Nigel Hayes' return means Wisconsin is the team to beat in the Big Ten.
Hayes may not have the same cache as Sam Dekker or Frank Kaminsky and neither does Greg Gard yet in comparison to Bo Ryan, but the facts are the facts: Wisconsin returns everyone of significance from last year's team that held a three-point lead over Notre Dame with 28 seconds to play in the Sweet 16 before a remarkable comeback by the Irish allowed them to advance to the Elite Eight.
Hayes gives the Badgers an All-American candidate and the early favorite for Big Ten Player of the Year, while Bronson Koenig returns as a seasoned floor general who like Hayes, boasts a combined 11-3 record in NCAA Tournament games during his collegiate career.
Ethan Happ, Vitto Brown, and Zak Showalter all return as starters while Jordan Hill, Charlie Thomas, and Khalil Iverson all should be much improved as role players compared to what they showed a season ago.
Wisconsin should also get contributions from both Brevin Pritzl and Andy Van Vliet, two players who both sat out last season. The 6-11 Van Vliet is a highly skilled prospect from Belgium who could be a real factor in the swing offense.
Add it all up along with the other defections that several teams in the Big Ten endured and it all results in one common theme: the Big Ten goes through Madison in 2017.
There won't be the same type of hype for the Badgers as there was following their run to the Final Four in 2014, but here's one important thing to remember: that Wisconsin team returned four starters from the previous season and then advanced to the national title game where it lost to Duke.
The team that takes the floor at the Kohl Center next season will return five.
Maryland's makeup could be similar to two seasons ago
Before Final Four expectations and the influx of talented newcomers like Rasheed Sulaimon, Robert Carter, and Diamond Stone, Mark Turgeon had one of his more enjoyable seasons in coaching two years ago when Maryland came out of nowhere to win 28 games and make the NCAA Tournament.
Don't be surprised if next year's version of the Terps has a similar type of feel.
Maryland won't have the same cache entering next season (I don't have the Terps in my top-30) as it did last, but that doesn't mean that this group won't resemble more of a team than the group we saw lose to Kansas in last season's Sweet 16.
With Melo Trimble now back for his junior season and former UNLV commit Justin Jackson now committed to spend his college career with the Terps, Maryland has a chance to play more of an open court style offensively rather that the cluttered low post dynamic we saw last year with Carter and Stone.
Instead of putting guys on the floor to make sure that they're getting their minutes, Turgeon can simply focus on coaching his team the way he wants to coach his team.
Trimble will be a first-team All-American candidate as a junior while Dion Wiley and Jared Nickens figure to be serviceable veterans on the wings. Incoming freshman Anthony Cowan will give Turgeon the backup point guard he never had last season and fellow freshman Kevin Huerter is a lights out shooter at 6-5, who should really help this team with spacing on offense.
Look for Jackson and Duquesne transfer L.G. Gill to hold down long portions of time at the four with Damonte Dodd making a case as one of the top intangible big men in college basketball at center.
The Terps don't have near the same talent level as they did a year ago, but there's a legitimate chance that this group will exude more cohesiveness than the team we saw a year ago.
Expect Maryland to get better as next season progresses.
Xavier is scheduling like a team who plans on competing for a one seed
So much for taking it easy in November and December.
The Musketeers have put together as aggressive of a non-conference schedule as almost any team in college basketball and that level of difficulty reflects the potential capabilities of a squad who returns four starters from last year's 28-win club.
Next season, Xavier will play road games at Baylor, Cincinnati, and Colorado while hosting Wake Forest, Utah, and Northern Iowa at the Cintas Center. Chris Mack's team will also play three games in the Puerto Rico Shootout.
That's a combined nine non-conference games against quality competition before the Musketeers face a single Big East opponent.
Xavier was a two-seed last season before suffering a crushing loss to Wisconsin in the Round of 32.
With four starters back and a top flight non-conference schedule in tow, expect the Musketeers to be in position to be seeded in a comparable position in March of 2017.
This and That:
- Who will be the SEC's second-best team behind Kentucky next season? Many of the league's coaches think it could be Georgia. The Bulldogs return two all-conference players from last year's 20-win team who reached in the NIT in J.J. Frazier (16.9 points, 4.6 rebounds, 4.4 assists) and Yante Maten (16.5 points, 8.0 rebounds).
- Purdue got great news this past week when Caleb Swanigan announced that he will return to school for his sophomore season, but let's hold off on saying the Boilers are Big Ten contenders until we see how their backcourt plays. Matt Painter's team had sporadic guard play last season and there's no guarantee it will be better next year with Michigan transfer Spike Albrecht and P.J. Thompson getting the bulk of the minutes.
- Nevada now has four high-major transfers -- Hallice Cooke (Iowa State), Kendall Stephens (Purdue), and Caleb and Cody Martin (NC State) -- that will be sitting out next season. I've said it before and I'll say it again: after San Diego State, the Mountain West Conference may go through Reno moving forward.
- My top 25 for next season was released last Thursday after the deadline for the 2016 NBA Draft, but I still could amend one spot if Houston lands Jarrett Allen. From what I've gathered, the Cougars are right there along with Texas to land the 6-11 big man, who was a McDonald's All-American.
- VCU will play Illinois in a neutral site game at American Airlines Arena in Miami on Dec. 3, sources told CBS Sports.
