Gary Parrish and Matt Norlander, college basketball writers for CBS Sports, surveyed nearly 100 coaches in their annual Candid Coaches series. They surveyed everyone from the head of the elite program his coach to assistants at some of the smallest Division I schools. In exchange for complete anonymity, Coach provided unfiltered honesty on many topics.
We start our annual Candid Coaches series with one of the questions we ask each season. This is a survey designed to see which team his college coach at every level of the sport thinks are most likely to win his NCAA Tournament in 2023. I’ve been saying for a while now that I don’t think there’s a consensus preseason No. 1, but A) no school gets even 40% of the votes and B) 12 different schools at least he got 1 vote won. That being said, 85% of the votes went to one of the teams I ranked him 1st, 2nd or 3rd in the rankings. CBS Sports Preseason Top 25 and 1So there seems to be something closer to the top 3 of consensus.But about 100 coaches surveyed didn’t vote Gonzaga, north carolina When houston In the same order that ranked Gonzaga, North Carolina and Houston in the top 25 and 1. Here are the results of their responses:
Who are the best teams in college basketball this season?
outstanding quotes
in north carolina
- “Their returning core has an edge over the other teams in my mind, and I think the addition of Pete Nance and continued development of Puff (Johnson) will help them. “One of the freshmen, Tyler Nickel, is an absolute monster. He could make a difference again this year.”
- “I am very pleased that Hubert Davis has stuck to his coaching roots and willingly adapted and adapted to his staff by playing outside of the ‘Carolina system’ that has been so successful for decades. Impressed. They took all the pieces back and added Brady Manek is a very aggressive threat and will be hard to replace, but Hubert will quickly learn how dangerous this team is. .
About Gonzaga
- “Gonzaga can bring back too much talent from a great team to be a favorite to win them all. Drew Timm should be better than ever. I think it will be the year we win.”
- “Gonzaga is still bringing back a dominant player in Tim, but they have more players than they had in their program. I think it’s a huge benefit to bring back good players, they’re not, they probably don’t have as high a turnover rate as other companies, and there’s some value in a culture that’s been maintained for a long time and has a strong position. I think there is
in houston
- “Houston has an elite culture. They probably play harder than any team in the country. I think we can.”
- “I go to Houston. They have a guy named Marcus Susser and he has good players around him and he has depth. I trust him more to leverage and better understand rotations and combinations of top teams[than other coaches].”
in kentucky
- “From top to bottom, I think they definitely have the best roster and are led by a guy who I think will be Player of the Year again[Oscar Ziebue]. How their season ended. I think I have something to say about Taka, too. UMBC in the first round of the NCAA Tournament the previous year). I don’t know if they can win the title, but they would be my bet contenders. ”
- “I heard you say on the (Eye on College Basketball) podcast that Kentucky’s most talented lineup might not have enough shots. I think you’re right. But , they’re shooting on the bench, they’re the best big in college basketball.I think this is the year Cal won their second championship.If you have a roster, you want him.”
Takeaway
North Carolina was ranked first in Version 1.0 of Top 25 And 1 posted right after the 2022 NCAA Tournament championship game. Finally dropped a tar heel under Gonzaga Southern Conference Player of the Year was named after Rasir Bolton’s surprising return to campus and Malachi Smith’s commitment to the Zags. That said, as we’ve said many times, there’s nothing wrong with those who think UNC should have remained No. 1 even after these developments – and 37% of the coaches we surveyed These are the people who fall into that category. The main reason they consider North Carolina a preseason favorite is that the Tar Heels will be 2022 NCAA tournament champions after defeating Duke twice in the final month of the season and inducting Mike Krzyszewski into the Hall of Fame. This is because we are returning all non-manek rotation players from the team that advanced to the ship game. career of fame.
But the betting market disagrees.
According to the Caesars Sportsbook, Houston and Gonzaga, who finished second and third in the Candid Coaches poll, are actually favorites to win the 2023 NCAA Tournament, with +850, while UNC is at +1000. Slightly behind the Zag. What it highlights is how reasonable it is to rank these three teams in any order, as the 2023 NCAA Tournament will not always be clear in August. You can get it in unlimited ways.
It should be a fun season.
8 of the other 9 teams that received an outspoken coach vote are also the teams I ranked in the top 25 and 1. Specifically, No. 4 Kentucky, No. 5 Duke, No. 6 Arkansas, and No. 7 Baylor. , No. 8 Kansas, No. 9 Tennessee, No. 10 UCLA, and No. 11 Creighton.
Interestingly, Virginia is the only team not in the top 25 and 1 outspoken coach vote. When I asked the coach who turned in the ballot why he voted for Tony Bennett’s team, he replied: ) some underrated recruits. ”
Added another ACC coach who didn’t vote for Virginia but went out of his way to say he thinks the Cavaliers would be a really good team: “(They) figured it out late last year…our league.”
