5 overrated NCAA basketball teams that won’t be as good as you think next season

2. Most overrated NCAA basketball teams: Houston: FanSided Rank: No. 6

This might be a little bit of cherry-picking on my part as my colleague’s rankings came out prior to the news that Houston was going to lose its defensive stopper and leading rebounder, as well as their third-leading scorer, in Nate Hinton, who decided to forego his final two years of eligibility to remain in the NBA Draft, but No. 6 in the country feels a touch high for this roster without Hinton.

To be fair, Houston is going to be good and should be considered to be the team to beat in the AAC. The Cougars come off a season where they finished 23-8 and ranked 14th at KenPom, with top-22 ratings in both adjusted offensive and adjusted defensive efficiency, having earned a share of the AAC regular-season championship. The Cougars were set up for a deep run in both the AAC and NCAA Tournaments before last year’s campaign was cut short.

Kelvin Sampson is a tremendous coach who knows how to get the very best from his players, and the incoming recruiting class features a pair of four-star guards in Tramon Mark and Jamal Shead. Junior guard Quentin Grimes and sophomore guard Caleb Mills will return to lead a formidable guard-oriented attack.

However, the loss of Hinton will sting, as Houston must replace his rebounding and defense, and the uncertainty around the return of DeJon Jarreau, the former UMass guard whose name remains in consideration for the NBA Draft and whose return to Houston is questionable, should temper expectations for this to be a team on the outskirts of the top-5. Ultimately, Houston is going to be good this year, and should certainly sniff the top-half of the top-25 rankings, but sitting at No. 6 is just too optimistic for a team with some uncertainty remaining.