First BP 65 of the season

Time to get the new BP 65 in before the season starts. I know, I know, a few teams have started playing some regular season games, but no tournament-level team has played a game that they could possibly lose. The real games start up this weekend and the following weekend. A few thoughts on some of the changes being made:


A-bit-smaller-Baby at LSU:
I'm sold. All anyone can talk about in regards to LSU is how Big Baby has taken his game to another level this summer. Expect LSU to be a solid contender to return to the Final Four.


Jarrius Jackson on, off, on Tech:
Like him as a person or not, there's no doubt that Bobby Knight knows how to coach a basketball team. It's hard to see him miss the tournament two years in a row. The team will likely be distracted early on with stories about Knight approaching Dean Smith's coaching record, but the team should improve late in the year and make a run into the tournament.


Not-so-Thad Four?
How can Ohio State play without their star recruit? They still have a bunch of good recruits, but when you take Oden out of the picture you see a team that lost a ton of Senior talent that's in a rebuilding year. If Oden can come back 100% then the team will move back up in the rankings late in the year, so I won't move Ohio State too far down. But a #4 ranking just doesn't seem right for a team with so many unknowns. Compare them to a known team in the experienced Badgers and suddenly Ohio State might not be the Big 10 favorite anymore.

The Draft:
I did my best to predict who would go pro and who wouldn't, but no one could know for sure. It was certainly fun reading people bashing my picks for incorrectly naming who went pro, not bothering to read the date of the postings. Regardless, we now know who will be playing this year, and the BP 65 has been updated accordingly.



1. North Carolina
1. Kansas
1. Florida
1. LSU

2. UCLA
2. Duke
2. Georgetown
2. Arizona

3. Ohio State
3. Wisconsin
3. Texas
3. Villanova

4. UConn
4. Alabama
4. Louisville
4. Boston College

5. Pittsburgh
5. Tennessee
5. Michigan
5. Syracuse

6. Texas A&M
6. California
6. Kentucky
6. Virginia

7. Memphis
7. Washington
7. Nevada
7. Texas Tech

8. Southern Illinois
8. Maryland
8. Stanford
8. Georgia Tech

9. Arkansas
9. Michigan State
9. Air Force
9. Gonzaga

10. Notre Dame
10. Hofstra
10. Creighton
10. Oklahoma State

11. Iowa
11. UAB
11. Charlotte
11. Xavier

12. Florida State
12. Wichita State
12. BYU
12. Akron

13. Butler
13. Bucknell
13. Montana
13. Penn

14. Marist
14. Western Kentucky
14. Winthrop
14. Belmont

15. Long Beach State
15. Furman
15. Albany
15. Sam Houston State

16. Jackson State
16. Stamford
16. IUPUI
16. Robert Morris
16. Delaware State