This is the start of my new series, which is the Last Word On Sports preseason top 25 rankings for men’s college basketball. Starting today we will be releasing a new team each day leading up to the start of the 2021-2022 season. We’ll start at #25 and work our way all the way up to #1.
Preseason College Basketball Rankings: #25 Oklahoma State
The Cowboys
To start off my preseason Top 25 rankings we have the Oklahoma State Cowboys at #25. The Cowboys looked terrific down the stretch last season, winning eight of nine games at one point, and were unfortunately underseeded in the NCAA tournament. They are getting almost everyone from that team back.
The big loss though is obviously Cade Cunningham, the first overall pick in July’s NBA Draft. The stuff he brought to the table, both on and off the stat sheet, is hard to replace. There will be a dip at point guard for sure. But the experienced senior Isaac Likekele is more than capable of picking up the slack there. He has started 80 of the 84 games he’s appeared in Stillwater and made strides in multiple areas last season. Avery Anderson III made massive improvements last year and will probably be the team’s best player this season. Sophomores Matthew-Alexander Moncrieffe and Rondel Walker will look to add more production and live up to their top 100 recruit hype.
Moussa Cissé transfers in from Memphis. While he was a bit disappointing last season, he showed flashes of the high amount of talent that made him the tenth-ranked recruit in his class. If he can get better he will be dangerous down low. Playing him and Kalib Boone together could be tricky in the eyes of some people. That is because neither has attempted a three in their careers. But with the talent they have on the rest of the roster, this should not be an issue for them on the offensive side of the ball.
Head coach Mike Boynton does have a potential big scorer on the bench in Bryce Thompson. The Guard was inconsistent in his freshman season at Kansas. But, he is a former five-star recruit and McDonald’s All-American and was one of the best scorers in his class coming out of high school. Senior Bryce Williams should have a big impact too. Williams was one of the Cowboys’ biggest contributors during that incredible run they had down the stretch last season. During that time he scored in double-figures four times in eight games. He also added at least three assists in five of those games.
The top of the Big 12 is going to be very good again. There is a clear top two in the conference, but this team is more than capable of holding their own.
Projected Lineup
C – Moussa Cissé (6.6 PPG, 6.3 RPG, 1.6 BPG at Memphis)
PF – Kalib Boone (9.4 PPG, 5.4 RPG, 1.6 BPG)
SF – Matthew-Alexander Moncrieffe (9.0 PPG, 5.3 RPG)
SG – Avery Anderson III (12.2 PPG, 4.0 RPG, 2.0 APG, 1.5 SPG)
PG – Isaac Likekele (9.1 PPG, 6.6 RPG, 3.6 APG, 1.3 SPG)
Main Photo:
Embed from Getty Images
