The 2025 class of freshmen may be the best that college basketball has ever seen. And last Saturday, January 24, might be the best singular day that a class of freshmen has ever had. Not one, not two, but three freshmen scored 40 points on the same day – Kingston Flemings, AJ Dybantsa, and Keaton Wagler all accomplished the feat. What does this class have in store for us this week?
Top 25 College Basketball Rankings
1. Arizona
The Wildcats just keep on winning. Looking at their record and remaining schedule, it seems almost inevitable that they will be a 1-seed on Selection Sunday. But the schedule does get really quite tough soon for Tommy Lloyd and company. Will they be able to stay unbeaten?
2. Michigan
The Wolverines have a big “prove it” week coming up. They’ll be taking on unbeaten Nebraska and in-state rival Michigan State. Yaxel Lendeborg just keeps looking more and more dominant as the season progresses, and a big week from Yaxel and co would go a long way to cementing this team’s status as one of the favorites to win it all in March.
3. Duke
Don’t look now – but Jon Scheyer and the Blue Devils are unbeaten in ACC play, have only one loss overall, and sit at #3 overall on KenPom. They’re exactly on schedule for being a one seed on Selection Sunday, which would go a long way to helping Scheyer reach his first Final Four as a head coach.
4. UConn
I wonder – if you were to remove “UConn” from the front of the jersey, and Danny Hurley from the coaches’ box, would I find this UConn team this impressive? Probably not. They’re 9-0 in Big East play, but aren’t blowing out these bad Big East teams. But because of their winning tradition and their elite head coach, I still find them to be one of the true contenders to win the National Championship.
5. Illinois
The Illini notched one of the best wins of the last decade of their program on Saturday, traveling to Mackey Arena and knocking off Purdue without Kylan Boswell. It wasn’t one of the many Eastern European imports that stole the show; instead, it was unheralded freshman Keaton Wagler who scored 46 in the win. Now they just need to make sure the injury to Kylan Boswell doesn’t derail their season.
