{"id":175912,"date":"2026-02-04T08:00:33","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T13:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=175912"},"modified":"2026-02-04T05:50:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T10:50:13","slug":"college-basketball-top-25-rankings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2026\/02\/04\/college-basketball-top-25-rankings\/","title":{"rendered":"College Basketball Top 25 Rankings"},"content":{"rendered":"

This week is when I begin to realize that, at times, advanced analytics can be the thief of joy. When I was younger, I would look at a team like Miami (Ohio) and put them in the top-10 of these rankings. They\u2019re unbeaten! How could they not be top-10? But, now that I know more about advanced metrics, I can\u2019t possibly argue to put them there. They\u2019ve played the 336th-toughest schedule in the nation, haven\u2019t beaten a team in the KenPom top-100, and themselves check in at 90. Sigh. I just can\u2019t objectively argue that a team with that profile belongs in the top-25. So I\u2019m not ranking them.<\/p>\n

Latest Top 25 College Basketball Rankings<\/h2>\n
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Photo Credit: Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

1. Michigan<\/h4>\n

The Wolverines faced their toughest test of the season this past week, and they passed it with flying colors. They knocked off unbeaten Nebraska, then made the short road trip to East Lansing to beat Michigan State. Elliott Cadeau really stepped up, and if he continues to play like this, they will be very tough to beat. Can the Wolverines be the team to break the Big Ten’s National Championship drought<\/a>?<\/p>\n

2. Arizona<\/h4>\n

This team just keeps on winning. They survived a tough road test at BYU. But the last month of the season will be an absolute gauntlet \u2013 6 of the remaining 9 games are against top-25 KenPom teams, with road trips for Allen Fieldhouse and the Fertitta Center on the docket. Going unbeaten would be an insanely tough accomplishment.<\/p>\n

3. Duke<\/h4>\n

The ACC is back this year, but it is clear that no one else in the league is on the same level as the Blue Devils. Louisville is potentially the 2nd-best team in the league, and Duke blasted them by 30 points last week. Cameron Boozer gets all of the headlines, but the length and versatility of the supporting cast has been key in keeping Duke unbeaten in ACC play.<\/p>\n

4. Illinois<\/h4>\n

Keaton Wagler. Keaton Wagler. Keaton Wagler. By now, we all know the name, and we know that it\u2019s pronounced \u201cWogg-ler.\u201d He has been on an absolute tear since the injury to Kylan Boswell, and is showing no signs of slowing down. With Boswell\u2019s shooting slump this season, you could make a compelling argument that Illinois\u2019 offense is better with him off the floor.<\/p>\n

5. UConn<\/h4>\n

Dan Hurley\u2019s Huskies finally blew out an inferior Big East opponent this weekend, as they walloped Creighton 85-58. If not for a narrow loss to Arizona in November, we could very easily be talking about this team completing an undefeated regular season. They certainly should finish Big East play unbeaten.<\/p>\n

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\"Chris
Photo Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

6. Houston<\/h4>\n

I\u2019ve been lower than most on Kelvin Sampson\u2019s Houston teams (I picked Gonzaga to beat them in the Round of 32 last season, and was almost right), but I am a true believer in this year\u2019s squad. The difference: they have two legitimate NBA players in Kingston Flemings and Chris Cenac.<\/p>\n

7. Gonzaga<\/h4>\n

Much was made over the strange formatting of the Players’ Era Festival bracket in November. Here\u2019s an unintended consequence \u2013 if it were formatted differently, and Gonzaga didn\u2019t play Michigan, we could be talking about this Zags team entering the NCAA Tournament undefeated. They got Graham Ike back and beat the 2nd-best WCC team (St. Mary’s) this past weekend.<\/p>\n

8. Florida<\/h4>\n

The Gators are looking like the class of the SEC for the 2nd straight season after dropping a 100-bomb on Alabama. It\u2019s going to take a lot more than Charles Bediako to defend this Florida frontcourt of Haugh, Condon, and Chinyelu, who are certainly in the top-2 frontcourts alongside Michigan.<\/p>\n

9. Kansas<\/h4>\n

This is a simple one for me \u2013 when Darryn Peterson is on the floor (which isn\u2019t all the time), Kansas looks like a true National Championship contender. This could be one of those 3 or 4-seeds in the NCAA Tournament that is underseeded for what their ceiling is and could easily go on a run.<\/p>\n

10. Iowa State<\/h4>\n

The Cyclones got back on track last week, doing what they do. What I mean by that is that they completely steam-rolled two bottom-half Big 12 teams with a massive margin of victory that helps their computer metrics. The TJ Otzelberger special.<\/p>\n

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\"Big<\/p>\n

11. Michigan State<\/h4>\n

The Spartans\u2019 double-big lineup looks big until it goes up against Michigan\u2019s triple-big lineup. The frontcourt didn\u2019t play all that well, and Michigan State dropped a potentially huge win over Michigan. It\u2019s hard to feel too confident in a team that is reliant on Jeremy Fears to be their primary scorer. The frontcourt has to be better.<\/p>\n

12. Purdue<\/h4>\n

I can forgive a loss on the West Coast road trip. I can forgive a loss to a red-hot Illinois. But I gotta knock the Boilermakers down for their loss to Indiana, a team that by all accounts they should match up well with, and Trey Kaufman-Renn should dominate inside.<\/p>\n

13. Nebraska<\/h4>\n

Fred Hoiberg\u2019s Cornhuskers had a prime opportunity to show that they were a true National Championship contender this past week, and they fell flat. But still, they\u2019re sitting at 20-2, and their two losses are to Michigan and Illinois. That\u2019s not a bad place to be at.<\/p>\n

14. Tennessee<\/h4>\n

Don\u2019t look now \u2013 the Vols are on a little bit of a win streak. They\u2019ve beaten Alabama, Georgia, and Auburn in consecutive games. And the win over Auburn was without Felix Okpara in the lineup. This team has the scoring with Gillespie and Ament, and is an outstanding rebounding team.<\/p>\n

15. North Carolina<\/h4>\n

The Tar Heels are peaking at the right time. Henri Veesaar is playing the best basketball of his career, looking truly dominant in this win streak. If not for a horrible West Coast road trip, the Tar Heels would be sitting at 18-2. They just need to figure out how to travel.<\/p>\n

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Photo Credit: Steve Roberts-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

16. Vanderbilt<\/h4>\n

The Commodores have settled back in after their 3-game slide in the middle of January. It was no Duke Miles, no problem against both Kentucky and Ole Miss this week. The Miles injury has meant more minutes for one of the best names in college basketball – Chandler Bing. Could the SEC BE any tougher?<\/p>\n

17. Kentucky<\/h4>\n

The Wildcats notched one of the biggest wins of the Mark Pope era this past Saturday, going into Bud Walton Arena and beating the Razorbacks in a game that had seemingly had a technical foul awarded every 2 minutes. It has to feel good for Pope to beat the man he replaced in Lexington.<\/p>\n

18. Saint Louis<\/h4>\n

There is a very clear pantheon of the best Atlantic 10 teams of all-time \u2013 there\u2019s 2004 St Joseph\u2019s, and 2020 Dayton. They may have to make room for one more. The Saint Louis Billikens look like a complete buzzsaw in the 2026 A10. Enjoy Josh Schertz while you have him, because he won\u2019t be here for very long.<\/p>\n

19. BYU<\/h4>\n

AJ Dybantsa is obviously great. But why doesn\u2019t he play great against top competition? It\u2019s going to become a bit of a problem in the NCAA tournament, when the only teams left to play are top competition.<\/p>\n

20. St. John’s<\/h4>\n

Rick Pitino\u2019s Red Storm is just very quietly getting things done in a below-average Big East. This team definitely has more offense than last season, and flamethrower Ian Jackson could be a huge difference-maker down the stretch of the season.<\/p>\n

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\"JT
Photo Credit: Michael C. Johnson-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

21. Texas Tech<\/h4>\n

The Red Raiders are a tough one to figure out. JT Toppin is virtually unstoppable, yet they sometimes go minutes without him touching the ball. The back to back losses to UCF and Kansas are not a good sign for a team that we know is capable of beating anyone on any given night.<\/p>\n

22. Iowa<\/h4>\n

Ben McCollum\u2019s Iowa team is just ruthlessly efficient, led by a ruthless point guard in Bennett Stirtz. The Hawkeyes are in the middle of their West Coast road trip, and will be doing well to come out of it without another loss.<\/p>\n

23. NC State<\/h4>\n

Will Wade\u2019s Wolfpack are hitting their stride. They\u2019re not just winning \u2013 they\u2019re winning big! They\u2019ve finally figured out the best way to deploy their two best playmakers in Quadir Copeland and Derrion Williams.<\/p>\n

24. Alabama<\/h4>\n

The addition of Charles Bediako, if you can call it that, should certainly help this team\u2019s primary issue right now \u2013 defending the paint and rebounding. Oh wait, that was two issues. Bediako\u2019s going to have to be a quick study because the more minutes he can play, the more he can help this team out.<\/p>\n

25. Texas A&M<\/h4>\n

I\u2019ve got to give some credit where it\u2019s due \u2013 Bucky McMillan\u2019s \u201cBuckyBall\u201d has been an immediate success, and the Aggies are in the lead in the SEC. However, they have currently faced the weakest SEC schedule to this point. It kind of feels a lot like what happened with Texas A&M this past football season!<\/p>\n

For more great college basketball analysis, check out DrRoto.com<\/a>!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This week is when I begin to realize that, at times, advanced analytics can be the thief of joy. When I was younger, I would look at a team like Miami (Ohio) and put them in the top-10 of these rankings. They\u2019re unbeaten! How could they not be top-10? But, now that I know more […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5637,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,773],"tags":[2785,31322,866],"class_list":["post-175912","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-basketball","category-college-basketball","tag-big-ten-basketball","tag-college-basketball-rankings","tag-michigan-wolverines"],"modified_by":"Doug Henderson","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175912","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5637"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=175912"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175912\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":175921,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175912\/revisions\/175921"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=175912"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=175912"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=175912"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}