Welcome to The Sports Bank’s fourth annual college basketball season preview series where we break 111 teams in the 111 days leading up to the opening tip-off of the 2013-2014 season. We will rank the 84 power conference teams (including the new Big East and American Athletic Conferences) and top 27 mid-majors in reverse power ranking order. We’ll break down rosters, transfers, incoming freshmen, non-conference schedules, and pick a player to watch for each team.
How can the Kansas Jayhawks lose all five starters from last season and still be ranked this high? Thanks to the addition of insanely hyped freshman Andrew Wiggins and a loaded recruiting class, Bill Self’s team is in line for their 10th straight Big 12 Championship and are yet again a legit Final Four contender.
KANSAS JAYHAWKS
Last Season: T-1st, 14-4 in Big 12, 29-5 overall
Predicted Big 12 Finish: 1st
Projected Depth Chart
C: Tarik Black (Sr)/Joel Emblid (Fr)/Landen Lucas (Fr)
PF: Perry Ellis (So)/Jamari Taylor (So)/Justin Wesley (Sr)
SF: Andrew Wiggins (Fr)/Brannen Greene (Fr)
SG: Wayne Selden (Fr)/Andrew White (So)
PG: Naadir Thorpe (Jr)/Connor Frankamp (Fr)/Frank Mason (Fr)
Gone: SG-Ben McElmore, C-Jeff Withey, G-Elijah Johnson, SF-Travis Releford, PF-Kevin Young, SG-Rio Adams (transfer-Ohio)
2013-2014 Outlook:
Entering this season, Wiggins is easily the biggest attraction in college basketball… and for good reason. He is an outstanding all-around player who can affect the game in numerous ways. There are still some areas of his game that need to be tightened up, most notably his outside shooting, but he will be one of the best and most exciting players in the nation and the likely #1 pick in the 2014 NBA Draft.
Wiggins headlines a deep recruiting class with a pair of other top 20 recruits. McDonald’s All-American Wayne Selden is a physical wing and will start at the two guard. Had it not been for Wiggins’ late commitment to KU, Selden would have been the main focus of the Jayhawks this season. He will be a terrific second banana to Wiggins and should have a Ben McLemore-type impact this year.
There is quality depth behind Wiggins and Selden led by Andrew White. Although he played sparingly as a freshman, his ability to shoot the rock is needed off the bench since that isn’t a strength of Wiggins or Selden. Brannen Greene was a top 50 recruit in the 2013 class and brings more shooting ability. He should find his way into the rotation as well.
The third top 20 recruit for Kansas is big man, Joel Embiid who rocketed up the rankings during his senior year eventually making his way into the top ten. He certainly looks the part of being a potential dominant big man with his size, mobility, and athleticism but is still a work in progress on the low block. With how quickly he has developed during the past year, the sky is the limit for the Cameroon native and he could be a one-and-done since NBA teams will be drooling over his potential.
You know what’s scary about this Kansas team though… Embiid won’t even be a starter. Self is expected to use Memphis transfer Tarik Black and Perry Ellis in his starting line-up. Black becomes immediately eligible for the Jayhawks and brings experience and toughness to the floor. Ellis is a former McDonald’s All-American who had his share of ups and downs as a freshman but showed flashes and should make a signficant jump with his game. Jamari Taylor adds more toughness inside while Justin Wesley and redshirt freshman Landen Lucas aren’t expected to see much run but provide Self with terrific depth up-front.
The biggest question mark for this Kansas team is how Naadir Tharpe handles the starting point guard role. He was a key reserve a year ago and appears ready to take over that spot but let’s be honest though, he won’t have to do much with all the talent around him and simply needs to be a game manager and knock down some open threes.
The fifth top 50 recruit in Self’s 2013 class is Connor Frankamp. At 6-0, Frankamp is a combo guard who can run the point or play off the ball due to his ability to stroke it from deep. He and Frank Mason will battle for minutes behind Tharpe with Mason being more of a true distributing point guard.
Self also picked up a transfer in Arkansas big man Hunter Mickelson. He must sit out this season but will help fill the void in the middle in 2014-15 since Black is a senior and Embiid could very well be headed to the NBA.
Right now, the Kansas Jayhawks are NOT one of the best teams in the country but they without question have the talent to be in that category by the end of the season. With seven new players on the roster, there will be a feeling out process and an absolutely brutal non-conference slate featuring eight games versus teams that made the NCAA Tournament last year will put them to the test early on. Never count out a Bill Self-coached team and with the amount of talent on this roster, KU will be a dangerous, dangerous team come March.
Player to Watch: Andrew Wiggins
With all the hype surrounding Wiggins and the national spotlight that will shine on him all year long, how he handles that pressure is vital to the team’s success and his individual performance. By no means will Wiggins need to do everything on his own which should take some of the pressure off him but think back to a couple of years ago when Harrison Barnes was expected to be the best thing since sliced bread, struggled a bit to start the year, and received a ton of scrutiny because of it. Just some food for thought…
Key Non-Conference Games:
11/12 vs. Duke (Champions Classic in Chicago)
11/19 vs. Iona
11/28 vs. Wake Forest (Battle 4 Atlantis)
11/29 vs. Villanova/USC (Battle 4 Atlantis)
11/30 vs. Tennessee/UTEP/Iowa/Xavier (Battle 4 Atlantis)
12/7 at Colorado
12/10 at Florida
12/14 vs. New Mexico (in Kansas City)
12/21 vs. Georgetown
1/5 vs. San Diego State
OTHER 111 IN 111’S:
#5 Duke
#6 Syracuse
#7 Arizona
#8 Florida
#9 Oklahoma State
#10 Ohio State
#11 North Carolina
#12 Michigan
#13 Marquette
#14 Memphis
#15 Notre Dame
#16 Georgetown
#17 Gonzaga
#18 Creighton
#19 Wisconsin
#20 Virginia
#21 Wichita State
#22 VCU
#23 New Mexico
#24 UConn
#25 Indiana
#26 Colorado
#27 Tennessee
#28 Baylor
#29 St. John’s
#30 Harvard
#31 UCLA
#32 Iowa
#33 Boise State
#34 Villanova
#35 Oregon
#36 St. Louis
#37 La Salle
#38 San Diego State
#39 Stanford
#40 Arizona State
#41 BYU
#42 Pitt
#43 California
#44 Iowa State
#45 Providence
#46 Cincinnati
#47 UNLV
#48 Purdue
#49 LSU
#50 Illinois
#51 Xavier
#52 Boston College
#53 Ole Miss
#54 Missouri
#55 Washington
#56 Saint Mary’s
#57 Maryland
#58 Butler
#59 Minnesota
#60 Florida Gulf Coast
#61 Akron
#62 Temple
#63 Alabama
#64 Florida State
#65 Arkansas
#66 N.C. State
#67 Kansas State
#68 Davidson
#69 Dayton
#70 Miami FL
#71 SMU
#72 Texas A&M
#73 Long Beach State
#74 UMass
#75 Northwestern
#76 Indiana State
#77 Georgia Tech
#78 Oklahoma
#79 Richmond
#80 Manhattan
#81 Belmont
#82 Texas
#83 Houston
#84 Washington State
#85 Iona
#86 Oregon State
#87 Louisiana Tech
#88 Towson
#89 Wake Forest
#90 Central Florida
#91 Rutgers
#92 Drexel
#93 USC
#94 Charleston
#95 Seton Hall
#96 Vanderbilt
#97 George Mason
#98 Clemson
#99 Penn State
#100 Nebraska
#101 West Virginia
#102 South Florida
#103 Mississippi State
#104 DePaul
#105 South Carolina
#106 Texas Tech
#107 TCU
#108 Virginia Tech
#109 Georgia
#110 Utah
#111 Auburn
David Kay is a senior feature NBA Draft, NBA, and college basketball writer for the Sports Bank. He also heads up the NBA and college basketball material at Walter Football.com and is a former contributor at The Washington Times Communities. David has appeared on numerous national radio programs spanning from Cleveland to New Orleans to Honolulu to Milwaukee. He also had the most accurate 2011 NBA Mock Draft and the most accurate 2012 NBA Mock Draft on the internet , AND the second most accurate 2013 NBA Mock Draft. (Yup, nearly 3peat champ… #humblebrag.)
You can follow him on Twitter at David_Kmiecik.