The start of a new college basketball season is just days away, and that means predictions, rankings and hot takes about the 2022-23 campaign are hitting full throttle. At CBS Sports, we’ve previewed every conference, ranked the top 100 And 1 players and looked at the biggest question facing each top-10 team.
The Top 100 And 1 is a gargantuan undertaking that involves combining the polls of four writers into one composite ranking. Because of the breadth of Division I college basketball, with its 363 teams and thousands of players, there is bound to be disagreement about the final 101.
By merging the viewpoints of four analysts with their own preferences and subconscious biases, the hope is that we’ll come up with a manifest that is more thorough and well-researched than something any one person could produce.
Even so, we each had players left off the list because they didn’t receive enough votes from the other panelists. So for this week’s edition of the Dribble Handoff, we are stumping for one of our snubbed players.
There are a lot of players on my Top 100 And 1 ballot who didn’t make our Top 100 And 1 list — among them are Tennessee’s Josiah-Jordan James, USC’s Boogie Ellis, Alabama’s Mark Sears, Saint Louis’ Gibson Jimerson, UCLA’s Adem Bona, Dayton’s Toumani Camara, Iowa State’s Osun Osunniyi and Texas A&M’s Tyrece Radford. I consider them all snubs, but the highest-ranked player on my ballot who didn’t make our list is Nance, the Northwestern transfer who projects as a starter for the preseason No. 1 Tar Heels.
My understanding is that the 6-foot-11 forward nearly made the list, so it’s not like he’s totally off of our collective radar. Still, Nance did not make the list, which feels like a mistake considering he averaged 14.6 points for a Big Ten program last season while shooting 45.2% from beyond the arc. He’s expected to join four returning starters in UNC’s starting lineup and fill the role vacated by Brady Manek, who exhausted his eligibility after last season. For what it’s worth, in Nance’s first outing as a Tar Heel, he finished with 19 points and six rebounds in a 101-40 exhibition victory over Johnson C. Smith. That’s a positive start. And though I doubt he’ll replicate those numbers on a per-game basis, in part because you don’t get to play Johnson C. Smith in the ACC, I do believe Nance will be impactful enough to help Hubert Davis make a second straight run at a Final Four while proving to be one of the sport’s best 101 players. — Gary Parrish
Andre Jackson, G, UConn
I have three candidates here. Before I get to why Jackson is my biggest snub, I’ll note that Gonzaga point guard Nolan Hickman was my highest-ranked player (62nd) to not crack our 100 And 1. At Kentucky, Jacob Toppin is due for a breakout season; I think we’ll wind up whiffing on his exclusion. But Jackson, who will miss the first two weeks of the season with a pinky issue, is the most likely of three who could make us look silly. He’ll be asked to have the ball in his hands, and potentially, take a starring role for a UConn time that figures to be ranked with some regularity this season. He’s 6-foot-6 and will have the offense play more through him than anyone else, including Big East Preseason Player of the Year Adama Sanogo. Jackson is also an NBA prospect, and if he does what Dan Hurley hopes he’s capable of over the next five months, he’ll be drafted next June. — Matt Norlander
Eddie Lampkin, C, TCU
There’s a surprising dearth of bigs in our ranking outside the top. I’m not necessarily upset by the exclusion of Lampkin, whom I ranked No. 61 and gave top-50 consideration, considering the scarcity of this position overall. I’m just … disappointed. You know?
This man deserves some recognition. Last season’s counting stats don’t pop off the page, I’ll admit; he averaged 6.8 points and 6.2 rebounds per game in 33 appearances. However, what he did down the stretch if you’re projecting for this season suggests he’s in for a breakout campaign. You don’t casually drop 20 points and 14 boards on a No. 1-seed Arizona team with a borderline first-round talent at center in an NCAA Tournament game if you don’t have some serious game.
TCU is a trendy dark horse in the Big 12, this season and beyond, largely because of the return of guard Mike Miles, but let’s not overlook the size and production Lampkin brings to the table. He’s an energetic bundle of confidence who will walk into double-doubles this season. — Kyle Boone
Perhaps he missed list of the Top 100 And 1 players because he’s recovering from foot surgery and won’t be available for the season opener, but Battle is absolutely one of the sport’s top players. The 6-foot-7 wing averaged 17.5 points and 6.3 rebounds while shooting 36.6% from 3-point range on 7.1 attempts per game last season. He plays for a rebuilding team expected to finish near the bottom of the Big Ten again, which will detract from his standing even though it shouldn’t. Of the 11 players who made the preseason All-Big Ten team, only three did not make our list, and Battle was one of them.
That’s a slight toward the Big Ten’s third-leading returning scorer. Battle was also a star at George Washington in two seasons before transferring into the Big Ten, and he made a seamless transition to a higher level last season. Once conference play rolls around and he’s fully back into the mix, expect Battle to be one of the Big Ten’s top offensive weapons. — David Cobb
