To see the previous teams ranked in the 82 in 72 series, please see below:

78: To be released later today

79. San Diego State Aztecs

80. Missouri Tigers

81. Northwestern Wildcats

82. Loyola Chicago Ramblers

Additionally, here is where each of our college basketball analysts had UAB ranked:

After a surprising run through the AAC tournament to secure a March Madness bid, there’s a strong possibility that UAB goes dancing once again. After losing to San Diego in the round of 64, the Blazers are bringing back 60% of their minutes and 63.8% of their scoring from last season. In total the Blazers bring back five of their top seven in minutes and three of their top four in scoring, including leading scorer, Yaxel Lendeborg. And this team will go as far as Lendeborg will take them.

Lendeborg, last year’s AAC Defensive Player of the Year as well as First Team All-AAC, is the straw that stirs the drink for this team. UAB was 20th in offensive rebounding percentage per KenPom and shot and lived at the free throw line, both of Lendeborg’s specialties. Last year was Lendeborg’s first season at the Division 1 level, yet his season was pretty historic. To put into perspective the season that Lendeborg had, Lendeborg was one eight players in the country to thrive in Cerebro’s 5MS metric. Here’s the short list of players with a PSP of at least 60, a 50 3PE, 50 FGS, an 80 ATR, and an 80 DSI while having a 20% usage last season:

Three of the eight players accompanying Lendeborg on this list are now in the NBA while two others are likely to be All-Americans this season. With his first full season of Division 1 ball under his belt, don’t be surprised if Lendeborg gets All-American consideration himself. To explain these Cerebro numbers, here is a graphic explaining the purpose of each.

As a team, UAB was 12th in the nation in free throws attempted per game a season ago and 23.2% of their points came from the free throw line last season, which was 19th nationally according to KenPom. Myself, and The Center Hub contributor, Cody Ramsey, had the opportunity to interview Yaxel a couple weeks ago, and you can watch that here.

Despite losing starting point guard, Eric Gaines, UAB replaces him with a different undersized guard, 5’11” Tyron Moore from Georgia Southern. Additionally, the Blazers added Iona’s leading scorer, Greg Gordon, as well as Saint Louis big man, Bradley Ezewiro. The most intriguing part of this UAB team is their much improved shooting. Moore was a 40.6% shooter from 3 last season, and pairing him with a 39.4% shooter in Alejandro Vasquez, gives the Blazers a dynamic shooting backcourt. Additionally, both Efrem “Butte” Johnson as well as Lendeborg can shoot the ball as well. According to KenPom, UAB was 220th in the nation in 3P% last season, as well as only scoring 24.1% of their points from three point range, which was 326th in the nation.

With the drastic improvement in shooting, Coach Andy Kennedy has a completely different dynamic from last year’s team but not rare territory since taking over UAB’s bench in 2021. When UAB made the tournament in 2022, they were 10th in the country in 3P%, and when they went to the NIT championship the following season, they were 89th in the country. Given Andy Kennedy coached teams are typically more offensive-minded, the shooting improvement will be a welcomed addition.

With Lendeborg anchoring this defense, this team may not be truly elite in any area of the floor, but it’ll certainly be difficult to nitpick a weakness on this team. With there not being any team that sticks out as a clearcut favorite in the AAC (except maaaaaaybe Memphis), UAB has as good of an argument as any to win this conference.