I wanted to post Jay Bilas' Preseason Top 25 earlier, but I accidentally deleted my long-winded post right before I hit "reply," so I'll post a more concise version of my thoughts on it. Preseason Top 25's, especially at this point, are more or less meaningless, but I respect Bilas' opinion enough to actually give his opinion some credence. There are a few notable exclusions though - Oklahoma State, Ohio State, Gonzaga, Baylor, and maybe even SMU. With Nash and Smart now coming back, I think you have to consider Oklahoma State a favorite to win the Big 12. Ohio State had problems scoring this season when Thomas wasn't going, so losing him will be a serious blow to their offense, and they don't have a great recruiting class coming in by their standards, but they have two players in Ross and Thompson that are primed for breakout years with more responsibility on offense, Amir Williams has showed flashes of greatness himself in the post, and at the end of the day, I'll never bet against Aaron Craft. I have a hard time seeing a team with that much remaining talent and being led by Craft not being in the top 25 at the end of the season. As far as Gonzaga goes, I'm interested to hear MickZagger's opinion, but I think they have the same situation as Ohio State, in that they lost a lot of talent in Olynyk and Harris, but they have one the best backcourts in the country coming back next season, with Bell and Pangos, and that means a lot in college ball. More than anything, it's not like they don't have a replacement upfront for Olynyk/Harris. Knowing Few's track record developing 'awkward' talent, Przemek Karnowski is set for a break out season. Even if he lives up to half of his potential next season, the Zags should easily handle the WCC and will most likely be ranked when it's all said and done. If Isaiah Austin decides to come back, Baylor will be relevant, even without Jackson, and as far as SMU is concerned, they're my wild-card, but they have a lot of transfers coming in, the best recruiting class in school history, and will be playing in the new AAC with Louisville, UConn, Memphis, Cincinnati, Temple, etc. With Larry Brown at the helm, I can easily see SMU not only breaking into the tournament but the top 25 as well.
So now that Brad Stevens is gone, apparently Butler is going to act quickly to hire a new head coach - http://www.wthr.com/story/22758871/2013/07/04/next-butler-coach-could-be-hired-quickly They know their assistants better than anyone, but with Butler moving to the Big East, this has a much higher profile job than most that were on the market after the season. I'm surprised they're not taking the time to interview guys like Seth Greenberg or Bruce Pearl.
Funny thing is that post was from over three months ago, and still... no one's quite sure... He was returning, then transferring, then returning, then transferring, and now he might redshirt... He really should go to Gonzaga, for the betterment of his own career, but at this point, I'm just tired of him reneging. That's really a lot of publicity and "to-do" over a prospect that's never proven to be anything more than a tall jump shooter.
