NCAA Basketball: Power Ranking every team (362-1) for 2023-24 season

60. Syracuse Orange – Last Season Ranking: 57

Conference: ACC

Coach Boeheim retired at the end of last season and the Orange are now under the tutelage of Adrian Autry. Autry was a Syracuse player under Boeheim and as the point guard is still fifth all time in career assists. Autry was an assistant under Boeheim and one of the lead recruiters but running a program is different. It is an exciting time to be an Orange fan. Syracuse still has talent and I know they are coming off a 17-15 season, but something tells me this team is going to be a sleeper in the ACC. Judah Mintz enters the season as the guy in the offense for coach Autry. The sophomore from Oak Hill Academy was the next in a long line of top 10 recruits to choose Syracuse and he didn’t disappoint. He led the Orange with 16 points per game. Mintz did enter his name in the NBA draft but withdrew and chose to come back to Syracuse for at least one more season. Mintz is going to be on the all-conference team and will likely get drafted this year.

59. Georgia Bulldogs – Last Season Ranking: 100

Conference: SEC

Heading into the 2023-2024 season Georgia has a very intriguing roster that can make a lot of noise in the SEC if all the pieces gel together. The roster has both star power and depth. Georgia can climb out of the SEC cellar this year. RJ Sunahara spent last season at Nova Southeastern. Nova Southeastern went undefeated on their way to a National Championship. Sunahara was the best player on those teams. He holds career averages of 17 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 blocks and 1 steal per game. He impacts a game in almost every way and has been named the Division II Player of the Year, Conference Defensive Player of the Year, and the Freshman of the Year. Sunahara is going to be able to adjust to SEC basketball just fine and will be one of the best players on the floor most nights.

58. Pittsburgh Panthers – Last Season Ranking: 90

Conference: ACC

The 2023-2024 season should be another good one for the Panthers. Pittsburgh had a ton of seniors last year, but Capel was able to mitigate his losses by finding talent in the transfer portal. The transfers are all players who are good shooters and defenders who are going to fit in perfectly with the Panthers system.  Blake Hinson was given the Riley Wallace Award last year. In addition to his shooting, he led the Panthers in rebounding, double doubles, and 20 point games. Hinson was a huge catalyst for Pittsburgh’s resurgence last year and is going to be a giant piece this year. The guard is one of the best shooters in the country and will lead Pitt to the NCAA tournament again this year.

57. Stanford Cardinal – Last Season Ranking: 55

Conference: Pac 12

This may be the best team that coach Haase has had in time at Stanford. Stanford still doesn’t have the talent of some of the other Pac-12 teams and they are in prove it mode for me. The Cardinal finish middle of the pack in the Pac-12 and have a shot at the postseason. Spencer Jones heads into his last year in college basketball as one of the best individual players that the program has had. Jones is the 15th player in Stanford history to reach the 1,000-point mark. He will likely finish his career as the best three-point shooter in Cardinal history. Jones finally has some help and won’t have to handle all the scoring load this year. The Cardinal will be deeper this year and will hopefully be able to be more consistent and win some more games and find themselves in a postseason tournament.

56. Seton Hall Pirates – Last Season Ranking: 47

Conference: Big East

The first season for the Pirates was a mixed bag there was some success and there were some failures but that is to be expected with a first year head coach who had to put together a roster on the fly. The Pirates played extremely slow on offense were not that efficient and struggled to score some nights. Al-Amir Dawes had a great first season back in his home state of New Jersey. He led the Pirates in scoring his first year in the program and becomes the first Seton Hall player to do that since Eugene Harvey. When Dawes was a player for Clemson he was known as a three point shooters who was great on the defensive end. I expect another good year from Dawes.

55. Utah Utes – Last Season Ranking: 75

Conference: Pac-12

Coach Smith is still building and teaching these guys how to win so this is all part of it, but it was heartbreaking to see a good season end up just mediocre after the 6-game losing streak to end the year. Everyone saw what coach Smith and Utes were capable of when they blasted Arizona. It’s a process and this year should be better for Utah. Branden Carlson has found himself all over the Utah record books. He is currently in the top 25 on the all-time scoring list. The big man is currently 3rd all time in blocks. Carlson led the Pac 12 in in blocks and is currently on a 22-game double digit points streak. The big man is going to have another big year and will keep climbing further up the record books.

54. Providence Friars – Last Season Ranking: 44

Conference: Big East

It is going to be another year where Providence is in the mix for an NCAA tournament bid all season long. Josh Oduro was a star at George Mason and coach English was his head coach. Oduro decided to follow his coach to Providence for his final year of college.  The big man can dominate a game and had his fair share of double doubles. He is familiar with what coach English wants to do on offense and defense and is good enough to quickly acclimate to the Big East.

53. BYU Cougars – Last Season Ranking: 56

Conference: Big 12

The Cougars are not going to be ready to reasonably compete in the Big 12 for a few years and there are going to be some years that are lean coming up starting this year. Coach Pope is going to go through a few rebuilding years before he can get Big 12 caliber talent. Fousseyni Traore has the second most efficient offensive season in BYU history. He shot over 60% from the floor last year and was over 60% in conference play as well. He plays good interior defense as well and will be the leading scorer for BYU as they make the transition.

52. Nebraska Cornhuskers – Last Season Ranking: 104

Conference: Big Ten

This year’s roster may have finally accomplished that. Nebraska got a ton of wins in the transfer portal and did not see a lot of their own talent leave. They have a good mix of young and old, they have guys who have experience for winning teams, and they have shooting everywhere. There is a question of who is going to play point guard but according to coach Hoiberg there are three guys he is very confident in playing there. Keisei Tominaga is nicknamed the Japanese Steph Curry. The guard is in range when the lights come on and he went on one of the most epic runs in Nebraska history last season when Nebraska went on their winning streak to close out the year. This season is going to be his best one yet and he will be first team all-conference.

51. Clemson Tigers – Last Season Ranking: 62

Conference: ACC

Coach Brownell was able to retain most of his talent and get some big wins from big transfer targets. The Tigers are going to make sure they make the NCAA tournament this year. This is a talented team that fits perfectly into what coach Brownell wants to do on offense. PJ Hall had a huge year patrolling the frontcourt for the Tigers. He was arguably the most improved player in the country two seasons ago and because of that the expectations for Hall are high. Hall keeps improving every year, but Clemson just needs to play at the level he played at last season, and they will be just fine.