponents under 60 shots per game and averaged about 10 steals per game which led to easy transition baskets. Running a five out offense as Eastern Kentucky does it is not very conducive to getting rebounds as everyone is always running, so their giving up 40 rebounds per game is just the price of doing business.

The one thing that must change on the defensive end for coach Hamilton is the 55% conversion rate on two point shots. No team, no matter how fast they play can survive a team who makes over 50% of their attempts. Eastern Kentucky should still be a bottom tier team in the Atlantic Sun, but their ceiling is the middle of the pack if they can somehow figure out their defense. Michael Moreno will get most of the shots in the offense and he shot the ball at 36% from deep last year. He is a good shooter who is going to get the green light whenever he gets the ball.

255. Binghamton Bearcats- Last Season Ranking: 314

Conference: America East

Levell Sanders took over as the head coach of the Binghamton program last year and had the best winning percentage that Binghamton has had since 2010-2011. The Bearcats are a not a program with any tradition as they have only had 20 wins once, have had two winning seasons and have not finished in the middle of the America East pack for a long time.

Binghamton does have their top scorers back from last season, but the league is to deep and they may get closer to .500 but it is going to be tough for the Bearcats to get back to the top of the league. They are likely a bottom tier team but could sneak into the middle of the America East pack. Jacob Falco is back to run the point for the Bearcats.

254. Florida Gulf Coast Eagles- Last Season Ranking: 203

Conference: Atlantic Sun

Dunk City is entering a whole new era as former Penn State head coach Pat Chambers takes over. Chambers did not have a ton of success at Penn State, but he did have success at Boston University before taking the job in State College. It will be interesting to see how the Eagles look this year. A typical Chambers team is going to take a lot of threes, have a big man who can rebound, and have a point guard who will be a volume shooter. Every team coach Chambers has had; the point guard has ended up playing professional basketball.

Florida Gulf Coast is already equipped with a ton of shooters from the Michael Fly era. The Eagles already moved the ball well a year ago so they are equipped with a ball dominant guard but can that guard score enough to properly run Chambers offense. The Atlantic Sun is loaded at the top and the league is extremely competitive. The Eagles will finish in the middle of the pack in Chambers first season.

Caleb Catto is the player who can run the point and take many of the shots and still be an effective player. Catto has never had a huge workload, but he is a good shooter, and a good passer. If he can take the jump in year one, the Eagles have a chance to be very good. I don’t know if Catto is a guy who can be a volume shooter, time will tell.

253. Cal St. Bakersfield Roadrunners- Last Season Ranking: 202

Conference: Big West

Bakersfield has the best court in the game, that light blue court at the Icardo Center should be an advantage for the home team but last year under head coach Rod Barnes the Roadrunners were a mess. Bakersfield took the fewest number of threes in the country at just a shade over 13 attempts per game. The Roadrunners never passed the ball and even though they took a ton of two shots and a lot of them at the rim, they still shot under 50% from inside the arc. I was a lot higher on Bakersfield than I should have been. I had them ranked just outside the top 200 but they were closer to a top 300 team. Bakersfield went to the transfer portal to try and alleviate the problems on offense.

The Roadrunners are still going to be decent on the defensive end but if they do not fix the offense no amount of defense is going to matter. Bakersfield finishes in the bottom half of the Big West this year. Coach Barnes is going to have to get creative for offense unless the transfers develop quickly. Marvin McGhee III is a transfer from South Georgia Tech where he averaged 20 points per game. If he can do anything close to that to Bakersfield, he will get the ball any time he wants.

252. Denver Pioneers- Last Season Ranking: 350

Conference: Summit League

I am not ready to crown Denver as a team who can outplay their ranking but if they repeat the season, they had under head coach Jeff Wulbrun they are going to likely finish in the top half of the Summit League. It remains to be seen if they will, especially with the Summit League being loaded at the top. The Pioneers went out and got a lot of high quality mid major transfers who have had success at their last schools.

Denver plays at one of the slowest paces in the country and doesn’t shoot a lot of threes. The ones they do take come within the offense and they make a lot of them. Denver looks a middle of the pack Summit League team and if Jacksonville transfer Tommy Bruner, can find the form he had as a freshman at USC Upstate, the Pioneers should be able to outplay this ranking.

251. Monmouth Hawks- Last Season Ranking: 229

Conference: Colonial

2022-2023 will mark the first season in the Colonial for the Hawks. The new move comes after spending the last nine seasons in the MAAC, and the previous 25 in NEC. Monmouth and head coach King Rice have already seen the new conference reap the benefits as the recruiting has seen an uptick. The Colonial is going to have a far bigger recruiting budget than the MAAC does and that is going to pay off for the Hawks and Rice. Monmouth lost a lot of leadership and a lot of experience from last season’s team. Coach Rice replaced them with Freshman and is going to do it internally with guys who are ready for a big jump in minutes.

The first season in the Colonial is going be a feeling out period for the Hawks but this move is going to be good for the Monmouth program. They are middle of the pack Colonial team. Freshman Jaret Valencia was recruited by a lot of high major programs and ended up at Monmouth. The Hawks fans are excited to see what he can do. The three star big man is a star in the making.