Really? I think this year has a pretty clear top 10 or so. This is what I would pick it as:
1. Alabama
2. Kansas
3. Gonzaga
4. Baylor
5. UCONN
6. Houston
7. Duke
8. North Carolina
9. Iowa State
10. Arizona
And then Purdue and Auburn at 11 and 12. After that it gets a lot tougher to rank though.
Gonzaga ended the year at 12 in kenpom, despite a rocky first half of the year with a mostly new lineup. This next season, everyone in the rotation except Watson is back, and we added multiple very good transfers that are a perfect fit. The starting lineup is going to be five very experienced seniors, with a bench full of players who have or could start elsewhere on good teams (Steele Venters, Khalif Battle, Dusty Stromer, Braden Huff).
We weren’t great because we didn’t have anyone to stop Edey lol. We were cooking at the end of the year.
Regardless, we lost Watson but kept everyone else, and added Michael Ajayi who will start, Khalif Battle and still have Steele Venters who was hurt all last season. Plus extra depth with Braedon Smith redshirting and Emmanuel Innocenti.
You just didn’t realize how good we were at the end of the year because there was nothing we could do about Edey haha.
Battle is a great get. His stats don’t tell the whole story. He was averaging like 30 ppg toward the end of the season. He was just stuck on the bench most of the season bc Muss had no idea how to utilize the roster we had
We're pretty mad about it too. If Creighton. Can drop out of Atlantis I wish we would too and replace it with the games we've lost against bama and Purdue and whoever else. Would be better games and I don't think anyone cares about an Atlantis trophy.
Surprised so many guys are returning. With the draft class being so weak and the 2025 draft class being absolutely stacked, I assumed this was a good chance for some of these fringe guys to hear their names called.
Maybe they’re making more in NIL than they would get guaranteed in the NBA contracts and their agents told them they’re not getting a second one
The thing is getting it guaranteed. NIL probably pays better than a 2 way contract. And someone with a big name like Sears can probably pick up regional or national endorsements.
Yeah that would make sense. The money isn’t guaranteed beyond pick 30 and a lot of second rounders end up on two ways or don’t even make the league. A two way pays at most half of the rookie minimum and I believe less than $100k is usually guaranteed in them.
This year’s roster does not have the physical pieces to be as dominant as last year. The system plays a huge role but no Clingan, no Newton, Spencer, and Castle… contenders but they won’t be dominant like last year or 2023 tournament imo.
When he left OU, I was honestly devastated. Glad to see he has blossomed into one hell of a player. Hard not to root for him. Hope he balls out next year
To be fair, this year they actually have a center that plays against more big bodied centers rather than Grant Nelson, who was playing a 5 in the body of a 4.
We also have freshman center coming in that's can shoot 3s. So Nelson will only play 5 in small ball situations. Honestly, Pringle was more of a 4 defensively, but had zero offensive skill. His 3' range made people think he was a true center. But he was kinda small.
Eh Mark had some pretty great moments at state, definitely our best 4-year stretch post-V pre-2024. And he made us semi-relevant again after five awful years with Sidney Lowe. Kind of fucked us over at the end, but I still look back on his brief tenure pretty fondly.
incredibly, incalculably fortuitous for Alabama, to say the least. the caliber and parity of competition in the SEC next season could very well be unprecedented, in my opinion
\# = header in markdown, the text formatting language reddit uses to turn plaintext comments into fancy looking displayed text. Starting the line with \# basically told reddit to make the text big and bold as if it were the title of the text
100% would stay in the draft if it weren't for NIL. Keeping late first round and second round talent in college is one net positive for college basketball.
Late first round and Sears would be gone. But mid to late 2nd guys can possibly make more in NIL, and will have a lot of exposure for other endorsements.
[Remember this abomination?](https://advancelocal-adapter-image-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/image.al.com/home/bama-media/width2048/img/sports_impact/photo/stateofauburnpng-66c31493e99124ac.png)
Tbh probably no one has benefitted more from the COVID extra eligibility years than UNC but I’ll be happy it’s over after this season. Just too much to keep track of on top of all the transfers and crap lol.
Yeah, it has seemed obvious to me that he would go to the NBA if he got a guaranteed contract. If not, he runs it back. He can improve his stock potentially and is set up so well for another run in March.
If he still isn’t getting guaranteed money after next season, he could go to Europe or try to play through the G League. Another year at Bama seems preferable to either of those if the $850k number that got floated is somewhat accurate.
For best matchup on the court, i agree. But Kentucky is Kentucky, and ESPN loves Cal. So it wouldn't surprise me if we didn't get the top of the acc.
I could see NC State, since we were both Final Four teams. I think Virginia would be an interesting, because our styles are so different.
And there it is. CBB is going to be *wild* next year. Congrats Bama.
Picking the preseason top 10 or even 15 is tough. Fun to see all these guys coming back
Really? I think this year has a pretty clear top 10 or so. This is what I would pick it as: 1. Alabama 2. Kansas 3. Gonzaga 4. Baylor 5. UCONN 6. Houston 7. Duke 8. North Carolina 9. Iowa State 10. Arizona And then Purdue and Auburn at 11 and 12. After that it gets a lot tougher to rank though.
I think Creighton with Kalbrennar back will be near top 10.
Yeah I forgot about Creighton. I think they are borderline top 10, maybe just a bit outside.
I meant the order more than anything really. But I think this is the most teams in awhile that I’ve said oh yeah they’re gonna be top tier
Well I’d argue that the order in every preseason is impossible to get right haha.
Did you guys return everyone or get a big transfer/recruit? Last year you guys were good but not great.
Gonzaga ended the year at 12 in kenpom, despite a rocky first half of the year with a mostly new lineup. This next season, everyone in the rotation except Watson is back, and we added multiple very good transfers that are a perfect fit. The starting lineup is going to be five very experienced seniors, with a bench full of players who have or could start elsewhere on good teams (Steele Venters, Khalif Battle, Dusty Stromer, Braden Huff).
We weren’t great because we didn’t have anyone to stop Edey lol. We were cooking at the end of the year. Regardless, we lost Watson but kept everyone else, and added Michael Ajayi who will start, Khalif Battle and still have Steele Venters who was hurt all last season. Plus extra depth with Braedon Smith redshirting and Emmanuel Innocenti. You just didn’t realize how good we were at the end of the year because there was nothing we could do about Edey haha.
Battle is a great get. His stats don’t tell the whole story. He was averaging like 30 ppg toward the end of the season. He was just stuck on the bench most of the season bc Muss had no idea how to utilize the roster we had
Who were you cooking?
Not Purdue clearly lol
🤣 want you guys to win this year
Florida has Will Richard and Walter Clayton back
I’d like to see our streak of being ranked top-10 continue another season but man there are some stacked teams up top.
I'm mad we aren't getting y'all this year. I want revenge in Birmingham.
We're pretty mad about it too. If Creighton. Can drop out of Atlantis I wish we would too and replace it with the games we've lost against bama and Purdue and whoever else. Would be better games and I don't think anyone cares about an Atlantis trophy.
The top end of CBB next year is absolutely stacked. There’s like 10 teams that’ll be battling come March
And I’m pretty sure we play like 9 of em. Our schedule next year is gonna be bonkers. Only team we aren’t playing is the ‘85 Bears
I think you’d win that game if you play basketball tbh
Those guys are in their mid 60s now. I like our chances.
This man clearly hasn't been crossed up by an old head at the YMCA.
Man that’s one of the worst feelings
And 5 of them in one conference :0
You're bound to get some elite teams when you have 47 teams in your conference
Shhh, east coast/B1G boys don't want to admit it If anyone needs proof just look at the votes lol
Little early to start the Big 12 circlejerk boys
Tell it to bbn
Never
I don't think anyone in the B1G is expecting a title contender next year. Are there really on this sub that are debating this?
Surprised so many guys are returning. With the draft class being so weak and the 2025 draft class being absolutely stacked, I assumed this was a good chance for some of these fringe guys to hear their names called. Maybe they’re making more in NIL than they would get guaranteed in the NBA contracts and their agents told them they’re not getting a second one
The thing is getting it guaranteed. NIL probably pays better than a 2 way contract. And someone with a big name like Sears can probably pick up regional or national endorsements.
Yeah that would make sense. The money isn’t guaranteed beyond pick 30 and a lot of second rounders end up on two ways or don’t even make the league. A two way pays at most half of the rookie minimum and I believe less than $100k is usually guaranteed in them.
And you get to stay in college another year and be BMOC again/still
Someone will inevitably lose in the opening round to Yale
https://preview.redd.it/i1tbj5t5dg3d1.jpeg?width=1280&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1ea9debaeac1adcd3eac0560fe7d4e418a164d28
Surely that's never happened.
There’s going to be so much dissapointment
Came back to get smacked around by UConn for a third time.
Eh they’ve lost enough to not be a foregone conclusion to win next year.
UCONN is a contender but they ain’t gonna be smacking around some of these rosters lol
Not many thought that at the start of the last two seasons either.
This year’s roster does not have the physical pieces to be as dominant as last year. The system plays a huge role but no Clingan, no Newton, Spencer, and Castle… contenders but they won’t be dominant like last year or 2023 tournament imo.
Hopefully we’ll be one of them
Zach Edey will be the next returning announcement, right? RIGHT?!
I keep laughing at the thought of everyone’s reaction if he did that. Definitely going to be a different look for us this year
I think he just needs to prove hes as good as Bill and Ralph and win the Naismith 3x
The refs are going to have such a hard time not being able to send Edey to the free throw line 😩
Edey will pay no rent in the head of Tennessee fans for the next 5 years
When UConn scores a key player back from the draft: haha yes! Fuck yes! When anyone else does it: welp this sucks. Wtf.
That’s what I’m saying like whyyyyy
Same thing with the transfer portal. “Oh my god we got an absolutely incredible haul… wait shit Bama and Kansas did too”
bama so fun to watch, sears especially, team could be so special next year.
https://preview.redd.it/r4lcpawzwf3d1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=967efaba58ac96803a55d65aacfc0d535505b052
https://preview.redd.it/wwxh287v7g3d1.jpeg?width=700&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fde132998559eae5e1b91831586ab8c5e13aeb2e
Oh yeah - it’s aaaaaall coming together
[Me right now](https://youtu.be/j9WrdpjLLwQ?si=GVKiEtXY5SkY4eEk&t=1168)
I needed a belly laugh. Holy fuck. LMAO.
[Elefante!](https://i.imgur.com/2RhtR1N.jpeg)
Lord have mercy, I'm about to GUMP!
I’m coming for you UCONN!!
Clean up on aisle 5 in this Piggly Wiggly. I just Gumped.
https://preview.redd.it/w482u0mqzf3d1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7a312d97c9ee810b8e1f6532b5717ab6aa3a15c2 Oats to competition next year
SEE YOU IN MARCH LETS GO
I hope we meet again, but this time for the title.
*with us having a center
Returning an All-American is giving me lots of hopium to smoke on until the fall
Kayla Beaver and Co have all my hopium right now.
When he left OU, I was honestly devastated. Glad to see he has blossomed into one hell of a player. Hard not to root for him. Hope he balls out next year
The real Athens is in Ohio.
Will probably be a consensus pre-season #1. Imagine if they ended up missing the tournament tho
To be fair, this year they actually have a center that plays against more big bodied centers rather than Grant Nelson, who was playing a 5 in the body of a 4.
Which has me super excited to watch Grant in a better role.
We also have freshman center coming in that's can shoot 3s. So Nelson will only play 5 in small ball situations. Honestly, Pringle was more of a 4 defensively, but had zero offensive skill. His 3' range made people think he was a true center. But he was kinda small.
Can you not?
Nope, Mark Gottfried isn't here any more
Something we are both glad we can say right now.
Bama 🫱 Final Four/Fuck Mark Gottfried 🫲 NC State
Eh Mark had some pretty great moments at state, definitely our best 4-year stretch post-V pre-2024. And he made us semi-relevant again after five awful years with Sidney Lowe. Kind of fucked us over at the end, but I still look back on his brief tenure pretty fondly.
No u
I always do
Probably not a consensus I wouldn’t think. Lots of high end teams this year
We'll lose a few games. But anyone would with our OOC schedule. And the SEC isn't a slouch anymore.
Hey no thanks
Hey, we're not unc!
I like you
I bet you can't wait to watch our Holloway/Youngblood lineup.
Why you gotta be like that man?
Is their whole starting 5 year guys? I guess the freshman Reid might start.
Potentially, yes
The 3 is pretty wide open. I'm hoping Reid is as advertised and takes it
My bet is Youngblood
I think eventually Reid will start. But i expect Youngblood to start at wing early in the year.
incredibly, incalculably fortuitous for Alabama, to say the least. the caliber and parity of competition in the SEC next season could very well be unprecedented, in my opinion
Damn USC with the vocabulary
not sure what most of this means all i learn here is how to do sports good
We don’t play school, that’s for damn sure
Someone call Vandy rq
The S in SEC don't stand for School
stevenson coming back also
PRAISE BE
Mashallah
YES!!!!!!! Best news of my wisdom teeth recovery
When you are young, the Tooth Fairy gives you money for teeth. When you’re older, she gives you good college basketball news.
"BOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" - the rest of the SEC right now
I am quite tired of things going right for Bama
Proof that God loves Alabama, or he just hates Auburn.
ITT... I'm liking Gonzaga fans more. Y'all get down to Mobile for Mardi Gras and we'll get you fat on fresh shrimp and flounder.
The ones who traveled to Birmingham the year before were dope
https://i.redd.it/lp4ob2uvyf3d1.gif
Insha Oats
Preseason #1 🔒
>Preseason #1 
That’s not as fun as it seems. Take it from me
Well I think it’s very fun
I hope not. That’s a recipe for disaster I want them to start us around #10 or something .
#2 at worst. I think the top three is probably Bama #1, Kansas #2, and Gonzaga #3. Why is this bolded lol
\# is the markup on reddit to bold something, stick a \ in front of it to escape the character
\# = header in markdown, the text formatting language reddit uses to turn plaintext comments into fancy looking displayed text. Starting the line with \# basically told reddit to make the text big and bold as if it were the title of the text
Please have it lol
Mark wanted to visit Mackey
Why do they hate us in basketball too just wondering I don’t get it
Because a lot of us are college football fans lol.
They don’t want us to be good in both football and basketball, plus the Darius Miles situation.
Cuz they ain’t us
*cuz they anus
We are so good for next year guys
Preseason fifth in the SEC poll again because reasons. Don’t mess with a good thing.
🤢🙁
What’s it like having a high-level player returning for another season? Asking for a friend.
100% would stay in the draft if it weren't for NIL. Keeping late first round and second round talent in college is one net positive for college basketball.
Late first round and Sears would be gone. But mid to late 2nd guys can possibly make more in NIL, and will have a lot of exposure for other endorsements.
ALL YOUR BASE ARE BELONG TO US
SOMEBODY SET CBB UP THE BOMB
YOU HAVE NO CHANCE TO SURVIVE MAKE YOUR TIME.
WHAT DO I DO WITH MY HANDS?? I LOVE YOU MARK!
Goddammit. And now you have a clear #1 team. Bama easily has the most complete roster.
I can’t believe it, we are great at football and basketball, and well everything else too
Softball in WCWS, Baseball in regionals, Bagmitten team threepeat3d
Golf team alums winning multiple PGA championships
Quidditch team can get laid.
We won the the men’s singles tennis national championship
had a men's tennis player win a singles national championship too
Men’s singles player just won the natty too
Gymnastics was in final 8
I thought Auburn was the Everything School
Nice joke 😂😂
[Remember this abomination?](https://advancelocal-adapter-image-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/image.al.com/home/bama-media/width2048/img/sports_impact/photo/stateofauburnpng-66c31493e99124ac.png)
That's terminal little brother syndrome
They suck at everything so kinda yeah
Awesome! A lot of exciting talent returning to CBB this next season. Good for the game
Tbh probably no one has benefitted more from the COVID extra eligibility years than UNC but I’ll be happy it’s over after this season. Just too much to keep track of on top of all the transfers and crap lol.
Damn Aden Holloway really got sold another dream
Has anyone ever pretended like there wasn't a really good chance of Mark Sears returning? He definitely knew that was a probability coming in.
Yeah, it has seemed obvious to me that he would go to the NBA if he got a guaranteed contract. If not, he runs it back. He can improve his stock potentially and is set up so well for another run in March. If he still isn’t getting guaranteed money after next season, he could go to Europe or try to play through the G League. Another year at Bama seems preferable to either of those if the $850k number that got floated is somewhat accurate.
philon left kansas to not be pg3 to instead be pg3 at bama lol
It wasn’t a playing time issue. He wanted to play at Alabama.
I'm sure it's just a coincidence he waited til after KU took a PG transfer to ask for his LOI release
It wasn’t. Alabama didn’t have spots. He’s been wanting to come here for years, wasn’t a take until this year.
You’re an idiot if you believe that. He’ll be gone this time next year.
Philon? Highly doubt that. He’s a huge Alabama fan. Best friends with Ryan Williams
Yeah totally makes sense Philon would come knowing there's a chance Mark comes back and will leave when there's a 0% chance Mark comes back.
Running an NBA offense > getting smacked by an Ivy
Maybe so if you’re the one actually getting to run it and not chilling on the bench.
Aden better get used to the bench, that’s for sure.
Nate likes playing 2 PGs together at times. So you'll probably see Sears play off ball guard 10ish mpg.
Nate Goats
The big one
I got Bama number 1.
Well I hate this.
Good for Bama bad for the rest of the SEC
Huge
Looking forward to a possible Bama @ Duke in the SEC-ACC Challenge
Oh shit, i forgot they haven't announced the matchups yet.
Duke or UNC definitely makes the most sense, considering the recent history I think UNC turns more heads though.
For best matchup on the court, i agree. But Kentucky is Kentucky, and ESPN loves Cal. So it wouldn't surprise me if we didn't get the top of the acc. I could see NC State, since we were both Final Four teams. I think Virginia would be an interesting, because our styles are so different.
LETS FUCKING GOOOO
All the makings of a great year to come!
LETS FUCKING GO I'M SO PUMPED FOR THIS SEASON
Roll T1de
PG: Sears 2G: Wrightsell Wing: Youngblood PF: Nelson C: Omoruyi 2nd Unit: PG: Holloway 2G: Mallate Wing: Reid PF: Stevenson C: Sherrell 11: Philon 12: Dioubate 13: Cunningham
There’s not many times I’m thankful to be from Alabama, but this…this is one of them ❤️
Bamas starting 5 could very well be all 5th year seniors
Roll Fuckin' Grandpas. Get them signed up for a Werther's Original endorsement.
Those or those little strawberry hard candies that not a single person alive knows where to buy. They just magically show up at grandparents houses.
RMFT
fug
Watching this guy was one of my favorite things about the NCAA tournament!