NCAA Basketball: Preseason top 25 power rankings for 2024-25 season

7. Baylor Bears

Coach Scott Drew nearly became the head coach at Kentucky this offseason but elected to stay with the Bears. But he had quite a few key pieces to replace. Four of the top five scorers, including former 5-star prospects Yves Missi and leading scorer Ja’Kobe Walter, are gone. 

But the Bears have another 5-star stud joining the team in VJ Edgecombe, who had a great Summer with the Bahamain National Team. He’s the next starting wing, with Jason Asemota being a four-star guard prospect. Langston Love and Jayden Nunn are the two double-digit scoring guards returning, while Duke transfer Jeremy Roach (14.0 ppg and 3.3 apg) is one of the top pickups of the offseason.

Baylor’s other major transfer pickup was Norchad Omier, who produced 17.0 ppg and 10.0 rpg at Miami last season. He and former Cal starter Jalen Celestine have Josh Ojianwuna and freshman Marino Dubravcic to provide frontcourt depth, which is the one question this roster has.

If Edgecombe is the latest star freshman for Coach Drew to develop, then Baylor won’t have any kind of steps taken back. But you never know with freshmen, and depth could be something to watch, though the high-end talent on this roster is too good not to want to rank high.