CBS Sports activities faculty basketball insiders Gary Parrish and Matt Norlander spent a month surveying 100-plus Division I males’s basketball coaches for our annual Candid Coaches collection. They polled throughout the game’s panorama: a number of the greatest names in faculty basketball, but additionally small-school assistants in low-major leagues. Coaches agreed to share unfiltered opinions in trade for anonymity. We requested them 10 questions and can publish the outcomes over a three-week span.
Kansas coach Invoice Self has saved his males’s basketball program at or close to the tip-top of the game for greater than 20 years. He is received two nationwide championships, made 4 Closing Fours, secured 16 Massive 12 regular-season titles and eight Massive 12 Event championships whereas solely ending outdoors of the highest three of the convention standings one time up to now 21 years.
That one time was final season, although.
Evidently, Self grew annoyed as issues unfolded — principally due to an absence of depth that proved crippling after main scorer Kevin McCullar Jr. suffered an damage that restricted him for weeks earlier than the 6-foot-5 wing was finally shut down prematurely of the Massive 12 Event. The consequence was Self’s first 11-loss marketing campaign since he coached Tulsa to a 19-12 file in 1998. Moreover, the Jayhawks’ 89-68 season-ending loss to Gonzaga was this system’s second-most lopsided defeat in NCAA Event historical past.
“We might have accomplished a significantly better job as a employees of placing extra guys on the market that we might play,” Self mentioned following the season, noting how KU entered the Massive 12 Event with simply eight wholesome scholarship gamers. “And in order that’s one thing that I’ve thought of for a very long time.”
It is also one thing he is fastened.
Whereas securing the return of starters Dajuan Harris, KJ Adams and Hunter Dickinson, Self and his employees bought super-busy within the switch portal and enrolled 5 skilled gamers — particularly AJ Storr from Wisconsin, Rylan Griffen from Alabama, Zeke Mayo from South Dakota State, Shakeel Moore from Mississippi State and David Coit from Northern Illinois. Add 5-star freshman Flory Bidunga to the combo, plus frivolously used reserve Jamari McDowell and 4-star freshman Rakease Passmore, and depth shouldn’t be a problem for Kansas this season (even after sophomore Elmarko Jackson suffered a season-ending knee damage).
It is that mixture of depth, expertise and elite teaching that compelled me to maneuver Kansas to No. 1 within the CBS Sports activities High 25 And 1 again in April. Nonetheless, we wished to see what faculty coaches assume. So we started our 2024 Candid Coaches collection by asking greater than 100 Division I coaches the next query:
Who would be the greatest group this season?
| Kansas | 35.6% |
| Alabama | 27.9% |
| Houston | 13.5% |
| Duke | 9.6% |
| UConn | 7.7% |
Others receiving votes:Â Arizona, Baylor, Gonzaga, North Carolina
Quotes that stood out
On Kansas
- “That they had a down yr for them — and I feel Invoice Self’s press convention on the finish of the yr mentioned all of it. He shall be extra motivated and locked in than ever earlier than. They’ve a robust group of returners, with Hunter Dickinson being a possible participant of (the) yr. AJ Storr might show to be an enormous pickup for them, with Griffen from Alabama being a significant sleeper too.”
- “They’ve an outstanding core of skilled gamers in Dajuan Harris, Hunter Dickinson and KJ Adams. In addition they add AJ Storr and others to go together with that unimaginable home-court benefit.”
- “They completely reloaded. Self ain’t going via what he went via final yr!”
- “Kansas returned loads of expertise and stuffed holes with prime quality transfers.”
On Alabama
- “That machine is rolling. [This] yr shall be their yr to chop the nets.”
- “They’ve the sources to construct nice rosters — and a coach (Nate Oats) who understands the way to maximize them. They bought their first Closing 4. A championship is subsequent. Only a matter of time.”
- “[They] return [almost] everybody of word and added actually good gamers to the combo.”
On Houston
- “Even with the lack of heart-and-soul Jamal Shead, I feel they’ve a humiliation of riches with their form of guys. LJ Cryer and Emanuel Sharp may very well be the most effective all-around backcourt within the nation, and also you get [Terrance] Arceneaux and [Joseph} Tugler back healthy, an experienced Big 12 guard in Milos Uzan, and the return of two key ‘Houston’ bigs in J’Wan Roberts and Ja’Vier Francis. And that’s before you add two top-70 [freshmen] in Mercy Miller and Chase McCarty. It is a group tailored for Kelvin Sampson to mildew right into a smothering, nasty, gifted, Houston juggernaut.”
- “For me, it is simple. All the opposite colleges are nice — however as certain because the solar will come up within the morning and go down within the night, Kelvin Sampson could have a gaggle that may do all the things of their energy to exceed expectations. They do not consider in potential. They do consider in WORK and toughness. … The Cougars shall be within the dialogue for a group able to going all the best way if well being is on their aspect.”
On Duke
- “How good is Cooper Flagg going to be? That is the query. However I feel he’ll be nice, and there are sufficient actually good items round him for Duke to win all of it. That is probably the most gifted group within the nation. Simply gotta see if it comes collectively. However the expertise to win all of it is there.”
On UConn
- “Till any person knocks UConn off the throne, I am going with them. I do know the group shall be completely different and there shall be unreal expectations, however they have been taking part in at a distinct stage than everyone else final yr within the match. I do know quite a lot of it needed to do with their personnel, however it additionally had so much to do with Dan Hurley and his teaching employees.”
The takeaway
As you may see from the breakdown of votes, the coaches we polled largely agree with the the High 25 And 1 — the place Kansas, Alabama and Houston are additionally first, second and third. Curiously, that is the second straight yr coaches have informed us they anticipate Kansas to be the game’s greatest group.
That did not work out so effectively final season. However, once more, accidents have been principally accountable. As many coaches informed us over the previous few weeks, KU now seems positioned for a nice bounce-back season.
Query: What do you make of UConn solely getting 7.7% of the vote?
That equates to fifth in our ballot, which truly traces up with the place I’ve the Huskies within the High 25 And 1. So I am in no place to argue with the voters. Nevertheless it needs to be famous that the reigning back-to-back champions are technically the favourite to win the 2025 NCAA Event at +900 (adopted by Kansas and Duke at +1000). Relaxation assured, Hurley both already has seen, or will quickly discover, the discrepancy and brilliantly use it to inspire his principally new however undeniably succesful group.
Will the Huskies three-peat?
It will be tough, clearly. However I did return and take a look at what proportion of the vote UConn bought prematurely of final season once we requested the identical query, and what I discovered is that just one.9% of the coaches we polled again then informed us they believed the Huskies could be the game’s greatest group. UConn then went out and received the Massive East regular-season title, Massive East Event title and 6 consecutive video games within the NCAA Event (by double-digits) to gather a second straight nationwide championship. Meaning 98.1% of the coaches we polled a yr in the past have been improper to consider any person apart from UConn would win all of it. Now Dan Hurley and his employees are making ready to show 92.3% improper once more this season.
Depend them out at your individual danger.