We aren’t ready to tell you exactly which team is going to be cutting down the nets on the first Monday of April, 2026. We are ready to tell you that it will absolutely be one of the eight teams listed below.
The Cougars came within one made shot (and one avoided late-game collapse) of winning the program’s first national title last season. Despite that heartbreak, they aren’t going anywhere in 2025-26.
Kelvin Sampson brings back three starters from that squad — Emanuel Sharp, Milos Uzan and Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year Joseph Tugler — and has a loaded incoming recruiting class highlighted by five-star freshman Chris Cenac Jr. The Cougars will still be terrorizing the Big 12 with their “monster” defense, but expect Sampson’s team to be even more capable on offense this coming season.
They have everything a team needs to get back to the Final Four and win that one extra game the Cougar fan base has been waiting its whole life to see.
The reigning national champions absolutely have the pieces to take the title of “most recent back-to-back champ” away from UConn and back to Gainesville after an extremely short time away.
The transfer portal backcourt of Boogie Fland and Xaivian Lee will receive a ton of preseason attention, but it’s the frontcourt of preseason All-American Alex Condon, Thomas Haugh and Rueben Chinyelu that figures to be the real strength of this squad.
Florida led the nation with 36 wins last season. Todd Golden absolutely has a roster that’s capable of repeating that feat in 2025-26.
After back-to-back national championships, the Huskies never felt like a realistic title contender in 2024-25. Don’t expect that to become a trend.
Solo Ball is poised to become a star, and he’ll have Georgia transfer Silas Demary in the backcourt with him to help shoulder the load. Alex Karaban returning to school after flirting with the NBA Draft means there’s no reason for UConn not to be right back in the national title conversation for the third time in four years.
No one did roster retention better this offseason than Matt Painter, who returns five of his top six scorers from a Sweet 16 squad.
Braden Smith (15.8 ppg/8.7 apg), Trey Kaufman-Renn (20.1 ppg) and Fletcher Loyer (13.8 ppg) are the most proven returning trio in the sport, with Smith being the consensus preseason National Player of the Year. There’s little doubt that this will be a top five offensive team in the sport this season. If they can be good enough defensively, the Boilermakers have what it takes to give a desperate fan base the moment they’ve all been waiting their whole lives to see.
Dusty May set the bar pretty high for himself after a debut season that saw Michigan win 27 games, a Big Ten Tournament championship and two games in the NCAA Tournament. He has all the pieces necessary to clear that bar with ease in year two.
May has a roster that includes three key returnees (Roddy Gayle Jr., Nimari Burnett and L.J. Cason) and an absolutely loaded group of imports headlined by Yaxel Lendeborg (UAB), Morez Johnson (Illinois) and Elliot Cadeau (North Carolina). You can make the argument that the Wolverines have the most complete roster in the sport. You can also make the argument that they have the best player in the sport in Lendeborg.
Perhaps no team in the country benefitted more from a “stay or go” decision last spring than Texas Tech, which returns All-American JT Toppin for one more season. Grant McCasland also returns double figure scorer Christian Anderson, who seems poised for a breakout sophomore season. Toss in a highly-touted transfer portal class headlined by Washington State import JeJuan Watts, and there’s no reason for Red Raider fans to not be dreaming the biggest of dreams right now.
When there are reports from the local newspaper of note that your roster cost a total of $22 million, you better find your name on a list like this.
Kentucky is loaded with size, athleticism and quickness thanks to the portal additions of Jayden Quainance (Arizona State), Mouhamed Dioubate (Alabama), Jaland Lowe (Pitt), Kam Williams (Tulane) and Denzel Aberdeen (Florida). With Otega Oweh, last season’s leading scorer at 16.2 ppg, returning to the fold, Mark Pope can also boast a little bit of culture continuity as well.
While the parts here all sparkle, there are legitimate questions about how some will fit with the system Pope has run effectively at Utah Valley, BYU and now Kentucky. If he can take all those pieces and turn them into a legitimate national title contender, Pope will make a large statement that he’s ready to be one of those faces poised to headline the sport as it makes the leap into this brave new era.
Florida was preseason No. 23 a year ago, so it feels right to go with a team a little bit more off the beaten path for our final selection.
Nate Oats was once again busy in the portal this offseason, landing Jalil Bethea (Miami), Taylor Bol Bowen (Florida State) and Patriot League Player of the Year Noah Williamson (Bucknell), among others. But it’s the surprise return of sophomore stud Labaron Philon that gets the Crimson Tide the final spot on this list. Don’t be surprised if Philon earns SEC Player of the Year honors, and then takes the Tide on a magical March run for a few weeks after that.
