[2024] Preseason Preview Part 1: 2023 Season Recap

[Wahoo]

Welcome to Wahoo’s comprehensive CBB season preview. We will be going over my preseason Top 25, national awards predictions, top 10 games to watch, conference rankings, all-conference teams, and projected postseason seeds. But first, let's review what happened last season.

Part 1: 2023 Recap

CBI Champion: SMU (20-14)

NIT Champion: UCLA (20-14)

Final 4:  Purdue (36-2) beats Air Force (26-9) 92-66

                 Baylor (29-6) beats West Virginia (29-9) 78-76

National Championship: Baylor (30-6) beats Purdue (36-3) 93-86

 

Purdue started the season ranked 18th, but ranked in the top 3 from week 5 onwards on the way to a gaudy 28-2 regular season record and subsequent Big 10 tournament championship. The betting favorite earned a #1 seed at 31-2 and was joined on the top line by AAC champion Temple (31-2), MAC champion Central Michigan (29-2), and St. John’s (26-3). 

The story of the first round was the shocking upset of Stonehill over top-seeded Temple, marking the 2nd year in a row that a #16 seed beat a #1 seed. Temple would be the only top 4 seed to lose in the first round, but the second round was not as kind to favorites. 1-seeds Central Michigan and St. John’s would both fall short to 8-seeds Colorado and Virginia, respectively. 2-seeds Seton Hall and UC Irvine also failed to advance to the Sweet 16. Purdue put on a dominating run en route to the Final 4, winning by an average of 26.25 points over 4 games. This run included revenge for one of their 2 regular season losses, outworking Indiana 89-79 in the Sweet 16. The Boilermakers made quick work of Air Force, while Baylor emerged victorious from a Big 12 clash on the other side of the bracket. In a stunning finale, Wooden Award winner Pedro Rodriguez was outdueled by 3rd Team All-American Thomas Mcdonald’s blazing 34 point championship performance. 

 

How My 2023 Preseason Top 25 Fared

 

1	Villanova	Big East	14-18 (7-11), 9th Big East	Missed postseason
2	Army	Patriot	24-8 (14-4), 1st Patriot	NCAA Tournament 1st Round (7 seed)
3	San Francisco	West Coast	17-13 (7-9), 6th West Coast	Missed postseason
4	Colorado State	Mountain West	12-18 (7-11), T8th Mountain West	Missed postseason
5	Wisconsin	Big 10	22-8 (17-3), 2nd Big Ten	NCAA Tournament 1st Round (7 seed)
6	Kansas	Big 12	21-11 (11-9), T7th Big 12	NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 (10 seed)
7	Purdue	Big 10	36-3 (19-1), 1st Big Ten	NCAA National Runner-Up (1 seed)
8	South Alabama	Sun Belt	23-8 (14-4), T1st Sun Belt	NCAA Tournament 1st Round (6 seed)
9	UC Irvine	Big West	29-5 (17-1), 1st Big West	NCAA Tournament 2nd Round (2 seed)
10	Utah	PAC 12	26-8 (16-4), 1st PAC 12	NCAA Tournament Elite 8 (3 seed)
11	Eastern Michigan	MAC	23-10 (13-7), 4th MAC	NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 (9 seed)
12	Davidson	Atlantic 10	24-10 (13-5), T2nd Atlantic 10	NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 (11 seed)
13	Iowa State	Big 12	21-11 (12-8), 6th Big 12	NCAA Tournament 1st Round (9 seed)
14	Fresno State	Mountain West	21-9 (12-6), 3rd Mountain West	NIT 1st Round
15	UMBC	America East	22-10 (14-2), 1st America East	NCAA Tournament 1st Round (8 seed)
16	Southern Miss	Sun Belt	26-6 (14-4), T1st Sun Belt	NCAA Tournament 2nd Round (3 seed)
17	BYU	Big 12	25-10 (13-7), T4th Big 12	NCAA Tournament Elite 8 (6 seed)
18	Buffalo	MAC	18-13 (11-9), 5th MAC	CBI 1st Round
19	Baylor	Big 12	30-6 (17-3), 1st Big 12	NCAA National Champion (2 seed)
20	Western Michigan	MAC	19-11 (15-5), 2nd MAC	NCAA Tournament 1st Round (13 seed)
21	Missouri	SEC	15-14 (8-10), T9th SEC	Missed postseason
22	Pittsburgh	ACC	22-12 (12-8), T4th ACC	NIT Semifinals
23	Wyoming	Mountain West	13-16 (5-13), 11th Mountain West	Missed postseason
24	Seton Hall	Big East	27-6 (16-2), T1st Big East	NCAA Tournament 2nd Round (2 seed)
25	Navy	Patriot	14-15 (8-10), T6th Patriot	Missed postseason

 

Biggest Surprises: I had Temple pegged 5th in the AAC and outside of the tournament picture, but All-AAC Raymond Alloway and 2nd round draft pick Srinivasan Kane led Temple to a 31-2 record entering the NCAA Tournament. West Virginia pulled an even bigger surprise, moving from outside my top 100 in the preseason to a #2 seed and Final 4 appearance. 

Biggest Letdowns: 3 major shockers occurred from my preseason Top 5, with Villanova, San Francisco, and Colorado State all failing to make any postseason event. These 3 teams had 9 A-rated players amongst them.

 

Top Scorers

Returning players asterisked

SG Don Burtner, Jr., USC*	28.7 PPG
SG Jeffrey Luedtke, Sr., Miami (FL)	25.5 PPG
PG Thomas Mcdonald, Sr., Baylor	24.6 PPG
PG Michael Speed, So., Saint Mary’s	24.6 PPG
PG Howard Wen, Jr., Utah*	23.9 PPG
SF Michael Stokes, Sr., Virginia	23.6 PPG
PF Christopher Merlo, Jr., Nebraska	23.5 PPG
PF Timothy Plungis, Sr., Utah	23.4 PPG
PF Pedro Rodriguez, So., Purdue	23.3 PPG
PG Dustin Cook, (So.), SMU*	23.1 PPG

Top Rebounders

Returning players asterisked

 

C David Leonardo, Jr., Charleston*	15.4 RPG
PF Robert Schreckengost, Sr., Fairleigh Dickinson	14.5 RPG
SG Paul Kellerhouse, Jr., Oakland*	14.4 RPG
SG Anthony Yearwood, Sr., East Tennessee State	14.2 RPG
SG Rodolfo Ildefonso, Sr., Eastern Kentucky	14.0 RPG
PF Robert Mead, Sr., UNC Greensboro	14.0 RPG
C Alan Law, Sr., Missouri State	13.9 RPG
SG Robert Borko, Sr., SIU Edwardsville	13.7 RPG
PG Quentin Garcia, Sr., Marist	13.6 RPG
SF Rich Siebert, So., Morehead State*	13.2 RPG

 

Wooden Award Winner

PF Pedro Rodriguez, So., Purdue

23.3 PPG, 6.5 RPG, 2.6 APG, 1.4 BPG, 1.2 SPG

 

First Team All-Americans

PF Pedro Rodriguez, So., Purdue

23.3 PPG, 6.5 RPG, 2.6 APG, 1.4 BPG, 1.2 SPG

C Alan Law, Sr., Missouri State

14.8 PPG, 13.9 RPG, 3.9 APG, 2.2 BPG, 1.6 SPG

SG Jeffrey Luedtke, Sr., Miami (FL)

25.5 PPG, 5.5 RPG, 2.3 APG, 1.3 BPG, 0.5 SPG

PF Christopher Merlo, Jr., Nebraska

23.5 PPG, 9.8 RPG, 2.2 APG, 1.7 BPG, 1.4 SPG

PF Timothy Plungis, Sr., Utah

23.4 PPG, 6.2 RPG, 2.6 APG, 1.6 BPG, 1.5 SPG

 

Second Team All-Americans

PG Derrick Morehead, So., Virginia

22.7 PPG, 5.5 RPG, 4.1 APG, 1.2 BPG, 0.5 SPG

SG Mitchell Henderson, Jr., Nebraska

22.2 PPG, 6.4 RPG, 5.2 APG, 1.8 BPG, 0.5 SPG

PG Howard Wen, Jr., Utah

23.9 PPG, 5.8 RPG, 3.8 APG, 1.5 BPG, 1.1 SPG

C Henry Gonzales, Sr., UC Irvine

22.6 PPG, 9.9 RPG, 0.5 APG, 1.9 BPG, 1.7 SPG

PG Michael Speed, So., Saint Mary’s

24.6 PPG, 7.6 RPG, 2.0 APG, 1.4 BPG, 0.5 SPG

 

Third Team All-Americans

PG Thomas Mcdonald, Sr., Baylor

24.6 PPG, 3.5 RPG, 2.7 APG, 1.2 BPG, 0.5 SPG

PF Kenneth Isom, Jr., Central Michigan

15.4 PPG, 12.3 RPG, 3.2 APG, 1.6 BPG, 1.2 SPG

SG Don Burtner, Jr., USC

28.7 PPG, 1.2 RPG, 1.3 APG, 1.5 BPG, 1.1 SPG

SG Blair Stiles, (Jr.), UMBC

22.8 PPG, 5.0 RPG, 3.0 APG, 1.4 BPG, 0.2 SPG

SF Stanton Chadwick, Sr., Jacksonville

20.7 PPG, 7.5 RPG, 2.3 APG, 1.4 BPG, 0.6 SPG

 

All-Freshman Team

SF Craig Woods, Fr., Idaho State

14.4 PPG, 10.5 RPG, 2.8 APG, 1.8 BPG, 0.4 SPG

SG Girish Luu, Fr., Texas Southern

14.3 PPG, 10.2 RPG, 1.9 APG, 1.6 BPG, 0.8 SPG

SF Jaime Gumper, Fr., New Orleans

10.7 PPG, 11.9 RPG, 2.1 APG, 1.5 BPG, 0.9 SPG

C Jeffrey Pockat, (Fr.), Jacksonville

12.8 PPG, 8.4 RPG, 2.9 APG, 1.4 BPG, 0.7 SPG

SG Pradeep Pines, Fr., UC Davis

13.8 PPG, 7.1 RPG, 3.6 APG, 1.6 BPG, 0.3 SPG

 

SimNBA Draft Top 10

1. C Mike Park, Sr., Alabama

2. PG Adel Ali, 21, Algeria

3. SG Matthew Gullet, Jr., LSU

4. SG Yang Lam, 20, China

5. C Brock Burks, Jr., Pittsburgh

6. SG Yin Nguyen, Sr., Marshall

7. PF Rolf Nguyen, 22, Denmark

8. PF Pedro Rodriguez, So., Purdue

9. C William Mclean, Sr., Appalachian State

10. PG Michael Phillips, Sr., Hawaii

[subsequent]

Awesome recap. Love seeing the comparison of your preseason top 25 with what ended up happening.

[kwheele]

Love the recap.

Oh, who was the only person on the sim that predicted Baylor winning it all? hmmm