When it comes to NCAA Basketball, overrated/underrated identifies teams that are incorrectly ranked or valued to target in potential wagers throughout the entire year.  While we’ll obviously learn a lot more once the season gets underway, here are a few teams to watch for coming into opening night on Monday. Here are my early 2022 Overrated and Underrated College Basketball Teams.

Underrated NCAA Basketball Teams

Oklahoma State

You probably haven’t heard anyone talking about Oklahoma State this season, but they’ve got some very good guards in Bryce Thompson, Avery Anderson III, and transfer Woody Newton, and their length and athleticism inside will cause problems for their opponents.  They start the year unranked and are looking like a somewhat underrated team in the NCAA this year.

Florida State

The Seminoles are extremely long and athletic with great depth, and they return one of the most underrated players in the country in Matthew Cleveland. Florida State is typically very good defensively, and this year should be no different. Their size will cause problems on both ends of the floor. They begin the season unranked and underrated.

St. John’s

St. John’s is extremely quick and athletic like they usually are, but this year they appear to play much more under control with better shooting and more disciplined defense. They don’t have any household names just yet, but that could change pretty quickly once they get off to what will likely be a 10-0 start. Joel Soriano is a beast inside, and the Red Storm are loaded with good guards to compliment him on the perimeter. They also start the season unranked.

Texas

Texas is extremely long and athletic, and they return a very talented group of veterans to go along with two spectacular freshmen.  McDonald’s All-Americans Arterio Morris and Dillon Mitchell look like major contributors right away, while Timmy Allen, Marcus Carr, and Tyrese Hunter give the Longhorns a variety of potent scorers to go with them.

Texas blew out preseason top-10 Arkansas by 30 in an exhibition last week, and if that game is any indication, the Longhorns are going to be a force to be reckoned with this season. They’re a legitimate National Championship contender and definitely underrated.

Villanova

Despite losing legendary Coach Jay Wright to retirement, Villanova returns a strong veteran core that has won a lot of games over the last few years. Add to that top freshman and probable lottery pick Cam Whitmore and you’ve got a team that will likely be in the championship conversation by the end of the season.  If the Wildcats can get solid contributions from Chris Arcidiacono and Jordan Longino, and Justin Moore can recover from last year’s injury, Villanova will be a problem once again.

Overrated NCAA Basketball Teams 

Kentucky 

Oscar Tschiebwe is dominant and will keep Kentucky competitive no matter what, but he’s still working his way back from an injury and will likely miss at least the first couple of games. The Wildcats also lost some key pieces from last year’s squad, and they’ll need some of the young guys to step up if they hope to live up to their preseason top-five ranking.

Senior Jacob Toppin looks much improved, and he’ll probably have to be the go-to guy early in the season until Tschiebwe returns. I’m not convinced he can carry that role, so he’ll need Illinois State transfer Antonio Reeves and a couple of their heralded freshmen to help shoulder the scoring load. While Kentucky should be pretty good by the season’s end, they could struggle a bit early on and might be a bit overrated this year.

Kansas

The defending National Champs lost a lot from last year’s team, with Jalen Wilson really the lone major contributor returning. He’ll be forced to be the go-to guy, but I’m concerned that he just doesn’t have the mentality to truly fill that role night in and night out. Texas Tech transfer Kevin McCullar Jr. should provide a big boost on both ends of the floor, but the Jayhawks have a lot of unproven players that will have to play big minutes, and I look for them to struggle a bit early in the season.

Bill Self is a great coach and will likely figure out how to get the most out of this roster by the end of the season, but he’s suspended for the first four games, and I don’t think Kansas will live up to their top-five ranking this year. 

Gonzaga

Gonzaga makes this list not because I think they won’t be good, but because of their lofty #2 ranking to start the season. Drew Timme returns for what feels like his 10^th college basketball season, and while I do think this Gonzaga squad will finish with a very good record and maintain a high ranking throughout the year, that’s largely because of their always weak conference schedule.

This Gonzaga team isn’t nearly as talented as their last few, providing plenty of opportunities to take Zags’ opponents against what will likely be large spreads, with the best coming against an extremely talented Texas team on November 16^th.

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