The countdown to the 2021-22 NCAA Men’s Basketball season continues to roll along with the opening day of play set for November 9th. From the opening season tournaments to excitement filled regular season to world wind first few days of March Madness to the Final Whistle of the 2021-22 NCAA Men’s Basketball season, the 2021-22 NCAA Men’s Basketball season is loaded with talented teams who should not disappoint.

As players make the transition from college to the NBA, the opening for new college basketball stars is there and the same will be said for the upcoming season. Despite the rotating of rosters and the incoming class of stars, many of the expected great teams entering the upcoming season are well worth mentioning. From the likes of the Gonzaga Bulldogs to the Kansas Jayhawks to the UCLA Bruins to the Duke Blue Devils and the Kentucky Wildcats. With all of the hype of the 2021-22 NCAA Men’s Basketball season, here is our Top 25 NCAA Men’s Basketball Rankings 2021-22 Preview:

First, we’ll take a brief look from 25 to 13 and then go in depth from 12 to 1.

Top 25 College Rankings

Quick Look (25 to 13)

25. Auburn Tigers

24. Oklahoma State Cowboys

23. St. Bonaventure Bonnies

22. Maryland Terrapins

21. Tennessee Volunteers

20. Indiana Hoosiers

19. Florida State Seminoles

18. Arkansas Razorbacks

17. Ohio State Buckeyes

16. Alabama Crimson Tide

15. North Carolina Tar Heels

14. Oregon Ducks

13. Houston Cougars

Honorable Mention (12 to 11)

12. Baylor Bears

It is hard to leave the reigning NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship team off the Top 10 Men’s Basketball Rankings 2021-22 but the case can be made for the Baylor Bears. The Bears who were unbelievable down the stretch in route to beating the Gonzaga Bulldogs for the National Championship.

However, the loss of one of the best back courts and four of their key stars in the likes of Davion Mitchell, MaCio Teague, Jared Butler and Mark Vital leaves the team open to struggles and question marks entering the season.

Despite losing many key members the Bears still have a talented team to include two top 30 recruits Kendall Brown and Langston Love as well as Adam Flagler and James Akinjo all entering the program to team up with returning players such as Matthew Mayer, Flo Thamba and Jonathan Tchamwa. 

11. Illinois Fighting Illini

After a magical run to finish the regular 2020-21 NCAA season including winning the Big Ten Tournament, Illinois Fighting Illini will look to rebound and contend all season long despite losing the talented guard Ayo Dosunmu to the NBA. The Fighting Illini will return Kofi Cockburn while Andrew Curbelo looks to take over at the point guard position.

Cockburn averaged 17.7 points a game last season while averaging 9.5 rebounds per contest. Meanwhile, the upside of Curbelo leaves the team with high hopes of being one of the top teams in the Big Ten if not the top team at the end of the season. 

Top 10 College Basketball Team Rankings

10. Memphis Tigers

It is hard to imagine how good this Penny Hardaway Memphis Tigers team could be in 2021-22 and how far they can go if they can gel as a team. Hardaway and the Tigers were able to land Jalen Duren and Emoni Bates who are both projected as lottery NBA Draft picks.

Bates and Duren are expected to land in the starting lineup along with DeAndre Williams, Lester Quinones and Landers Nolley. Nolley, who led the team in scoring last year will look to improve in 2021-2022 while Duren and Bates give the team potential scoring threats both at the forward and center positions.

Big question for the Tigers in 2021-22 will be how well they control the ball without a true point guard slotted on the roster. With this much talent, the early hype around the Tigers could turn into reality.

9. Kentucky Wildcats

As long as John Calipari is with the Kentucky Wildcats, the Wildcats will be a top ranked team in the country and a team that will land top stars year in and year out. Despite the struggles that surrounded the team last year, the Wildcats are poised to make a run in 2021-22 after returning five different players that rotated in and out while adding two top 20 recruits and landing some key transfers.

Coming in are new stars which include TyTy Washington and Daimion Collins as well as Kellan Grady, Sahvir Wheeler, CJ Fredrick and Oscar Tshiebwe. With this group as well as Davion Mintz and Keion Brooks Jr returning, the Wildcats are loaded with talent on both ends of the floor while having a ton of scoring options.

8. Duke Blue Devils

Another team that had struggles during the pandemic era college basketball season was the Duke Blue Devils. Nonetheless, Mike Kryzewski’s teams just don’t struggle back to back and with this being his final season, the Blue Devils should make some noise in the ACC as well as the NCAA Tournament in 2021-2022.

The team will look to Wendell Moore to take a big step forward this season while expectations for Jeremy Roach are extremely high. The team also added talented power forward Paolo Banchero, shooting guard Trevor Keels and small forward A.J. Griffin to the squad for the upcoming season.

The three freshmen all have extremely high upsides after being five star recruits this off-season. Kryzewski also added a pair of big men to help solidify the roster through the transfers of Bates Jones and Theo John. 

7. Purdue Boilermakers

Many experts expect the Purdue Boilermakers to take another step forward in 2021-2022 after finishing fourth in the Big Ten last season. After a disappointing first round loss in the NCAA Tournament, the Boilermakers are returning all five of its starters from a very talented team last season.

Leading the charge is Jaden Ivey who averaged 11.1 points a game, 3.3 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game as a freshman last season. This success has garnered a ton of attention on Ivey as a potential All-American in 2021-2022.In addition, Trevion Williams will return for his senior season after averaging 15.5 points and 9.1 rebounds a game last season.

The team also returns starters Eric Hunter Jr, Brandon Newman and Sasha Stefanovic while adding a talented class of freshmen to include Trey Kaufman and Caleb Furst.

6. Texas Longhorns

Entering the Top 10 Men’s Basketball Teams 2021-22 Rankings is the Texas Longhorns who enter the season with high expectations. The Longhorns and head coach Chris Beard was active this offseason adding six transfers to the team as well as highly recruited Jayon Tyson who is ranked in the Top 50 recruits entering college.

In addition the incoming class, Courtney Ramey and Andrew Jones return for the 2021-2022 NCAA Basketball Season. Ramey averaged 12.2 points a game last year while Jones averaged 14.6 points a game. Incoming transfers Marcus Carr, Timmy Allen and Tre Mitchell all averaged at least 17 points a game last season for their respective college programs.

If Beard can find a way to get them all to play together, the Longhorns could be a title contender come March.

5. Villanova Wildcats

The Jay Wright Villanova Wildcats continue to be a top team in the country year in and year out. The same will be said for the Wildcats entering the 2021-2022 NCAA Basketball schedule and the team to beat inside of the Big East.

The team returns Collin Gillespie, Jermaine Samuels, Caleb Daniels and Justin Moore all return to lead the starting potential roster for the Wildcats while incoming freshman Trey Patterson and Nnanna Njoku give the team some fresh talented legs to work with.

In addition the team also has Eric Dixon and Brandon Slater returning to the roster. Wright’s Wildcats are extremely deep with talent while also having the veteran leadership with Gillespie and Samuels using an extra year of eligibility to give the team some leaders entering the season. Last season Gillespie, Samuels and Moore combined to average 48.9 points a game, 13.7 rebounds and 11.1 assists per game. 

4. Michigan Wolverines

Entering the 2021-2022 NCAA Basketball season the Michigan Wolverines have as high of expectations as any team in college basketball after a strong season last year in which the team landed one of the four number one seeds during the NCAA tournament.

All-American candidate Hunter Dickinson returns for his sophomore season after finishing last season averaging 14.1 points a game, 7.4 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per game. Along with Dickinson the team returns Eli Brooks and Brandon Johns Jr to the roster from last season while adding five star recruits Caleb Houstan and Moussa Diabate to help bolster the lineup.

The team also added Coastal Carolina standout D’Vante Jones who averaged 19.3 points a game last season. Juwan Howard will have his hands full this season but the talent is there for him to improve on his impressive 2020-2021 campaign.

3. Kansas Jayhawks

Coming in at number three on the Top 10 Men’s Basketball Teams 2021-2022 is the Kansas Jayhawks who many experts have as high as the number one overall team.

Despite the struggles last season, the Jayhawks will have an experienced roster after returning Christian Braun, Ochai Agbaji, Jalen Wilson and David McCormack to their 2021-2022 Jayhawks roster.

In addition to those four returning weapons, the team also added talented Arizona State transfer Remy Martin to solidify the teams point guard slot while adding Cam Martin and freshman Zach Clemence gives Bill Self a talented roster to compete during the upcoming season.

2. UCLA Bruins

After an impressive run that saw the team make a way into the Final Four of the 2020-2021 NCAA Tournament, the UCLA Bruins return nearly every player of their team from last season.

The returning stars include Johnny Juzang who averaged 16 points a game to go with 4.1 rebounds while developing into one of the best players during the NCAA tournament.

In addition to Juzang, the team also returns the likes of Jaime Jaquez Jr, Tyger Campbell and Cody Riley was also adding key transfer Myles Johnson and potential lottery pick and a top recruit Peyton Watson. Watson, who averaged 30 points a game in High School was the top high school player in the State of California has the talent to take the Bruins to the next level during the upcoming season.

1. Gonzaga Bulldogs

After nearly going undefeated during the 2020-21 NCAA Season losing just the team’s final game in the National Championship to the Baylor Bears, the big question is how can the Gonzaga Bulldogs top that performance. Simple by winning the National Title during the 2021-2022 NCAA Basketball season.

The team is constructed as good as any team entering the upcoming basketball season while returning the likes of Drew Timme, Andrew Nembhard and Anton Watson to the roster. Timme averaged 19 points a game last season to go with seven rebounds and 2.3 assists and will look to improve his NBA draft status in 2022.

In addition Nembhard averaged 9.2 points a game and Watson averaged 6.9. The team also added in the number one prospect in the country Chet Holmgren as well as five star recruits Hunter Sallis and Nolan Hickman to the incoming class as well as transfer Rasir Bolton. The Bulldogs are loaded with talent to make a run this season.

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Related Links:

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