Ty's 2021 - 2022 NCAA Men's College Basketball Preview

Since my son starts basketball practice tonight, since I kept seeing commercials for college basketball games all Saturday afternoon while watching football and since I am kind of tired after getting my booster shot, I am going to give you all the NCAA men's college basketball preview I have promised.

I am going blind because of the ever changing college basketball landscape. I truly only know who is on the Michigan Wolverines team since I actually follow them. I was stunned to see KU was the third ranked team in the country. I was equally stunned when I saw Michigan State was unranked. I do not know who these top players are, sans for the freshman on Michigan. I am going in blind like I have for seemingly the past decade with men's college basketball. And instead of doing a conference breakdown for everyone, I'm going to go off the preseason rankings, and add a few teams I think could make some noise. Let's do it.

The AP has Gonzaga at number one. I'm pretty sure they have almost everyone back from a team that made the title game last year. Suggs and the other guard, Joe Ayayi, are gone, but they have guys that will take their place. Gonzaga is a reload team. They do have Drew Timme back, and from what I have read, they signed the number one recruit, Chet Holmgren, who plays like KD. Gonzaga is a basketball powerhouse. They are no longer Cinderella. They, save for the championships, are Alabama in college football. If they do not win it all this year though, that would be a bummer for their fans.

UCLA is two and they have everyone back from the 11 seeded team that made the Final Four. This is a team that had zero expectations last year, but now they have all the expectations. They are one of the older teams in the NCAA, they have scoring and defense and a good coach. UCLA is back. Now it is time to see how they play with everyone watching them again. They are not going to sneak up on anyone.

The aforementioned Kansas Jayhawks are next. They have a loaded team, with super talented freshmen, and doing some research, they got the best transfer in Remy Martin. The Jayhawks will be at the top all year, and they could make some noise. I do think Bill Self may consider leaving if the Jayhawks have a really good year for the NBA.

At four we have Villanova. They have tons of talent returning, they have some stud freshmen, they have always been good and they have the best coach in college basketball.

Texas is five, and I think that is all due to them hiring Chris Beard. Beard is a good coach, a good recruiter, but this seems kind of high to me. I do not know anyone on their team, maybe Beard got some good players to commit, but Texas always seems to dissipate when they are looked at as a preseason darling.

Michigan is six. I know a ton about this team. I love that Eli Brooks, Hunter Dickinson and Brandon Johns Jr came back. The freshmen, mainly Caleb Houstan and Moussa Diabate, are going to play and be heavily involved. Juwan Howard is not only proving to be a great recruiter, but he is also an excellent coach. I love this team, I cannot wait to watch them play on Wednesday and my expectations are sky high with this team.

Purdue comes in at seven. They have one of the best front courts in the country. They are big and mean and nasty. They can shoot. They are good.

Reigning champs, Baylor, check in at eight. They lost a ton, but they are also a very good team. They do have some returning talent, and that staff can recruit and coach. Baylor will always be a contender.

At nine and ten we have two teams that really stunk last year. Duke is nine. This is Coach K's last year as the head man. He brought in a great class. And I feel like the refs and TV people will do everything in their power to prolong their season as long as possible. Kentucky is ten. They have a great class of freshmen, as they always do. But this group feels a little different. They will be fun to watch, they will put up a ton of points and they will return to the tourney, and most likely be a pretty high seed.

Outside of the top 10, there are a few teams that I am interested in seeing. The Big Ten has a ton of teams ranked. I already mentioned Purdue and Michigan at seven and six. The Big Ten also has Illinois at eleven, the university of Ohio State at seventeen and Maryland at twenty-one. I could have also seen Michigan State, Rutgers and Indiana being ranked at some point. The Big Ten is the best conference in college basketball. The university of Ohio State has one of the best bigs in the country in EJ Liddell. Illinois has Kofi Cockburn who is a preseason All American. Maryland has scoring for days. MSU is always good. Rutgers returns pretty much everyone from a team that made the tourney last year. Indiana has a new coach and some young stars. This conference is amazing.

Alabama is now becoming a basketball power, which is kind of annoying. They are preseason number fourteen, and they will push Kentucky in the SEC.

Memphis has a monstrous recruiting class coming in, Penny Hardaway is a better coach, and if the NCAA lets these kids play, they will make noise.

Oregon, at thirteen, is only behind UCLA in the Pac 12. They are always good and always competitive.

UNC, at nineteen, and FSU, at twenty, will make the ACC highly competitive. They will push Duke to the brink, much to the chagrin of the ESPN's of the world.

UConn will be repping the Big East all year in the rankings. And Virginia feels super low to me at 25. They are a very good program.

As for the mid major teams, Houston is lethal. That is why they are ranked 15th. And St Bonaventure, at twenty-three, is loaded with experience. There are always some other mid-major programs, but they end up becoming big time later in the season. I am curious to see SLU because they are local and they seem to have a pretty solid roster.

For me, as I have said many times, the Big Ten is the conference. They will not get all four Final Four spots, but I could see two teams making there with ease. I also think, with Gonzaga and UCLA being the only two other teams, that the Big Ten will win the most postseason awards. I also think the Big Ten will finally, after two decades, bring home a title.

With that, my Final Four picks right now, on November 8th, I have Michigan, Gonzaga, Purdue and Kansas. That is very chalk, I know. I think Michigan and KU will face off in the title game. And, what the hell, I'm going with Michigan to win it all. Their football team continues to disappoint me, so I'm going to fanboy out on their basketball team. But this isn't also simply a fanboy pick. They have experience, depth, talent, great coaching and scoring from every position. They also play defense and they go hard every night. As for player of the year, I'll take Johnny Juzang from UCLA. He is older, he hits clutch shots and I think he will have a monster season. Freshman of the Year is going to be the Holmgren kid from Gonzaga. They have already written that one in ink I bet. Coach of the Year will be Juwan Howard. And my "surprise" team is going to be Michigan State. They will have a deep tourney run and I think they will be ranked inside of the top ten at some point after being left out of the preseason rankings. And my "surprise" player is going to be Patrcik Baldwin Jr from UW-Milwaukee. He was a top recruit, but he chose to go play for his dad instead of going to a major power five school. That kid is going to put up massive number.

Okay, there is my men's NCAA basketball preview. As I saw every year, take it with a big time grain of salt.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet.

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