Bilas Ranks Crimson No. 22 in Preseason Top 25

A week after CBS Sports named the Harvard Crimson the 21st best men's basketball team in the nation in a preseason poll for the 2013-2014 season, ESPN’s Jay Bilas placed the Crimson as the 22nd-ranked team in his early top 25 poll.

Bilas has Kentucky at the top of his poll after the signings of Class of 2017 freshmen Julius Randle, Dakari Johnson, and James Young. Reigning national champion Louisville, Michigan State, Duke, and Arizona—who defeated Harvard in the NCAA Tournament in March—round out the top five.

On Harvard, Bilas commented that Harvard coach Tommy Amaker “retains most of [his] rotation from a team that won its third Ivy League title in a row, earned its second straight NCAA tournament bid and its first-ever NCAA win.” The Crimson are the last in a series of three mid-majors that begin the 20s, ranked behind Final Four team Wichita State and second-round victim New Mexico.

Bilas cited the potential return of departed seniors Brandyn Curry and Kyle Casey, as well as incoming recruit Zena Edosomwan, as reasons for the Crimson's improvement. Curry, Casey, and Edosomwan should lengthen an Amaker rotation that was as small as six players at points last season and will give the coach a variety of options at the guard and forward spots. After a year in which the Crimson had four of the top 10 Ivy League players in terms of minutes played, a lengthened bench will be a new luxury for Amaker.