NCAA Basketball: 10 teams guaranteed to not win 2022-23 national title

Baylor Bears

I want to put an asterisk next to the Bears because we don’t know the status of forward Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua, who was last season’s Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year. He played a massive role in the frontcourt of the 2021 national title team and his absence has been felt by the team on both ends. If he returns from a knee injury before the NCAA Tournament and can be impactful, then the Bears can definitely win it all.

If not, they’ll need more from West Virginia transfer Jalen Bridges, who has been solid overall for the Bears at the forward position, averaging 9.6 ppg and 5.7 rpg. But with Flo Thamba and Caleb Lohner averaging fewer than 10 points, Baylor needs Bridges to produce and when he hasn’t, they’ve been very vulnerable to losing.

They have arguably one of the best backcourts in NCAA Basketball, led by Keyonte George with 17.2 ppg. The problem with the freshman is that he’s very erratic at times with his shooting, making just 39% from the field and 35% from deep on over seven attempts a game. In the three straight losses to open Big 12 play, George did average 21.7 ppg but shot a combined 16/45 from the field.

If Adam Flager and LJ Cryer can bail the Bears out when George is off, they’ll be in contention. But if Tchamwa Tchatchoua doesn’t come back, I’m not certain about the defense being good enough in March and this is not the year to be relying on a freshman to win it all.