The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Will Huskies see Top 25 this season?
On Oct. 31, 2016, fresh off an AAC tournament title and a trip to the NCAA tournament’s Round-of-32 the year before, UConn was ranked No. 18 in the Associated Press’s 2016-17 preseason poll.
The Huskies have not had a sniff of the AP Top 25 poll since. Could that change on Monday?
Good things are expected from UConn this season. Some preseason publications and online prognosticators have the Huskies in their respective Top 25 polls. Others have them just outside. The Big East preseason coaches’ poll has UConn in fourth place in the league, which pretty much translates into a borderline Top 25 ranking.
Too much too soon for this group? Perhaps. Remember, the Huskies finished tied for fifth in a lesser conference last season. Their leading scorer and best overall player, Christian Vital, has graduated. On the flip side, they do have perhaps one of the best players in the country back in James Bouknight, and boast a roster teeming with talent and depth — if some of it unproven at this level.
“I think our ranking is a little bit based on what we could be, and not on what we have actually done,” assistant coach Tom Moore admitted last week on a Hearst Connecticut Media podcast.
When the 2020-21 AP preseason Top 25 poll is released on Monday at noon, UConn could find itself ranked for the first time in four years. Or, the Huskies may have to prove a little more to a few more voters before returning to the Top 25 at some point this season.
If nothing else, UConn is assured to get some votes in Monday’s poll — something that hasn’t happened very often over the past four seasons, either.
On Nov. 14, 2016, even after losing its season opener — at home — to Wagner,
UConn somehow was still receiving votes. After losing to Northeastern — again, at home — in its second game of the season, the Huskies were no longer receiving any votes.
The only time since then that UConn garnered votes in the AP Top 25 poll was last Nov. 18, the day after scoring a home upset over No. 15 Florida (and, surprisingly, less than a week after suffering a humiliating home loss to St. Joseph’s). The Huskies went down to the Charleston Classic, lost a double-overtime thriller to Xavier (sandwiched between wins over Buffalo and Miami) and didn’t receive a single vote the rest of the season.
That will change on Monday at noon.
HOW WE SEE IT
We are happy to be an AP Top 25 voter once again this season. This is either the 10th or 11th season we’ve served as Connecticut’s voting representative, we’ve lost count. Not everybody wants the job — especially with social-media trolls ready to pounce on any perceived slight or mistake (hi Kentucky fans! How’ve you been?)
But we consider it a privilege, as well as a good way to keep up on what’s going on in the college basketball world.
There’s no true formula for filling out a preseason ballot, but we like to look at a few things: How many top players does a team have coming back? How many top players did they lose? How many transfers and/or top freshmen do they have coming in? In that order.
With that in mind, we strongly considered Iowa for the top spot. The Hawkeyes have the consensus Player of the Year favorite Luka Garza back (remember him torching the Huskies for 22 as a sophomore at Madison Square Garden?) along with most of their starting five. But there is concern about Iowa’s defense. So, we went with UConn’s new (and old) Big East brethren, Villanova.
The Wildcats have two of the best players in the Big East (Collin Gillespie, Jeremiah Robinson-Earl) and you don’t have to tell Dan Hurley & Co. how good Jermaine Samuels can be. They’ve also got former McDonald’s All-American Bryan Antoine ready to blossom after offseason shoulder surgery limited him as a freshman. We’ll even give ’Nova credit for having a Rhode Islander, Cole Swider, who could emerge as a 6-foot-9 longrange threat.
Sure, the Cats would have been better had Saddiq Bey not gone pro. But this team is stacked. And, in our view, No. 1.
How do we feel about UConn? Yup, the Huskies have our vote at No. 24. It was a tough call. We agree with Moore that the Huskies maybe aren’t a finished product yet. Do we think UConn could be among the top 25 teams in the nation come March? Absolutely. Are the Huskies there now? Debatable.
But we’ll give Hurley, Bouknight, Isaiah Whaley, Tyler Polley, R.J. Cole, Jalen Gaffney, Josh Carlton, Tyrese Martin, Andre Jackson, Akok Akok, Adama Sanogo, Brendan Adams — whew!, that’s some depth and talent! — Javonte Brown and Richie Springs the benefit of the doubt.
Plus, if not UConn, who? North Carolina? Tar Heels were 14-19 last season and lost Cole Anthony. UCLA? Mick Cronin. LSU? Eww.
Indiana? Michigan? Richmond? Sure, all were considered.
Fact is, there are about 25 teams in the country that could occupy the final 10 or 12 spots on the ballot. We got with what we’re familiar with. We’re familiar with Providence, Memphis and UConn. Perhaps not as familiar with some other worthy teams.
This is what we’ll go with, for now:
1. Villanova: Collin Gillespie could win a national title as a freshman and senior. Around here, we call that a ‘ Shabazz’ (or an ‘Olander’).
2. Iowa: Hawkeyes have the nation’s best player in Luka Garza, and an experienced supporting cast around him. Works for me.
3. Illinois: UConn fans don’t need to be reminded of the name Kofi Cockburn, Illini’s monstrous center.
4. Baylor: Mark Vital (no relation to our favorite Vital) is a lockdown defender on a very talented Bears team.
5. Gonzaga: Frosh Jalen Suggs is Zags’ first-ever five-star commit. Mid-major? Yeah, right.
6. Virginia: Cavaliers are still the reigning national champions.
7. Arizona State: The Sun Devils could be the best team coached by a Hurley (Bobby) this season.
8. Kentucky: Late addition of Wake Forest transfer Olivier Sarr is huge for Wildcats.
9. Wisconsin: Badgers have their top four scorers back … and no, they didn’t average a collective 20 ppg.
10. Kansas: The Silvio de Sousa drama is finally over for Jayhawks, who could get upended in Big 12 by Baylor.
11. Creighton: Marcus Zegarowski might be the best player in the Big East.
12. Florida State: The Seminoles won last year’s NCAA title — according to Dickie V.’s book.
13. Duke: Blue Devils could start five freshmen. This could go either way.
14. Texas Tech: Would’ve been fun watching Mac McClung at Georgetown, but he’ll help lead Red Raiders instead.
15. West Virginia: Onetime UConn commit Emmitt Matthews, Jr. could play a key role for Mountaineers.
16. Michigan State: Marquette transfer Joey Hauser should make a big difference here.
17. Houston: UConn’s old AAC pals would have been even better had Nate Hinton not surprisingly opted for the NBA Draft.
18. Texas: Will Shaka con us again? Longhorns have a lot of talent, and Smart could be on the hot seat.
19. Florida: Gators would have made a tough non-conference foe for UConn.
20. Rutgers: A bit leery of ranking a Rutgers team so high (or at all), but Steve Pikiell has a lot of talent back.
21. Tennessee: Lotta talent here, but Rick Barnes will be hitching his wagon to a pair of frosh (Keon Johnson, Jaden Springer).
22. Providence: David Duke could be Friars’ best Providence native since Marvin Barnes/Ernie D. days.
23. Memphis: Penny’s got a lot of talent (again), but it’s time to prove he’s got some coaching chops.
24. UConn: Enjoy James Bouknight as a Husky while you still can.
25. Saint Louis: Watch for Hasahn French. Cut from the Jeff Adrien “warrior” mold.