ESPN's Way Too Early Poll

[Class71]

ESPN's way to early ranking summary for BE.

St. John's nationally ranked third, UConn sixth, Creighton twenty-six after most portal transfers included in their respective line-ups.

See link below for for full top 25 plus 5 list:

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/44800877/mens-college-basketball-top-25-rankings-transfer-portal-2025-2026

[Jay Bee]

They gone do one a dem way too early polls too??

[tower912]

F 'em.

[Vander Blue Man Group]

St. John's feels highly overrated at 3. Who's running the offense over there?

I'm excluding Hopkins from this as he only played 3 games...not a single guy in that projected starting lineup averaged over 1.6 APG last season and that was Zuby. 

[MU82]

Gard always gets it done. If only Shaka coulda been more like him these last 4 years so Marquette could have had one fewer NCAAT appearance, one fewer NCAAT win and one fewer Sweet 16 advancement.

[nyg]

St. John's feels highly overrated at 3. Who's running the offense over there?

I'm excluding Hopkins from this as he only played 3 games...not a single guy in that projected starting lineup averaged over 1.6 APG last season and that was Zuby. 

MU's starting point guard, Kam, only averaged 2.4 per game the previous year. That's less than one assist a game. 

St. John's added:

Hopkins, past BE first team.  Yes, ACL, but if he is healed a tremendous addition
Mitchell, a former #4 ranked HS recruit
Jackson, a former #5 ranked HS recruit
Sanon, a top 25 HS recruit
Sellers, a starter at guard for Stanford
Suljanovic, 6ft 8 Austrian stud for the FIBU-18 team.


If MU had just added one of these players, this place would go nuts.
Pitino will add a few more role players and along with Zuby, will be the favorite for BE title and a contender for a National title.

[MU82]

MU's starting point guard, Kam, only averaged 2.4 per game the previous year. That's less than one assist a game. 

St. John's added:

Hopkins, past BE first team.  Yes, ACL, but if he is healed a tremendous addition
Mitchell, a former #4 ranked HS recruit
Jackson, a former #5 ranked HS recruit
Sanon, a top 25 HS recruit
Sellers, a starter at guard for Stanford
Suljanovic, 6ft 8 Austrian stud for the FIBU-18 team.


If MU had just added one of these players, this place would go nuts.
Pitino will add a few more role players and along with Zuby, will be the favorite for BE title and a contender for a National title.

All of that is fair.

Will be interesting to see what Pitino does with it.

[jfp61]

MU's starting point guard, Kam, only averaged 2.4 per game the previous year. That's less than one assist a game. 

St. John's added:

Hopkins, past BE first team.  Yes, ACL, but if he is healed a tremendous addition
Mitchell, a former #4 ranked HS recruit
Jackson, a former #5 ranked HS recruit
Sanon, a top 25 HS recruit
Sellers, a starter at guard for Stanford
Suljanovic, 6ft 8 Austrian stud for the FIBU-18 team.


If MU had just added one of these players, this place would go nuts.
Pitino will add a few more role players and along with Zuby, will be the favorite for BE title and a contender for a National title.

All of these guys are worse than Kadary Richmond and RJ Luis. but go off

[cheebs09]

All of these guys are worse than Kadary Richmond and RJ Luis. but go off

Yeah, you can't tout the newcomers without acknowledging the departures.

It will be interesting to see if the heavy transfer rosters pay off or kind of fizzle out like the one and done. At least the transfers have experience coming into the team.

[JWags85]

All of these guys are worse than Kadary Richmond and RJ Luis. but go off

Bryce Hopkins at even 90% is better than Richmond. 

The big question mark is Jackson.  He had a good but not great year at UNC, but he's unbelievably talented and trying to get him to SJ was supposedly Pitino's main priority as soon as he got there.  He's better as a forward looking player than Luis was coming into this year.  I think he's gonna be a big problem for the BE.

[willie warrior]

ESPN's way to early ranking summary for BE.

St. John's nationally ranked third, UConn sixth, Creighton twenty-six after most portal transfers included in their respective line-ups.

See link below for for full top 25 plus 5 list:

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/44800877/mens-college-basketball-top-25-rankings-transfer-portal-2025-2026

Hmmmm....The gap widens.

[Shooter McGavin]

So they think. We will see.  If MU is 100th in Ken Pom next year and they are in the bottom half of the league everyone will bitch and moan along with you.  Let's give Shaka the benefit of the doubt.  The die is cast.  Big test for his way of doing things.

[Hards Alumni]

The die is cast!


Alea iacta est

[Shooter McGavin]

Ah yes.  Too hurried.  Will fix.

[Vander Blue Man Group]

MU's starting point guard, Kam, only averaged 2.4 per game the previous year. That's less than one assist a game. 

St. John's added:

Hopkins, past BE first team.  Yes, ACL, but if he is healed a tremendous addition
Mitchell, a former #4 ranked HS recruit
Jackson, a former #5 ranked HS recruit
Sanon, a top 25 HS recruit
Sellers, a starter at guard for Stanford
Suljanovic, 6ft 8 Austrian stud for the FIBU-18 team.


If MU had just added one of these players, this place would go nuts.
Pitino will add a few more role players and along with Zuby, will be the favorite for BE title and a contender for a National title.

Did any of those guys they added have proof of concept that they could be a very effective PG like Kam did when Tyler was hurt?

I also don't care what any of those transfers were ranked in high school. 

I'm not saying they're not going to be very good.  I'm saying they're not a top 5 team and if any of those guys is not able to run an offense that's a big problem.

I certainly wouldn't put them at the National Championship contender level, just like I didn't think they had a shot at even the Final 4 this past season. 

[Billy Hoyle]

Bryce Hopkins at even 90% is better than Richmond. 

The big question mark is Jackson.  He had a good but not great year at UNC, but he's unbelievably talented and trying to get him to SJ was supposedly Pitino's main priority as soon as he got there.  He's better as a forward looking player than Luis was coming into this year.  I think he's gonna be a big problem for the BE.

you know they aren't done, right? Just because the Portal is closed doesn't mean rosters are set. 

[jfp61]

Bryce Hopkins at even 90% is better than Richmond. 

Defense doesn't matter...

[brewcity77]

MU's starting point guard, Kam, only averaged 2.4 per game the previous year. That's less than one assist a game. 

St. John's added:

Hopkins, past BE first team.  Yes, ACL, but if he is healed a tremendous addition
Mitchell, a former #4 ranked HS recruit
Jackson, a former #5 ranked HS recruit
Sanon, a top 25 HS recruit
Sellers, a starter at guard for Stanford
Suljanovic, 6ft 8 Austrian stud for the FIBU-18 team.


If MU had just added one of these players, this place would go nuts.
Pitino will add a few more role players and along with Zuby, will be the favorite for BE title and a contender for a National title.

LOL as long as Pitino doesn't break the controller for his PS5.

This isn't a basketball team roster, it's a video game roster. Poor defenders mixed with zero offensive creation. Pitino looked at what let them down last year (3P shooting) and overcorrected by getting rid of all the attributes that made them good (great D, multiple shot creators). They'll likely do well in non-con when their talent trumps no one else having team cohesion, then faceplant in Big East play and beyond.

Maybe Dylan Darling can save this roster. Maybe. If they don't get him, having 5 guys that are all shoot first players trying to go one-on-one for 40 minutes a night will be...interesting to say the least.

[panda2.0]

LOL as long as Pitino doesn't break the controller for his PS5.

This isn't a basketball team roster, it's a video game roster. Poor defenders mixed with zero offensive creation. Pitino looked at what let them down last year (3P shooting) and overcorrected by getting rid of all the attributes that made them good (great D, multiple shot creators). They'll likely do well in non-con when their talent trumps no one else having team cohesion, then faceplant in Big East play and beyond.

Maybe Dylan Darling can save this roster. Maybe. If they don't get him, having 5 guys that are all shoot first players trying to go one-on-one for 40 minutes a night will be...interesting to say the least.

I like the approach - they found some really good offensive talent.

They will be really good if pitino can get buy in on the defensive end which is something pitino gets just about every year.

[barfolomew]

Hmmmm....The gap widens.

[brewcity77]

I like the approach - they found some really good offensive talent.

They will be really good if pitino can get buy in on the defensive end which is something pitino gets just about every year.

Last year's offense worked because they had two really good shot creators that were also individual threats in Richmond and Smith, along with a BEPOY that was great at getting his own shot. Literally no one on the roster has had an assist rate of 10%. And they took a ton of defensive liabilities.

I'm not sure I've seen a team that fits together worse on paper. They put all their eggs in the Xayvion Lee basket and struck out.

[Jockey]

LOL as long as Pitino doesn't break the controller for his PS5.

This isn't a basketball team roster, it's a video game roster. Poor defenders mixed with zero offensive creation. Pitino looked at what let them down last year (3P shooting) and overcorrected by getting rid of all the attributes that made them good (great D, multiple shot creators). They'll likely do well in non-con when their talent trumps no one else having team cohesion, then faceplant in Big East play and beyond.

Maybe Dylan Darling can save this roster. Maybe. If they don't get him, having 5 guys that are all shoot first players trying to go one-on-one for 40 minutes a night will be...interesting to say the least.

One of the rare times I disagree with you on your basketball posts.

[PointWarrior]

Gard always gets it done. If only Shaka coulda been more like him these last 4 years so Marquette could have had one fewer NCAAT appearance, one fewer NCAAT win and one fewer Sweet 16 advancement.

Interesting pre-emptive Gard strikeout when no one had mentioned Gard in the thread.  That being said - crazy that Gard / BADgers are now the team not developing players and Shaka / Marquette are the Bo Ryan develop strategy team.  Quite the swap...

[MU82]

Interesting pre-emptive Gard strikeout when no one had mentioned Gard in the thread.  That being said - crazy that Gard / BADgers are now the team not developing players and Shaka / Marquette are the Bo Ryan develop strategy team.  Quite the swap...

The article mentioned the Weasels, who are ranked in the Way Too Early poll.

And yes, now that you mention it, it is an interesting "swap." I can't stand Bo, but I admit I'd take the success he had in the middle part of last decade.

[Billy Hoyle]

Maybe Dylan Darling can save this roster. Maybe. If they don't get him, having 5 guys that are all shoot first players trying to go one-on-one for 40 minutes a night will be...interesting to say the least.

Welp...

https://x.com/CBKReport/status/1915584452975116338?t=Yseciw_KjKaBcMvCL28SKg&s=19