The Big 12 Houston: The Cougars lose 5 players led by LJ Cryer, but they return 9 players, including Emanuel Sharp, Milos Uzan and Joseph Tugler. They also add the 2nd best freshmen recruiting class (behind Duke) in the nation. All-in-all, this team looks more talented than last year's NCAA tournament runner-ups. That makes them a very serious national title contender. Houston has yet to release its non-conference schedule, but it is playing in the Player Era event in Las Vegas against Syracuse, Tennessee and a 3rd opponent. The Cougars also will be playing Arkansas in Brooklyn in December. BYU: BYU loses 1st round pick, Egor Demin and some other decent players from its Sweet 16 team, but it looks like it will have a better roster this coming season and is a potential Final 4 candidate. These Cougars bring back their best player from last season and one of the best shooting guards in college basketball in Richie Saunders. They also bring back their starting center, Keba Keita, who shot 67% from the field and had 8 rpg in 21 mpg. They bring back 7 players in all, but it's the addition of the newcomers that is going to make this team elite. BYU brings in 8 new players led by Kennard Davis, a 16 ppg small forward from Southern Illinois, Robert Wright III from Baylor who projects to be an NBA point guard, and A.J Dysbanta, a 6'9" forward who is the #1-rated high school player in the country. Best non-conference games - Villanova, UConn, Wisconsin, Clemson and a tournament at Disney in which they will play 2 games against 2 of Dayton, Georgetown and Miami (FL).
The Big East St. John's: St. John's and the Gators are the 2 teams that I follow closely, so I am familiar with their entire rosters, including the new players and the returnees who have previously not received a lot of playing time. This St. John's team is loaded with talented players and is deep at every position on the floor. The Red Storm should be as deep as any team in the country. St. John's returns 4 players and brings in 11 players. They are using all 15 scholarships. Pitino has gone heavily into Europe, and there are 5 Europeans on the roster (3 freshmen and 2 sophomores). The 3 freshmen are very unlikely to get any material playing time this season, and, hopefully, will redshirt. 6'10" soph Portuguese big man, Ruben Prey, looks to me to be a future NBA player, and he will be in the rotation at the 4/5. 6'5" Greek soph guard, Lefteris Litopoulos, will be fighting for time at the 1-3. Lefty just turned 19 a few days ago. He played very well for the Greek U20 team this summer that went 6-1 in the FIBA U20) championships. Lefty scored in double figures in 6 of the 7 games and shot 42% from the 3-point line. He has now been elevated to the Greek Men's National Team where he is the youngest player on the team. Interestingly, Nick Calathes is not on the roster. Giannis is on the roster. St. John's brought in 2 6'5" sophomores-to-be in Ian Jackson from UNC and Joson Sanon from ASU. Both of these guys averaged in double figures as freshmen and are projected to be 1st-round NBA draft picks. They also brought in 6'5' senior Oziyah Sellers from Stanford who averaged 14 ppg last season. All 3 of these guys are outstanding athletes and 3-point shooters. A 4th guard that they brought in is point guard Dylan Darling from Idaho State. Based on his film and stats, Dylan looks to me to be comparable to our very own Xaivian Lee. Dylan was player of the year in the Big Sky Conference last season and averaged 20 points, 6 assists and 2 steals per game. In an early season game against USC last season, he had 22 points and 7 assists. Finally, at the guard spots, the Johnnies added another 6'5" guard in freshman to be, Kelvin Odih, who has looked like one of the best players on the team in the early going. In the front court, St. John's brought in 6'7" Bryce Hopkins from Providence, 6;8" Dillon Mitchell from Cincinnati and 7 foot, Hanje Tamba from Milligan of the NAIA. Hopkins is supposedly completely healthy after being out for most of the last 2 seasons. He was 1st-team All Big East 3 seasons ago and is a potential All-American if healthy. Dillon Mitchell has looked very good early on and is a high-end power conference starter. Last, but not least, 6'9" Zuby Ejifor returns for his senior year. Zuby almost certainly will be the pre-season Big East player of the year and an All-American candidate. He is an extraordinary rebounder and defender who also scored 15 ppg last season. Put all of the foregoing together, along with one of the all-time great college coaches in Rick Pitino, and, if this team gels, it is good enough to win it all. Best non-conference games: Ole Miss, Alabama, Kentucky, Iowa State and Baylor in the Player Era event in Las Vegas along with a 3rd top team in that event. I believe that St. John's will also be playing an exhibition game against Michigan in MSG. Connecticut: The Huskies should be vastly improved from last season when they almost pulled off the huge upset against the Gators, and that adds up to another national title contender. UConn was weak at the point last season, but it has remedied that problem with bringing in Silas Demery from Georgia and Malachi Smith from Dayton. The Huskies return future pro Solomon Ball at the 2 and add top-20 freshman, Braylon Mullins at the 2/3. Alex Karaban returns for his senior year at the 4 as does talented big man Tarris Reed at the 5. The Huskies also add future star, Eric Reibe, at the 5 and bring in 2 other talented freshmen in Jacob Furphy and Jacob Ross at the 3. Two other excellent players return in Jaylin Stewart and Jayden Ross. The bottom line for UConn is that it goes 11 deep with really good players who will be coached by one of the best coaches in college basketball in Danny Hurley. Best non-conference games - BYU, Arizona, Illinois, Kansas, Florida and Texas. UConn also will be playing exhibition games against Boston College and Michigan State.
