re: Tide Hoops | 31-6 (16-2)

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College basketball rankings: CBS Sports' Top 100 And 1 best teams heading into the 2022-23 season

Longtime loyal readers know that for the past seven years I've gone where no person had previously gone before. I marched into the marshy bottoms of college basketball's ecosystem to provide the most exhaustive single piece of college hoops preview content on the internet. There I was in the bogs like a maniac, splitting the difference between the 245th- and the 246th-best teams. I scrutinized rotation players for bottom-end programs in the Southland, SWAC and Big Sky. Normal behavior.

What came out amounted to a map of the season ahead and, proudly, a capsule for every team to go with it. I know there are some sickos out there who read every one. You're my people.

But all exhaustive/ill-advised/soul-straining endeavors must end.

It's time to change up the format. A major catalyst for this is the transfer portal. Men's D-I basketball had 3,616 players in the portal the last two years. Coaches have expressed they don't know half as much about their leagues now vs. how it was even five years ago, when transfer numbers were vastly lower and proven returning talents in conferences were more easily identifiable. Because so many teams now flip at least half their rosters, tiering out leagues and predicting who will be good, average or bad has never been tougher.

Here's the fun part: I've homed in on the teams that matter most — college basketball's top table, if you will. And what a huge table it is. We are still providing you with an in-depth inspection of college basketball's eclectic landscape. But for the sake of my sanity, my family and your outrage capacity, my preseason rankings are getting a healthy hack.

I always strive to provide readers with the type of things that I too would want to see covered or written about. You're here because you really like or downright love college hoops and can't WAIT for the games to start. Tell me what I need to know and who I need to know about. And please give me many reasons to sneer at how you put basketball teams in order.

That's exactly what I've built. Instead of a 1-363 (yes, we're now up to 363 teams), it's a beefed-up Top 100 And 1. You're getting an early blueprint on almost every team that will wind up playing in the NCAA Tournament. By ranking out the 101 best, every logical Big Dance candidate is covered — your locks, hopefuls, we'll-sees, bubble teams and an inevitable NIT invitees. My list also includes more than two dozen mid-major schools, so the Cinderella candidates and big-time small-school squads are also highlighted.

These are the programs that will matter most over the next five months. Plus, at the very bottom, you'll see my predictions for every regular-season champion in the 32 leagues. November is nearly here and with it another amazing season awaits. I hope this hearty preview spikes your anticipation levels even more.

After an offseason of mulling, researching and more re-ranking tweaks than I can count, here is my list of 2022-23's 101 best teams in men's college basketball.

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17 Alabama

The Crimson Tide could have some stumbles early without Jahvon Quinerly available; he tore his ACL in the NCAA Tournament and the hope is he can be able to play effectively by Christmas. That in mind, this ranking is a projection of where Alabama can be in the national landscape by March. Freshman Brandon Miller is the guy you'll want to tune in for. He's a top-15 2022 prospect who is a terrific combo forward that does so much to help facilitate and energize an offense. Might be a lottery pick, and he'll pair well with 6-10 freshman Noah Clowney, who is a plus-plus defender and has gotten better by playing under another big with talent, Charles Bediako. Two wait-and-see guys: Nimari Burnett, who transferred a year ago from TTU but sat out because of a knee injury; and Ohio PG transfer Mark Sears, who will take a major step up after a good season in the MAC.

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Seven freshmen who can outperform their rankings

Each year a new crop of freshmen roll into college basketball and each year a handful of freshmen outperform their ranking and establish themselves as college basketball stars for the years ahead while others hear their names called by Adam Silver after heading off early to the NBA Draft.

This 2022 class in particular was deep and possesses a handful of players that fit the bill.

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NOAH CLOWNEY | PF/C | ALABAMA

247Sports Ranking: No. 96 Overall

Noah Clowney is a 6-foot-9 big man that has long been one of the more intriguing prospects in the 2022 class before entering college.

His size, length, athleticism and flashes of skill have always teased the imagination of what he can become on the court but his lack of consistency and production at the high school level raised caution.

However, there is no denying the talent and abilities of Clowney and there have been positive rumblings out of Tuscaloosa regarding the four-star freshman.

It won't all come together overnight but in time, Clowney can prove to be one that we look back on and ask how we missed.

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Nate Oats on #Alabama's charity exhibition on Oct. 29: "Southern Illinois is a really good team with a lot of veteran guys, so they're gonna test us again."

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Nate Oats said Charles Bediako, who missed TCU scrimmage with a minor injury, is still not practicing.

"The plan is to have Charles available that first or second week."

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#Alabama forward Noah Clowney on his personal goals:

“I don’t have individual goals. Obviously I want to play at the next level, but I want to win games.”

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#Alabama head coach Nate Oats on Jahvon Quinerly’s injury timeline:

“Quinerly won’t play, but he’s been able to do some things in practice. You can tell he’s not all there, but he’s coming.”

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Injury update on Alabama basketball's Charles Bediako, Nimari Burnett, Jahvon Quinerly

Alabama basketball could be without starting center Charles Bediako to start the season. He is dealing with an injury.

He is not practicing as of Oct. 27. Bediako also did not participate in the scrimmage against TCU earlier in October.

"Hopefully he can start to get in some drills next week," Alabama coach Nate Oats said. "We'll see how he responds to that to know whether he'll be able to play in game 1."

The Crimson Tide is set to face Southern Illinois in an exhibition game at 2 p.m. on Saturday at Foster Auditorium. The game is open only to students. Then the Crimson Tide will open its season on Friday, Nov. 7 against Longwood at Coleman Coliseum.

Nimari Burnett, who also missed the TCU scrimmage and all of last season with an injury, has been practicing.

"Limited," Oats said. "Think he will be on a minutes restriction Saturday."

Point guard Jahvon Quinerly won't be participating, but he seems to be ahead of schedule after sustaining an ACL injury in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in San Diego this past spring.

Oats said Quinerly has been "able to do some stuff in practice" but isn't completely where he needs to be yet. Oats noted that Quinerly is working hard to get back.

"I think if we can keep everybody else injury-free, we should have everybody available maybe earlier than what we thought," Oats said. "Maybe early December. Somewhere in there. The plan is to have Charles available that first or second week, depending on how he does next week in practice."

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