Cal Sports Report

Pac-12 Hoops: UCLA Still No. 1 in Top 25 Rankings After NBA Deadline

Oregon is the other conference team included in all three rankings compiled after withdrawals from NBA draft.
Jake Curtis|
Pac-12 Hoops: UCLA Still No. 1 in Top 25 Rankings After NBA Deadline
Pac-12 Hoops: UCLA Still No. 1 in Top 25 Rankings After NBA Deadline

Now that two important deadlines have passed, we have a better idea of what college basketball rosters will look like in 2021-22, and UCLA still ranks first or second in three new preseason rankings posted by reputable college basketball reporters.

July 1 was the deadline for players to announce a transfer and still be eligible for the coming season, and July 7 was the deadline for players to withdraw from the NBA draft.

The Bruins’ high ranking has everything to do with the fact that Johnny Juzang, who rose to stardom in the NCAA tournament, will be back at UCLA after testing the NBA draft waters.

We now also know that former Arizona State guard Remy Martin, a two-time all-Pac-12 selection, will be at Kansas this season and not in the NBA, and former Arizona all-conference guard James Akinjo will be at Baylor and not in the pros.

Finally, we know that Oregon, the other Pac-12 team in the top 15 of all three rankings, will again have a quality group of transfers on hand to restock the Ducks’ talent pool.

USC also received mention in two of the rankings, probably because the decision by Isaiah Mobley to withdraw from the draft and return to USC partially makes up for the loss of Pac-12 player of the year Evan Mobley, who is expected to be a top-five NBA draft picks.

Texas moved up partly because Utah’s all-Pac-12 forward Timmy Allen transferred to the Longhorns and new Texas coach Chris Beard.

The three recent rankings included here were posted by Andy Katz of NCAA.com, Gary Parrish of CBS Sports, and Aaron Torres of Fox Sports. We include the author's commentary of the Pac-12 teams that are ranked.

.

Top 36 by NCAA.com’s Andy Katz:

1. UCLA:

Johnny Juzang’s decision put UCLA at No. 1 and in position to be a Final Four favorite.

2. Gonzaga

3. Texas

4. Kansas

5. Villanova

6. Kentucky

7. Purdue

8. Oregon:

The Ducks reloaded with transfers and the sleeper addition could be Rutgers’ Jacob Young.

9. Michigan

10. Baylor

11. Ohio State

12. Houston

13. North Carolina

14. Duke

15. LSU

16. Maryland

17. Memphis

18. Virginia

19. Arkansas

20. Wichita State

21. Syracuse

22. Indiana

23. Florida State

24. Michigan State

25. Auburn

26. VCU

27. West Virginia

28. Oklahoma State

29. Oklahoma

30. Mississippi State

31. Connecticut

32. St. Bonaventure

33. Alabama

34. Richmond

35. Tennessee

36. Xavier

Katz also noted he considered 26 other teams for a ranking – including Oregon State, Colorado and Washington State. But in that total list of 62 teams, he did include USC. Surprising.

.

Top 25 and 1 by CBS Sports’ Gary Parrish

1. Gonzaga

2. UCLA

Every player who helped the Bruins make the Final Four is returning - among them NCAA Tournament star Johnny Juzang. UCLA will add five-star prospect Peyton Watson and Rutgers transfer Myles Johnson to that core and have all of the pieces necessary to compete for the national title.

3. Kansas

4. Villanova

5. Michigan

6. Duke

7. Baylor

8. Arkansas

9. Purdue

10. Houston

11. Texas

12. Kentucky

13. North Carolina

14, Oregon

Dana Altman has been among the best at reloading his roster each offseason via the transfer market -- and now he's doing it again. The additions of Oklahoma transfer De'Vion Harmon, Syracuse transfer Quincy Guerrier and Rutgers transfer Jacob Young to an experienced core of Will Richardson, Eric Williams and N'Faly Dante should make the Ducks the biggest threat to UCLA in the Pac-12.

15. Ohio State

16. Alabama

17. Florida State

18. Tennessee

19. Maryland

20. Auburn

21. Connecticut

22. Michigan State

23. St. Bonaventure

24. Virginia

25. USC

Andy Enfield should have the Trojans back in the NCAA Tournament despite the loss of one-and-done star Evan Mobley. A top-15 recruiting class highlighted by Reese Dixon-Waters and Memphis transfer Boogie Ellis will help offset the departures and pair nicely with Isaiah Mobley, who averaged 9.9 points and 7.3 rebounds per game last season.

26. Virginia Tech

USC sneaks into top 25 with some key additions after reaching NCAA tournament Elite Eight this past season.

.

Top 25 (plus five) by Fox Sports’ Aaron Torres

1. UCLA

With Johnny Juzang back, UCLA is officially my No. 1 team in the country. And to be blunt, I don’t think there is really even a debate here. For the Bruins, they return every single player who played in the NCAA Tournament during their Final Four run, with their only real “loss” from last season being Chris Smith, who got hurt in January and didn’t play the final few months of the season.

In addition to return an entire Final Four team intact, the Bruins also added five-star, McDonald’s All-American Peyton Watson and Myles Johnson, a transfer center who started on Rutgers’ NCAA Tournament team last year.

And for those who say “Dude, you’re overreacting to one good run in the NCAA Tournament last year” well, I’d disagree. One, UCLA was the preseason Pac-12 favorite last year, was 12-2 prior to a season-ending injury to then leading scorer Chris Smith and even when they “struggled” down the stretch losing four straight to end the regular season, three of those losses came to teams that ended up in the Sweet 16 (Oregon, USC and Oregon State).

Point being, this team was really good, lost a star, lost to a bunch of good teams, and then found a new star on the way to the Final Four.

The Bruins are my No. 1 team entering next year.

2. Gonzaga

3. Villanova

4. Kansas

5. Purdue

6. Kentucky

7. Texas

8. Duke

9. Michigan

10. Arkansas

11. Baylor

12. Oregon

While guys like Eric Musselman, Chris Beard and John Calipari are lauded for their ability to put together rosters on the fly in the summer and have success come the winter, Dana Altman deserves the same credit. Every off-season there is major turnover in Eugene. And every year Altman figures it out and keeps the Ducks rolling.

This year the big additions were guard De’Vion Harmon, who averaged 13 points per game last year at Oklahoma and Syracuse forward Quincy Guerrier, who averaged 14 and eight helping the Orange to the Sweet 16. Oh and since our last update just a few weeks ago, they also added Jacob Young who was the starting point guard on Rutgers’ NCAA Tournament team a season ago.

They’ll be joined by returnees Will Richardson, Eric Williams and Franck Kepnang, alongside McDonald’s All-American Nathan Bittle.

13. Houston

14. Tennessee

15. Connecticut

16. Alabama

17. North Carolina

18. Oklahoma State

19. Maryland

’20. Florida State

21. Virginia

22. St. Bonaventure

23. Auburn

24. Colorado State

25. Ohio State

Next five:

26. LSU

27. Indiana

28. USC

29. Michigan State

30. Belmont

The offseason maneuvering by Oregon’s Dana Alman is noted here and continues to make the Ducks a factor nationally.

.

Cover photo of Johnny Juzang during NBA Combine workouts by David Banks, USA TODAY Sports

.

Follow Jake Curtis of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jakecurtis53

Find Cal Sports Report on Facebook by searching: @si.calsportsreport or going to https://www.facebook.com/si.calsportsreport

Published
Jake Curtis
JAKE CURTIS

Jake Curtis worked in the San Francisco Chronicle sports department for 27 years, covering virtually every sport, including numerous Final Fours, several college football national championship games, an NBA Finals, world championship boxing matches and a World Cup. He was a Cal beat writer for many of those years, and won awards for his feature stories.

Home/Basketball