There's still a little over 100 days until college basketball season starts, but that doesn't mean we can't have some preseason rankings already. ESPN released its Basketball Power Index rankings and it's a total shocker at the top as it isn't anyone from the Big 12, ACC, SEC, Big Ten or Pac 12, but a school from the darling Missouri Valley Conference.
The fact that none of Duke, North Carolina or Kentucky are at the top of this list is pretty surprising considering UNC still has some great talent returning and the other two schools brought in the top two recruiting classes in the country. However, this particular model accounts for continuity which none of those schools really have going into this season.
UNC fell just outside this list at 26 while the Big 12 owns this list with five teams on it in TCU, Texas Tech, Kansas, West Virginia and Oklahoma. Louisville, Villanova, Notre Dame and Arizona round out the top five in this incredibly early ranking.
[h/t The Spun]
