The updated Way Too Early Top 25

Good morning, and happy belated anniversary to the Daily. This newsletter turned two on Saturday. And after more than 550 editions, we still have some subscribers. Maybe we do know what we’re doing.

Thanks for reading and putting up with the typos. (Yes, that’s a reference for a specific Big 12 coach.)

Let's get to the news.

1. Alabama seizes the Way Too Early crown

The last time I culled a bunch of Way Too Early Top 25s, it was the day after the national title game and there was hardly any consensus about which program would enter the 2024-25 season as the team to beat.

Among nine tops 25s, there were five teams slated as No. 1.

And I guess kudos to Mike DeCourcy, because he was in on Alabama before everyone else. Now? The Crimson Tide are picking up loads of votes as the likely preseason top team.

Couple of notes on this list: There aren’t nearly as many Top 25s this time of year, so there are fewer represented this time around. The final column represents the overall consensus picks, which are weighted among the seven top 25s. And finally, the grayed out teams are programs that tied among total votes and placement.

So yeah. We’re already in groupthink mode.

Anyway, some further notes about the consensus Top 25.

• Alabama received four votes for No. 1, and three more for No. 2. A pretty clear favorite after Mark Sears and Jarin Stevenson both returned to school. Last time, the Tide was 7th.

• Kansas and Houston also jumped a few spots. The Jayhawks went from 4 to 2, while the Coogs went from 6 to 3. (Once again, Jeff Goodman did the Field of 68’s rankings. I’ll do a longer Daily ranking later this summer and am leaning toward Houston as my No. 1 team.)

• Duke dropped as the default No. 1 down to 8, but still ahead of UNC. Iowa State (2) and Gonzaga (3) had much slighter drops.

• It’s wild how Auburn is essentially everyone’s No. 10 team.

• Creighton, Texas A&M, Indiana, Xavier, Texas Tech, Cincy, UCLA, Ohio State and Ole Miss were all unranked in the previous consensus bracket. More wild is that the Hoosiers, Musketeers, Bearcats and Rebs all didn’t even receive a nod in any of those nine Top 25s.

• The SEC and Big 12 have the most teams (7), Big East (4) and Big Ten (4).

• These seven Top 25s are convinced about the Big 12’s best teams. There’s only one Top 25 where Kansas, Houston, Iowa State and Baylor aren’t in a Top 10 (Baylor in The Athletic).

I’ll probably grab more of these once fall nears, but it seems unlikely we’ll see much movement in there. Mostly, I’ll look to add another 5-6 Top 25s for more data points.

2. BYU adds a big man + more transfer news

The transfer portal is a wild place right now. With players officially out of the NBA Draft and programs still trying to fill roster spots, there will be some crazy NIL numbers floating around. And some players that might seem like a stretch for certain programs.

But that wasn’t the case in Provo this weekend.

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