Blue Ribbon is one of the best college basketball preview publications out there, and last week, the book released their preseason top 25 rankings.
As you’ve probably come to accept, Kentucky topped the list, which shouldn’t be a surprise given the amount of talent on their roster and the fact that they’ve already played six games on national television -- their tour through the Bahamas. When you’re loaded and everyone is already familiar with the players on your roster, it’s easy to rank them No. 1.
The rest of the top 25 is fairly straight-forward as well. Arizona, Wisconsin, North Carolina and Duke round out the top five while powerhouse programs (Kansas, Florida) and “mid-majors” (Wichita State, Gonzaga) sandwich Virginia in the second half of the top ten.
MORE: Blue Ribbon preseason all-americans
To be frank, there isn’t a lot that I disagree with here. Texas at No. 12 is probably too low, Wichita State at No. 7 is probably too high and Ohio State at No. 15 means that the folks at Blue Ribbon expect a huge season from freshman guard D’angelo Russell.
But beyond that, their rankings aren’t all that different from what we at NBCSports.com have put together.
And as a programming note, our college basketball preseason preview coverage will begin on Friday. You’ll see our full top 25 then.