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+---- Thread: 2021-22 Way Too Early Men's Basketball Rankings (/thread-920318.html)
2021-22 Way Too Early Men's Basketball Rankings - schmolik - 04-08-2021 01:47 PM
In most sports the day after a champion is crowned it seems like they are already putting together rankings for next season. I believe many of these came out on Tuesday. I'd argue there's only one team that isn't looking forward to the start of next year's tip off. Now there are some teams that probably have more to look forward to than others. Also, teams and conferences that had bad seasons and/or bad tournaments (cough, Big Ten) want to forget about this season as soon as possible so they can't wait for next November.
You can argue the 2021-22 season would be extra special because it will hopefully be a "back to normal" season with no (or at least fewer) COVID-19 disruptions, full (or at least larger) crowds, and regular NCAA sites as opposed to the tournament being held in one site and teams having to spend the entire tournament in one city.
Here are the lists I can find. Feel free to add any others you can find and/or comment.
CBS Sports: https://www.cbssports.com/college-basketball/news/college-basketball-rankings-ucla-is-no-1-in-never-too-early-2021-22-top-25-and-1-preseason-rankings/
ESPN: https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/page/earlytop25040521/gonzaga-ucla-1-2-way-too-early-top-25-college-basketball-rankings-2021-22
SI: https://www.si.com/college/2021/04/06/ncaa-basketball-rankings-early-top-25-gonzaga-michigan
USA Today: https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaab/2021/04/06/college-basketball-way-too-early-mens-preseason-top-25/7076060002/
Split decision as CBS and USAT say UCLA and ESPN and SI say Gonzaga. If they are not playing a non conference game next season, either COVID or some other pandemic is hit or something is wrong with men's basketball.