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College basketball rankings: Charles Bediako to remain in NBA Draft, Alabama plummets in early Top 25 And 1 – CBS Sports
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It was an unlikely outcome, sure. But there was, at least on a surface level, always a chance Alabama could return every player who averaged at least 5.0 points per game — except All-American Brandon Miller — from last season’s team that won the outright SEC regular-season title and SEC Tournament before securing the No. 1 overall seed in the 2023 NCAA Tournament. Instead, the Crimson Tide seem set to lose at least four of the top six scorers from that team now that Charles Bediako is reportedly committed to remaining in the 2023 NBA Draft despite the realistic possibility that he could go completely unselected.
It’s a tough break for Nate Oats.
Lose Miller? Of course. Noah Clowney too? Sure. (It’s hard to keep projected first-round picks in school.) But losing Jaden Bradley to the transfer portal, and Bediako to a draft that likely won’t include him, is a pair of unfortunate developments that should make somebody besides Alabama the favorite to win the SEC next season. The Crimson Tide will probably still be good, if only because Oats is too good of a coach to have a bad team at this point in his tenure. But, for what it’s worth, I now have Alabama down to No. 18 in Version 13.0 of the 2023-24 CBS Sports Top 25 And 1 preseason college basketball rankings, where Kansas remains No. 1 thanks mostly to the addition of former Michigan All-American Hunter Dickinson.
A possible KU starting lineup now looks like this:
That’s a starting lineup with size, shooting and experience. Combine it with the fact that Naismith Memorial Hall of Famer Bill Self — a man who has made 24 consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances and earned No. 1 seeds in 10 of the past 16 NCAA Tournaments — will be the person developing the roster and coaching the team, and I personally think the Jayhawks should now be considered the favorites to win the 2024 NCAA Tournament.
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