Early NBC Sports Top 25

[MU/Panther]

http://collegebasketballtalk.nbcspor...op-25/related/
7 Villanova
13 Xavier
18 Georgetown
20 Marquette
25 Butler

[MKE_GoldenEagleFan]

I think top 20 would be an excellent season for this team as it currently sits, a bubble team would be more realistic in my estimation. It's pretty hard in one season to jump that far, sure it's been done, but I'm not sure we added enough to make that jump... Now add a few of our top transfer targets and that changes the narrative.

[Alan Bykowski, "brewcity77"]

If we add two more quality transfers, maybe. Hell, if Henry is a stud from day one and we land both Lee and Miller, that might even be underselling our ultimate potential. But as the team stands now, no way I agree. This is overselling a promising recruiting class. Gotta prove it on the court.

[MKE_GoldenEagleFan]

The other reason I struggle with this is because we have far too many unknowns to say we are a pre season top 20 team, MAYBE at the end of the season, but pre season?

We definitely have some nice pieces, but how will those pieces gel, and how will they progress? Also we are majorly lacking quality depth right now. I think Henry, Luke, and Duane will be solid, but we will need more folks to step up.

[MUMac]

The other reason I struggle with this is because we have far too many unknowns to say we are a pre season top 20 team, MAYBE at the end of the season, but pre season?

We definitely have some nice pieces, but how will those pieces gel, and how will they progress? Also we are majorly lacking quality depth right now. I think Henry, Luke, and Duane will be solid, but we will need more folks to step up.

Heck, it's not even pre season! I don't put stock in polls in the pre season, much less the day after the NCAA Championship. A lot can change, as we have seen over the recent past, between today and the opening tip.

[russguss]

Badgers @ 19

[Alan Bykowski, "brewcity77"]

Yup, just far too early. As constructed, we don't deserve to be ranked. Could a core of Henry, Duane, Luke, and Jajuan be enough to be a ranked team if Jajuan made a big leap and everyone else improved as expected? Sure. What if we added Damion Lee and Shonn Miller and Duane was able to transition to the point as Travis did from freshman to sophomore year, giving us a starting five of Duane/Lee/Miller/Henry/Luke with Jajuan, Sandy, and Wally all making meaningful contributions off the bench? Not impossible that if it broke well that'd be a top-10 team.

But now? Not a chance. We don't deserve to be ranked. I hope we make the tourney, but I wouldn't have us in my bracketology just yet. These are fun for fans, but ultimately meaningless, especially for anyone that remembers where we were projected in these polls after the 2013 tournament (I looked...mostly 7th or 8th in the country, 5-11 was the range I found, and we didn't make the tourney).

[Nukem2]

Yep, way to early to make that kind of prediction. Hope it's true, but a lot of questions need to be answered before that happens.

[MU/Panther]

Big jumps are not that uncommon as one might think. Utah, Butler, WVU, Maryland made big jumps from 2013-14 to 2014-15 with very nice seeds.

Plus, after the title poll is not a topic of being deserves or not. It's a topic to keeping people talking about hoops. The turkey tourney is the starting point of being deserved.

[WarriorNich]

Yup, just far too early. As constructed, we don't deserve to be ranked. Could a core of Henry, Duane, Luke, and Jajuan be enough to be a ranked team if Jajuan made a big leap and everyone else improved as expected? Sure. What if we added Damion Lee and Shonn Miller and Duane was able to transition to the point as Travis did from freshman to sophomore year, giving us a starting five of Duane/Lee/Miller/Henry/Luke with Jajuan, Sandy, and Wally all making meaningful contributions off the bench? Not impossible that if it broke well that'd be a top-10 team.

But now? Not a chance. We don't deserve to be ranked. I hope we make the tourney, but I wouldn't have us in my bracketology just yet. These are fun for fans, but ultimately meaningless, especially for anyone that remembers where we were projected in these polls after the 2013 tournament (I looked...mostly 7th or 8th in the country, 5-11 was the range I found, and we didn't make the tourney).

Those rankings were also before Blue turned pro, McKay transferred, and Duane Wilson got hurt. But I agree, they're really just fan fodder.

As for Travis Diener "transitioning" to PG, I think that is false. Diener was always a PG but played a lot of 2G freshmen year because MU had a 4 year starter at PG in Cordell Henry and Diener was too good to keep off the court. His shooting worked at the 2 but I saw him during an open gym the summer before his freshmen year. His passing was electric and his team beat the other, which had Henry and Wade on it. Diener setup his teammates for lots of easy baskets. Diener was a distributor that could shoot and really developed his scoring off the dribble by his JR and SR year. Duane Wilson is wired to score and would be much more of a work in progress. I view Duane as a combo guard while Travis was definitely a PG. Diener just happened to play in a lot of 2 PG lineups his frosh year.