5 NCAA basketball teams that will be better than you think next season

1. Creighton Blue Jays: FanSided way-too-early ranking – No. 15

Villanova has drawn all the hype in the way-too-early polls, but they do have some stiff competition atop the Big East in the form of Creighton. Even though they were picked to finish in the middle of the pack in the Big East’s preseason polls, the Bluejays claimed a share of the regular-season title and were the top seed in the conference tournament.

There is no doubt that the loss of Ty-Shon Alexander will hurt significantly, but Creighton still has a ton of talent on their roster. Marcus Zegarowski averaged nearly as many points as Alexander and can serve as the Bluejays’ leader.

Denzel Mahoney and Mitch Ballock also averaged double-figures as juniors, giving the Bluejays plenty of firepower. The fact that this team is tremendously experienced is also a huge help since experience masks a lot of flaws in crunch time.

Creighton is also extremely well-coached by Greg McDermott, who will find a way to get the most out of his players. There was some thought that Creighton could be the top team in the nation before Alexander declared for the draft, but the amount they have fallen without him is way too much.

The Bluejays won 24 games for a reason and bring back pretty much everyone from last year’s Big East title squad. With Seton Hall taking a step back due to all of their graduations, don’t be shocked to see Creighton jousting with Villanova for Big East supremacy once again.

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