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 sequence. They polled throughout the game’s panorama: a few of the largest names in faculty basketball, but in addition small-school assistants in low-major leagues. Coaches agreed to share unfiltered opinions in alternate for anonymity. We requested them 10 questions and can put up the outcomes over a three-week span.
Kansas coach Invoice Self has stored 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 Ultimate Fours, secured 16 Large 12 regular-season titles and eight Large 12 Event championships whereas solely ending exterior of the highest three of the convention standings one time up to now 21 years.
That one time was final season, although.
For sure, Self grew annoyed as issues unfolded — largely due to a scarcity 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 Large 12 Event. The outcome 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 workers of placing extra guys on the market that we might play,” Self mentioned following the season, noting how KU entered the Large 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 mounted.
Whereas securing the return of starters Dajuan Harris, KJ Adams and Hunter Dickinson, Self and his workers acquired super-busy within the switch portal and enrolled 5 skilled gamers — specifically 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 sequence by asking greater than 100 Division I coaches the next query:
Who would be the finest group this season?
| Kansas | 35.6% |
| Alabama | 27.9% |
| Houston | 13.5% |
| Duke | 9.6% |
| UConn | 7.7% |
Others receiving votes: Arizona, Baylor, Gonzaga, North Carolina
Quotes that stood out
On Kansas
- “They’d a down yr for them — and I feel Invoice Self’s press convention on the finish of the yr mentioned all of it. He can be extra motivated and locked in than ever earlier than. They’ve a powerful 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 serious sleeper too.”
- “They’ve an exceptional core of skilled gamers in Dajuan Harris, Hunter Dickinson and KJ Adams. In addition they add AJ Storr and others to go along with that unbelievable home-court benefit.”
- “They completely reloaded. Self ain’t going by way of what he went by way of final yr!”
- “Kansas returned loads of expertise and stuffed holes with top quality transfers.”
On Alabama
- “That machine is rolling. [This] yr can be their yr to chop the nets.”
- “They’ve the assets to construct nice rosters — and a coach (Nate Oats) who understands methods to maximize them. They acquired their first Ultimate 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 type of guys. LJ Cryer and Emanuel Sharp could possibly 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, proficient, Houston juggernaut.”
- “For me, it is easy. All the opposite colleges are nice — however as positive because the solar will come up within the morning and go down within the night, Kelvin Sampson can have a bunch that may do the whole lot of their energy to exceed expectations. They do not imagine in potential. They do imagine in WORK and toughness. … The Cougars can be within the dialogue for a group able to going all the way in which if well being is on their facet.”
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 essentially the most proficient 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 can be totally different and there can be unreal expectations, however they have been taking part in at a unique degree than all people else final yr within the match. I do know numerous it needed to do with their personnel, but it surely additionally had quite a bit to do with Dan Hurley and his teaching workers.”
The takeaway
As you’ll be able to 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 advised us they anticipate Kansas to be the game’s finest group.
That did not work out so effectively final season. However, once more, accidents have been largely responsible. As many coaches advised us over the previous few weeks, KU now seems positioned for a tremendous 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 really 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 must 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 observed, or will quickly discover, the discrepancy and brilliantly use it to encourage his largely new however undeniably succesful group.
Will the Huskies three-peat?
It’s going to be troublesome, clearly. However I did return and take a look at what share of the vote UConn acquired prematurely of final season after we requested the identical query, and what I discovered is that only one.9% of the coaches we polled again then advised us they believed the Huskies can be the game’s finest group. UConn then went out and received the Large East regular-season title, Large East Event title and 6 consecutive video games within the NCAA Event (by double-digits) to gather a second straight nationwide championship. Which means 98.1% of the coaches we polled a yr in the past have been incorrect to imagine any person aside from UConn would win all of it. Now Dan Hurley and his workers are getting ready to show 92.3% incorrect once more this season.
Rely them out at your personal danger.