CBS lists their Top 101 teams in the country
MBB: Murray State will face three of those teams this season
‘Tis the season for all kinds of college basketball preseason polls as we steam toward opening night on November 6th. CBS Sports’ Matt Norlander put together a rather beefy list of his top 101 teams in the country as prepare to begin the season. If you’ve got an hour to burn, you check read through all the nitty gritty details of each of the 101 teams here.
While Murray State is not listed in Norlander’s top 101 teams, three of the Racers’ opponents are: Mississippi State, Drake and Northern Iowa. Here’s what Norlander had to say about each of those teams:
Mississippi State (December 13th in Starkville)
The Bulldogs would be slightly higher in the projections if Tolu Smith hadn't injured his foot in the preseason. Smith, one of the better bigs in the country, is going to be out for another two-plus months. Without him, who fills in the holes to score and rebound? Mississippi State has the oldest projected starting five in the SEC; D.J. Jeffries, Shakeel Moore, Dashawn Davis and Cameron Matthews are all seniors or older. It's a major credit to Chris Jans that he has put MSU in a respectable position such as this one after just one season, and even after losing his best player for nearly half the season.
Drake (February 18th in Des Moines)
Preseason favorites (again) to take the Missouri Valley, the Drake Bulldogs have the good fortune of starting one of the best mid-major hoopers: Tucker DeVries. He'll be a threat to drop 20 or more against any opponent. His father is the head coach, and Darian DeVries has surrounded Tucker with mid-major transfers such as Kyron Gibson (UT Arlington), Ethan Roberts (Army) and Atin Wright (CSUN). This will be a squad that looks to shoot from deep early and often, and they've got veteran 5-man Darnell Brodie as a security blanket in the paint.
Northern Iowa (January 14th in Murray; February 3rd in Cedar Falls)
It's been too long (2016) since Northern Iowa danced. I think this team, after an unexpected letdown of a 14-win year, becomes the biggest competitor to Drake in the Missouri Valley and has a big bounce-back. It'll have a chance to make noise in November thanks to playing in the Bahamas at the Battle 4 Atlantis. Ben Jacobson has a potential 20-point-per-game guy in combo guard Bowen Born. Tytan Anderson is also among the MVC's best.