Here is is:
1. Duke Blue Devils
Lost in the #fishingrodemojigate hilarity of last week -- when Duke basketball's official Twitter account posted (and quickly deleted) a not-so-indirect reference to Kentucky coach John Calipari after top-20 prospect Marques Bolden chose the Blue Devils over UK -- was a tweet that followed shortly thereafter. It contained no confrontational overtones or subliminal shots. It was, instead, just a photo of some shoes. "Freshman kicks are in," @DukeBluePlanet wrote, showing off a stack of classic orange Nike boxes (and a few black LeBron VIIIs) atop a cart in the team's locker room. "We need a bigger cart next time."
2. Villanova Wildcats
Villanova fans, breathe deep: Josh Hart is back. Ah, who are we kidding? The Wildcats' just won the national title in insanely thrilling, cathartic fashion; we can only assume the past two months have been one extended deep breath of Sting-level tantric proportions. Still, Nova's shot at repeating as the national champs -- even without lynchpin seniors Ryan Arcidiacono and Daniel Ochefu -- improved dramatically when Hart announced his return on May 24. Despite his bright-lights performance in the NCAA tournament, the importance of Hart's contribution to the Wildcats all season long was never fully appreciated; he was not only an efficient scorer but a positionally flexible defender whose rebounding made Kris Jenkins' outside-in style work. Add up Hart's return, the roster he returned to, and the trajectory of Jay Wright's program in the past four years, and the output feels obvious: It would be naive to consider the Wildcats anything but a serious threat to repeat in 2016-17.
5. Virginia Cavaliers
If you're looking for draft-related intrigue, look elsewhere. (Other than the off-chance Malcolm Brogdon might sneak into the first round and fulfill his destiny as the San Antonio Spurs' latest personnel miracle, of course. Make it happen, R.C.!) Virginia's next roster has been more or less set since their 2015-16 season ended in March's Elite Eight heartbreak. As we wrote in April, Cavaliers coach Tony Bennett will not only rely on his customary corps of ever-improving veterans. The architect of three straight top-two seeds will also, for the first time, mix in a top-10 recruiting class exclusively stocked with top-100 talents -- plus elite Memphis transfer Austin Nichols. That sound you just heard was the rest of the ACC shuddering.
6. North Carolina Tar Heels
"Sting" is too gentle a word to describe the pain the Tar Heels and their fans suffered in April. Kris Jenkins' title-winning buzzer-beating was more of a basketball take on of those gory melee animations in the new "Doom." That does more than sting. Bad as it was, though, it has been all good news since. In late April, the NCAA (conspicuously and bafflingly) removed all mention of the men's basketball program from its investigation into decades of academic fraud. In May, forward Justin Jackson took his name out of the NBA draft. By now, not only does coach Roy Williams have another formidable Final Four contender, his team will be eligible to participate in said contending -- a state of affairs that seemed in doubt even a few weeks ago.
13. Louisville Cardinals
There is a noticeable gap between where Louisville ranked in April (No. 5) and where it ranks now, a gap that can be attributed in full to the departure of Chinanu Onuaku. Two months ago, Louisville's emerging two-way interior force and underhanded free throw maestro seemed more likely to return than leave, even if he dipped a test toe in the draft waters. Instead, Onuaku found those waters to his liking, leaving behind a team that will still be good -- just not as good as it might have been. (Meanwhile, the cloud of Louisville's strippers-in-dorms scandal looms. Which is a sentence we never thought we'd write. Yet here we are.)
23. Florida State Seminoles
This time last year, Dwayne Bacon was the highest-touted incoming prospect in FSU basketball history. After a productive but tournament-bid-free freshman season, Bacon's decision to return for his sophomore season was huge -- particularly for a team that looked likely to lose fellow guard Xavier Rathan-Meyes. Then Rathan-Meyes came back, too. The upshot is a talented and athletic group buttressed by the arrival of another elite prospect (forward Jonathan Isaac) with some mildly awkward personnel overlap but oceans of untapped potential.
25. Syracuse Orange
After seeing his post-combine draft stock soar, Malachi Richardson decided to turn pro. Which made sense. It also left a huge hole in Jim Boeheim's backcourt. Michael Gbinije and Trevor Cooney graduated, so the Orange will instead rely on rising sophomore Franklin Howard, fifth-year transfer John Gillion, and incoming freshman Tyus Battle to pick up the slack. Challenging but doable, and the good news is that Tyler Lydon is a 3-and-D star in the making, Pascal Chukwu and Tyler Roberson will be brutal on the boards, and Boeheim's ability to mold size and length into a top-25 outfit is basically unparalleled.
Honorable mention: USC Trojans, Dayton Flyers, Iowa State Cyclones, Oklahoma Sooners, Texas A&M Aggies, Seton Hall Pirates, SMU Mustangs, San Diego State Aztecs, Virginia Tech Hokies
http://espn.go.com/mens-college-bas...23/revised-way-too-early-top-25-some-movement
1. Duke Blue Devils
Lost in the #fishingrodemojigate hilarity of last week -- when Duke basketball's official Twitter account posted (and quickly deleted) a not-so-indirect reference to Kentucky coach John Calipari after top-20 prospect Marques Bolden chose the Blue Devils over UK -- was a tweet that followed shortly thereafter. It contained no confrontational overtones or subliminal shots. It was, instead, just a photo of some shoes. "Freshman kicks are in," @DukeBluePlanet wrote, showing off a stack of classic orange Nike boxes (and a few black LeBron VIIIs) atop a cart in the team's locker room. "We need a bigger cart next time."
2. Villanova Wildcats
Villanova fans, breathe deep: Josh Hart is back. Ah, who are we kidding? The Wildcats' just won the national title in insanely thrilling, cathartic fashion; we can only assume the past two months have been one extended deep breath of Sting-level tantric proportions. Still, Nova's shot at repeating as the national champs -- even without lynchpin seniors Ryan Arcidiacono and Daniel Ochefu -- improved dramatically when Hart announced his return on May 24. Despite his bright-lights performance in the NCAA tournament, the importance of Hart's contribution to the Wildcats all season long was never fully appreciated; he was not only an efficient scorer but a positionally flexible defender whose rebounding made Kris Jenkins' outside-in style work. Add up Hart's return, the roster he returned to, and the trajectory of Jay Wright's program in the past four years, and the output feels obvious: It would be naive to consider the Wildcats anything but a serious threat to repeat in 2016-17.
5. Virginia Cavaliers
If you're looking for draft-related intrigue, look elsewhere. (Other than the off-chance Malcolm Brogdon might sneak into the first round and fulfill his destiny as the San Antonio Spurs' latest personnel miracle, of course. Make it happen, R.C.!) Virginia's next roster has been more or less set since their 2015-16 season ended in March's Elite Eight heartbreak. As we wrote in April, Cavaliers coach Tony Bennett will not only rely on his customary corps of ever-improving veterans. The architect of three straight top-two seeds will also, for the first time, mix in a top-10 recruiting class exclusively stocked with top-100 talents -- plus elite Memphis transfer Austin Nichols. That sound you just heard was the rest of the ACC shuddering.
6. North Carolina Tar Heels
"Sting" is too gentle a word to describe the pain the Tar Heels and their fans suffered in April. Kris Jenkins' title-winning buzzer-beating was more of a basketball take on of those gory melee animations in the new "Doom." That does more than sting. Bad as it was, though, it has been all good news since. In late April, the NCAA (conspicuously and bafflingly) removed all mention of the men's basketball program from its investigation into decades of academic fraud. In May, forward Justin Jackson took his name out of the NBA draft. By now, not only does coach Roy Williams have another formidable Final Four contender, his team will be eligible to participate in said contending -- a state of affairs that seemed in doubt even a few weeks ago.
13. Louisville Cardinals
There is a noticeable gap between where Louisville ranked in April (No. 5) and where it ranks now, a gap that can be attributed in full to the departure of Chinanu Onuaku. Two months ago, Louisville's emerging two-way interior force and underhanded free throw maestro seemed more likely to return than leave, even if he dipped a test toe in the draft waters. Instead, Onuaku found those waters to his liking, leaving behind a team that will still be good -- just not as good as it might have been. (Meanwhile, the cloud of Louisville's strippers-in-dorms scandal looms. Which is a sentence we never thought we'd write. Yet here we are.)
23. Florida State Seminoles
This time last year, Dwayne Bacon was the highest-touted incoming prospect in FSU basketball history. After a productive but tournament-bid-free freshman season, Bacon's decision to return for his sophomore season was huge -- particularly for a team that looked likely to lose fellow guard Xavier Rathan-Meyes. Then Rathan-Meyes came back, too. The upshot is a talented and athletic group buttressed by the arrival of another elite prospect (forward Jonathan Isaac) with some mildly awkward personnel overlap but oceans of untapped potential.
25. Syracuse Orange
After seeing his post-combine draft stock soar, Malachi Richardson decided to turn pro. Which made sense. It also left a huge hole in Jim Boeheim's backcourt. Michael Gbinije and Trevor Cooney graduated, so the Orange will instead rely on rising sophomore Franklin Howard, fifth-year transfer John Gillion, and incoming freshman Tyus Battle to pick up the slack. Challenging but doable, and the good news is that Tyler Lydon is a 3-and-D star in the making, Pascal Chukwu and Tyler Roberson will be brutal on the boards, and Boeheim's ability to mold size and length into a top-25 outfit is basically unparalleled.
Honorable mention: USC Trojans, Dayton Flyers, Iowa State Cyclones, Oklahoma Sooners, Texas A&M Aggies, Seton Hall Pirates, SMU Mustangs, San Diego State Aztecs, Virginia Tech Hokies
http://espn.go.com/mens-college-bas...23/revised-way-too-early-top-25-some-movement
