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College basketball rankings: Miami, Baylor lose leading scorers to NBA Draft, slip in early Top 25 And 1 – CBS Sports
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The leading scorers at Miami and Baylor — Isaiah Wong and Adam Flagler, respectively — both announced Monday that they’re entering the 2023 NBA Draft even though neither is guaranteed to be selected. Those are big blows for the Hurricanes and Bears, each of whom has been moved down in Version 6.0 of the 2023-24 CBS Sports preseason Top 25 And 1 college basketball rankings.
Miami is now No. 12. Baylor is now No. 21.
Before Wong’s announcement, the Hurricanes were No. 5 based on a projection that they would return four starters from a team that shared the ACC regular-season title with Virginia before advancing to the 2023 Final Four. Now, they’re losing their top two scorers — Wong and Jordan Miller — who combined to average 31.5 points per game this past season. Before Flagler’s announcement, the Bears were No. 17 based on a projection that they would return four of the top six scorers from a team that won 23 games and secured a No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Now, they’re losing each of their top three scorers — Flagler, Keyonte George and LJ Cryer — and bringing back just one player who averaged more than 6.3 points per game this past season to pair with a recruiting class highlighted by five-star prospect Ja’Kobe Walter.
On the flipside, Creighton and Arkansas both had a good Monday by adding players from the transfer portal. The Bluejays secured a commitment from Utah State transfer Steven Ashworth, who averaged 16.2 points this past season while shooting 43.4% from three, and are now No. 6 in the Top 25 And 1. The Razorbacks secured a commitment from Louisville transfer El Ellis, who averaged 17.7 points this past season while shooting 36.0% from three, and are now No. 11 in the Top 25 And 1.
UConn remains No. 1 in the Top 25 And 1 based on a projection that the Huskies will return four of the top six scorers — namely Tristen Newton, Alex Karaban, Donovan Clingan and Andre Jackson Jr., — from a team that won the 2023 NCAA Tournament (and also finished No. 1 at KenPom.com). Dan Hurley should combine that core with a top-five recruiting class highlighted by five-star prospect Stephon Castle and have a legitimate chance to become the first coach to win back-to-back national championships since Billy Donovan did it at Florida in 2006 and 2007.
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