In this roster churn era of college basketball, it’s difficult to make a preseason poll because it’s hard to know how new players will blend into systems.

This season was maybe the hardest yet because a lot of freshmen and international newcomers were expected to play key roles. It’s usually smart to value experience and not to overhype highly rated freshmen.

Well, this freshman class is definitely an outlier. What a first week.

The 2025 class is already generating hyperbolic takes. Greatest ever? Let’s remember Michael Jordan, Hakeem Olajuwon, Patrick Ewing, Charles Barkley and Chris Mullin were all in the same class. But this one could end up among the all-time greats. The depth is ridiculous. The performances already are ridiculous.

The larger point is we shouldn’t be stuck to our preseason biases. I’m considering these next few weeks as redos. It’s difficult when some teams are playing cupcakes and others are playing real competition. Preseason bias is still going to have some influence, especially in the first few polls, but we’ll start to get a clearer picture by the end of November. I’m not afraid to bump anyone way up based on a win, especially if they look the part. (See big climbs for Arizona, Alabama, Gonzaga and North Carolina this week.)

There are teams ranked between 10 and 20 who could finish in the top five and it wouldn’t surprise me. Sometimes I’m tempted to let the computer ranking systems assist with my poll, but this freshman class has broken the computers.

So the eye test is what I have to go off, and small-sample-size eye tests are going to be filled with mistakes. I’m sure I’ll be reminded of those mistakes. No worries. I’m excited for what’s going to be an incredibly fun ride.

*Annual reminder: In my weekly Top 25, I give nuggets on an unspecified number of teams each week. So when a team appears in the table but not in the text below, that’s why. *

Rank	Team	Record	Prev
1	Michigan	1-0	1
2	Arizona	2-0	6
3	Kentucky	2-0	2
4	Houston	2-0	3
5	UConn	2-0	4
6	Alabama	2-0	18
7	Florida	1-1	5
8	Purdue	2-0	8
9	Gonzaga	2-0	16
10	St. John’s	1-1	7
11	BYU	2-0	13
12	North Carolina	2-0	20
13	Louisville	2-0	11
14	Texas Tech	2-0	12
15	Duke	2-0	9
16	Kansas	1-1	10
17	Illinois	2-0	14
18	UCLA	2-0	17
19	Tennessee	2-0	19
20	Creighton	2-0	21
21	Iowa State	2-0	22
22	Indiana	2-0	NR
23	Ohio State	2-0	24
24	Michigan State	2-0	NR
25	Arkansas	1-1	15

Dropped out: Washington, Missouri

Keeping an eye on: North Carolina State, Oklahoma State, Georgetown, Wisconsin, San Diego State, Auburn, Nebraska, Clemson, Utah State, Virginia Tech, Liberty, Baylor

2. Arizona

***Last week: *Beat Florida 93-87 and Utah Tech 93-67

I was high on Arizona this offseason but was afraid to push the Wildcats too high since they were starting two freshmen. One reason I was higher than consensus on the Wildcats is I loved their positional size and believed Koa Peat was one of the most prepared freshmen in the country. Confirmed.

Peat, who has the performance of the season so far (30 points, seven rebounds and five assists on opening night against Florida), does not look or play like a freshman. One reason he is such a good weapon in Tommy Lloyd’s offense is the post-to-post, high-low passing that has always been a staple of the Lloyd/Mark Few offense. Peat has already shown that he has great touch throwing this pass:

Peat, Tobe Awaka and Motiejus Krivas are all good at pushing their man up the lane. Krivas has the advantage of being a huge target at 7-foot-2. Arizona has scored on four of five of these high-low post pins so far. Lloyd’s teams have not shot a lot of 3-pointers and so far, this team is the extreme, attempting only 16.1 percent of its shots from deep. One reason the Wildcats can be efficient even without 3s: They live in the paint. Combine the bigs with the driving ability of Jaden Bradley, and this team might be Lloyd’s best yet at putting pressure on the rim.

6. Alabama

***Last week: *Beat North Dakota 91-62 and St. John’s 103-96

In Rick Pitino’s last 26 seasons of coaching college basketball, his teams had allowed one opponent to score 100 points in regulation until Alabama’s win at Madison Square Garden on Saturday. The Crimson Tide became the first team to hang 100 in regulation on Pitino since Feb. 22, 2003, a 101-80 win for Cincinnati over Louisville.

Alabama made just 11-of-35 3s, but the advantage of shooting all of those 3s is that it makes it easier to score inside the arc because the defense is so worried about the 3-point threat. We’ve seen this the last two seasons with Alabama, which has ranked 11th and fourth in 2-point percentage. This team might be Nate Oats’ most dangerous inside the arc because of the speed and finishing ability of guards Labaron Philon Jr. and Aden Holloway, who combined to make 15-of-21 2s and 9-of-12 shots at the rim.

Both have great touch, and Philon’s finishing package is pretty unreal. He can get it off the glass softly at full speed with both hands.

Going right (and off wrong foot):

And going left:

Notice in both clips that the strong side corner offers no help and stays home. It’s going to be difficult to slow these two guards when those driving lanes are so big.

9. Gonzaga

***Last week: ***Defeated Texas Southern 98-43 and Oklahoma 83-68

Gonzaga is the oldest team in college basketball — four Zags are already 23-plus years old, with a fifth (Jalen Warley) who will be 23 in February — and if that wasn’t difficult enough to deal with, Gonzaga has a 19-year-old freshman point guard who has the intelligence and feel of a vet.

Mario Saint-Supery’s name isn’t brought up among the elite freshmen, but he’s already one of my favorites. He had 8 points and six assists in 26 minutes off the bench in a win over Oklahoma, and what stood out to me was his vision, ability to play out of a ball screen and alertness to what is happening all over the floor on both ends. In the pick-and-roll, his head is always up, and watch how he makes sure to run his man into the screen, then sees what’s in front of him once he clears the pick:

The question with Gonzaga was how it would replace Ryan Nembhard. Fourth-year junior Braeden Smith is the starter and spent a year redshirting in the system. He’s a solid option, but Saint-Supery may have already surpassed him.

12. North Carolina

***Last week: *Defeated Central Arkansas 94-54 and Kansas 87-74

The last two years in college basketball, the best teams have had awesome front lines, and Hubert Davis made sure to invest in his after it was mediocre last season. UNC now might have one of the best. Freshman power forward Caleb Wilson looks like a lottery pick and was the star in Friday’s win over Kansas. Arizona transfer center Henri Veesaar wasn’t as spectacular but was just as key.

Veesaar is terrific in the pick-and-roll. He sets good screens and gets to the rim with pace, and he’s a huge target. During a 58-point second half, the Heels took advantage of KU’s shaky ball screen coverage, confusing KU’s guards on who should be the tag and also taking advantage of those tag guys playing way too far off the mid-line:

If you’re late on Veesaar, he’s going to dunk on you:

Veessar scored 8 of his 20 points on rolls, had two assists on short rolls, and also had seven screen assists, freeing guards for drives and shooters for wide open shots with his rolling gravity:

UNC had 30 points created by Veesaar screens. If the Heels shoot the ball better from the perimeter —they were just 8-of-27 from 3 — this is going to be a difficult ball screen offense to contain.

22. Indiana

Last week: Defeated Alabama A&M 98-51 and Marquette 100-77

As it was meant to be, the Indiana Hoosiers have shooters again.

On Sunday, Tucker DeVries reminded college basketball that he is one of the best scorers/shooters in the country. The two-time Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year was our top transfer at The Athletic in 2024, but played only eight games at West Virginia last year because of a shoulder injury and slipped a bit from our basketball conscience.

Not only is DeVries hooping at a high level again, his dad has built a fun team around him. Indiana looks like a group that has played together for years. Darian DeVries, who comes from Creighton coach Greg McDermott’s tree, runs awesome sets, and the Hoosiers were terrific Sunday at screening away from the ball to generate looks for DeVries and Lamar Wilkerson. Out of IU’s 28 3-point attempts, 11 were generated by off-ball screening action, and they made six of those tries.

My favorite was this one below because it shows the unselfishness of a great shooter (Wilkerson, maker of 212 career 3s) willing to be a screener and set up his teammate:

Between the two, they made 12 3s and scored 50 points in the 100-77 win over Marquette. They’re going to be a fun duo to watch this season, and after enduring the Mike Woodson era, IU fans will be treated to some beautiful offense.

24. Michigan State

***Last week: *Defeated Colgate 80-69 and Arkansas 69-66

My concern coming into the season for Michigan State was a lack of perimeter scoring, and my concern has been justified. The Spartans are 7-of-35 from 3 in two games and made just 1-of-14 in Saturday’s win over Arkansas. But here’s what you always have to remember about Tom Izzo teams: They’re going to play to their strengths.

Against Arkansas, 22 of MSU’s 25 buckets were in the paint. Two others were within a foot of the paint. This team knows how to space, cut and pass in close quarters. When the ball goes in the post, the Spartans aren’t looking for kick-outs on a post double team. Jaxon Kohler has two options close to the bucket:

The Spartans are going to play in transition as much as possible and through their bigs in the half court, whether it’s post-ups, rolls or cuts. They’re also going to be elite on the offensive glass. They’re getting back 47.5 percent of their misses through two games. It should be hard to run offense without the threat of perimeter shooting, but if anyone can pull it off, it’s an Izzo team.