We last released power rankings five weeks before the end of the NCAA Tournament. Despite this committee of one’s best efforts to gauge how well teams across the country were playing, four teams that made the Sweet 16 (Ole Miss, Louisville, Tennessee and Miami) didn’t make the list of 25. The eventual champion was slotted in seventh, and their opponent came in at sixth.
These rankings aren’t intended to be a prediction of what will transpire, but rather an assessment of how teams are performing at any given moment. Even accounting for some missteps in the process, namely my underrating the SEC for most of the season, it’s striking to see how much changed over the course of one month.
All that is to say that this pre-preseason iteration of the power rankings shouldn’t be considered a gambling guide for the 2024 NCAA Tournament. Nevertheless, there’s no time like the present to start considering what the 2023-24 season could look like. Keep in mind that WNBA Draft opt-outs — players have until midnight (ET) Wednesday to withdraw — and transfer portal decisions can and will have a dramatic impact on these rosters, but we’ll address those changes at a later date in the offseason.
• The top spot goes to the 2023 champion Tigers, a team that improved steadily…
